Endorphin Fitness News

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3 Sports Tri Training Camp & Race Strategy

07.05.10

Since the 3 Sports Triathlon is right around the corner, I thought many of you would enjoy an overview of the course from a coach’s perspective. After reading the article, if you would like additional coaching on the course, join Endorphin Fitness for the Official 3 Sports Tri Training Camp July 10-11.

The 3 Sports Triathlon, which is produced by Richmond Triathlon Club, is the same course as the popular spring Powersprint Triathlon, produced by Richmond Multisports. This characteristic provides a unique opportunity to test your fitness on the same course at two different points in the year. This course is super fast and perfect for the beginner triathlete with the pool swim as well as relatively flat bike and run. I will go through the race in-depth below providing some tips to help make your race successful.

PRE-RACE is a very important time for a sprint triathlon, as it will either set you up for a successful race if done correctly. Since the race is relatively short in triathlon terms, most of your nutrition demands need to be addressed in the time leading up to the race. Start by focusing on what you are putting into your body the week before the race – this is what your body will use as fuel during the race. Hydrate well and choose wholesome foods with plenty of fruits and veggies earlier in the week with a focus on whole grain carbohydrates in the latter part of the week. The morning of the race, make sure you get a good carbohydrate-rich breakfast first thing as well as drink plenty of water. 90 minutes before the race is the time to eat one last snack if desired (an energy bar works great here) and switch to sports drink at this time. In the 90 minutes before your start, consume around 24 ounces of sports drink and 600-800 mg of sodium (including food and drink). If you would like to take a gel, take it 15 minutes before your swim start.

If you are comfortable with the race distance, you will want to include a warm up before the start as well so you can find your race pace from the gun. I suggest doing the events in reverse order as follows: 5-10 min running, 10-15 min biking, and 5-10 min swimming. If you have a late swim start, you may need to do the swim first or just do some light stretching on the deck as swim warm up will end around 6:45 AM. Regardless, warming up with some light movements will help your race.

THE SWIM is a snake swim in the pool meaning that you will swim down and back in one lane and then push off under the lane line to get to the next lane where you will repeat the same process until you are on the other side of the pool. Make sure you execute perfect turns as this will allow you to get maximum propulsion off the water. To do this, flip turn (or simply push off) on the one side and push off under the lane line to come up on the other side.

As you start, make sure you focus on form and ease into the pace - increase
pace only as fast as you can hold your form. Swimming super hard with sloppy
form will only slow you down in the end. Over the last 50 meters of the swim, you should add a little stronger kick to get blood carrying oxygen to your legs for the run to transition and bike. There is a long run to transition so make sure you take full advantage of this if you are worried about your time and run hard…you will recover in transition as you prepare to bike.

TRANSITION 1 - As stated above, there is a long run to transition. If you are concerned with time, this is a great place to make up a lot of time. This starts with a smart swim as described above and finishes with a smooth transition. Transitions should not be ignored as you can save a lot of time here with just a little practice. Remember that the less complicated the better.

THE BIKE course is about 11.9 miles and very fast. Your goal should be to take the intensity to a level where you can hear yourself breathing and sustain it. The course starts with a big downhill followed by an uphill section. Get a lot of speed going down the hill and carry this into the uphill - don't kill yourself on this hill as it is still early and you want to ease into it. After this hill, you make a right hand turn and ride a rolling section with tree covering on both sides meaning minimal wind. Use your gears to maintain your ideal cadence shifting as needed. Stay relaxed on the hills – it is still early in the race. You will eventually make a left hand turn onto Ashland Road and take this road to the halfway point. Ashland Road is fairly flat with small rises and fall periodically. This will take you to Pouncey Tract Road where you will make a left – this is your halfway point. Pouncey Tract is typically the windiest section. This is the time to focus on aerodynamics and get as low as possible. This section finishes with a right turn followed by a slight uphill, then a left turn followed by a slight uphill. These uphill sections are a good place to get out of the saddle and loosen up your running legs for the run. After the second hill, sit back down and spin at a slightly higher cadence into transition which will get you ready to run fast.

During the bike, you should seek to consume 12-18 ounces of sports drink and possibly take one gel (if you have practiced). You need to do what has worked well for you in training. If it is hot, plan to take in more sports drink and supplement with sodium (600-1000mg/hr total with drink/gel/electrolyte tablets). Try to consume your nutrition evenly throughout the bike after the first 5 minutes and tapering off in the final 5 minutes so you do not experience any sloshing during the run.

TRANSITION 2 is a pretty simple in-and-out! Make sure you have some sort of speed lace system on your shoes so you don’t have to tie them as well as a race belt for your race number so you can put this on while running, and you are good to go.

THE RUN course starts out flat for 1/2 mile, then goes downhill for 1/2 mile, then uphill for 1/2 mile before turning around and doing the same course backwards. In the first mile, focus on your form, turnover, and relaxing. You will almost always feel the worse in this first section so expect this and focus on relaxing. Once your legs start feeling like themselves, you can increase the pace slowly. Once you make the left hand turn at Deep Run high school, you will have a good down-hill ahead, you should start feeling pretty good at this point. Focus on your form and allow your body weight to carry you down the hill by not reaching out and braking your momentum by heel striking. When running uphill, stay tall and focus on the top of the hill. You will go up hill to the turn-around and then back downhill – constantly think about hill technique. Once you make the final right turn, you have about a ½ mile to go – now is the time to lift the pace and bring it home. Nutrition should be pretty set by this point as your body digests slowly when running and anything you take now will not be processed by near the end of the race. If you are thirsty, drink at the aid stations. If not, you are fine to skip.

FINAL NOTES - Racing is an opportunity to challenge your perceived notions of what your body can do. Remember, your mind will always slow you down before your body truly needs to, so push through what your mind is telling you and you will find that you can go much faster than you originally thought possible. After the race, enjoy yourself - you deserve it. Hang around and cheer everyone else on and enjoy all that is triathlon!

I encourage you once again to join us for the official 3 Sports Triathlon Training Camp on July 10-11. To register or learn more, email info@endorphinfitness.com.

Michael Harlow is the founder and head coach of Endorphin Fitness (www.endorphinfitness.com) where expert coaches guide some to their first finish line and others to their finish line first. You can contact him at michael@endorphinfitness.com.

Tavern Tri Race Report

06.28.10

Team Endorphin Fitness had an overwhelming presence at The Tavern Tri on Sunday. About 50 Endorphin Fitness athletes showed up for the race and claimed top honors in almost every age group. So proud of all of you!

Here is a summary of award winners:

OVERALL
1ST - Coach Michael Harlow (course record)
3RD - Coach Renee Kunnen, Rob Green

AGE GROUP
1ST - Charlene Wilhelm, Kelly Neville, Tara Elgie, Karen Wise, Jill Tarr, Robbie Starling, Dane King, Gavin McCarty, Moose Herring
2ND - Whitney Wallin, Mike Krongaard
3RD - Sam Glymph, Tina Shiver, Sue DeJesus, Adam Glymph, Mark Heede
4TH - Kelly Hadiaris, Dorothy Rich, Tom Pearsall
5TH - Susan Ann Glass, Conner Mehler, Rich Medford, Rick Rowland

ATHENA
1ST - Becca Smith
2ND - Holly McFeely

Full results can be found at RESULTS.

Also, we want to congratulate Doug Jessup and Dan Derner on their first Ironman at Couer D'Alene. Dan finished an impressive 14:46 and Doug 14:10. Doug claimed 10th in his age group!!

Race Report

06.14.10

Congrats to all who raced this weekend!

Special congratulations to Roger Johnson who completed his first triathlon ever - awesome Roger.

Also, congrats to the following who placed this weekend in either Tidewater Sprint/Int'l or Eagleman:

Overall
Team docs Rob Green and Moose Herring took 1/2 at Tidewater. Also, in the masters category, Karen Wise and Cheryl Shaw took 2/3. Wow!

Age Group
1st - Whitney Wallin, Deb Kurdts, Greg Mathe, Elijah Shaw, Charlene Wilhelm
2nd - Mary Tognarelli, Katie Brooks (duathlon)
3rd - Brad Metcalf, Ryan Castillo

Congrats!

Info Session

06.09.10

Join us Thursday, June 10th at 7:45PM at Endorphin Fitness to learn more about our services and programs for adults.

RSVP: info@endorphinfitness.com

Powerkids / Powersprint Race Report

05.24.10

Team Endorphin Fitness had an amazing showing at the Powerkids and Powersprint Triathlons this weekend. It was great seeing all the red and racing with friends!

There were a ton of personal bests at both races - congrats to all. Below is a summary of those that placed that we wanted to recognize for this amazing accomplishment:

OVERALL PLACE WINNERS
1st - Coach Michael Harlow
2nd - Grayson Cobb, Katie Brooks, Josh Shaw
3rd - Coach Renee Kunnen, Kieren Fraser

AGE GROUP PLACE WINNERS
1st - Julia Fraser, Michalla Nolan, Mandy Pillis, Cheryl Shaw, Jill Tarr, Robbie Starling, Clay Word, David Kunnen, Rob Green
2nd - Robin Word, Stone Dyson, Elijah Shaw, Mike Krongaard, John Clarke, Abigail Herring, Max Currens, Scott McGowen
3rd - Sam Kettlewell-Sites, Eric Glymph, Max Galbraith

AQUABIKE OVERALL PLACE WINNERS
2nd - Tess Sherzy

Also, congrats to Wendy Alexander who raced the Dok and Sok Triathlon and won her age group!

Great job team!!

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