Endorphin Fitness News

---

Rockett's Landing Race Report

07.26.10

Congrats to all who raced (survived) the super hot Rockett's Landing Triathlon and Duathlon yesterday!

Team Endorphin Fitness was prepared for the heat and raced well in both the triathlon and duathlon races.

Below is a summary of those who placed in each race:

OVERALL
Brenda Seyler took 2nd overall in the duathlon and Coach Harlow 3rd overall in the triathlon.

AGE GROUP
1ST - Whitney Wallin, Tara Elgie, Jan Bacon, Jill Tarr, Mike Krongaard, Tara Livengood, Lenora Mariner, Brian Pangelinan
2ND - Rick Hyatt
3RD - Kelly Hadiaris, Rick Rowland, Charles Plageman, Charlene Wilhelm, Mark Bare

Also, congrats to Matt Kirkendall for completing his first Ironman at Lake Placid in 11 hours and 20 minutes!!

3 Sports Tri Race Results

07.19.10

Team Endorphin Fitness had a great showing at the 3 Sports Triathlon. It was a blast seeing all the red out there.

Coach Michael Harlow and 16-year old Ryan Peterson claimed first and second overall with only a 17 sec spread between them - both broke the previous course record.

Coach Renee Kunnen claimed third overall on the women's side setting a PR.

Many Endorphin Fitness athletes placed in their age group:

1st Age Group - Charlene Wilhelm, Elijah Shaw, James Busch, Grayson Cobb, Greg Mathe, Ben Shaw

2nd Age Group - Dane King, Julia Fraser, Jan Bacon, Jill Tarr

3rd Age Group - Daniel Kipp, Susie Leahy, Sue DeJesus, Roger Johnson

Endorphin Fitness also claimed the first and second relay prize with Coach Dave Luscan, Coach Rob Burgholzer, and Eric Glymph's team taking 1st and Kim and Jay Hugo's team taking second.

There were a ton of big personal records for team members, even in the 2 months since Powersprint Tri. Congrats!!

Congrats to all that raced!

Dealing With The Heat

07.07.10

It is hot! We are in the middle of one of the hottest summers in Richmond history, which directly affects your training and racing. There are several steps you can take though to lessen the heat’s impact on you. This month’s column will discuss these steps.

When temperatures and humidity rise, your body is forced to work harder to sustain the same pace. This results in a higher heart rate and perceived exertion level at the same pace or power level. When this occurs, all you can do is slow down and keep the intensity level the same despite a slower pace. Your goal should be to minimize the differential between your pace on a hot day compared to a cool day. To do this, there are several things to which you need to pay attention.

Hydration is the cornerstone of your fight against rising temperatures. Staying hydrated with water throughout the day provides you with a base. With improper hydration throughout the day, you enter workouts and races in a deficit that cannot be overcome. Therefore, analyze your daily water intake first to make sure your base is secure.

When training, you must step up your awareness to hydration even more. When you sweat, you lose fluids and electrolytes (sodium/potassium) that are essential to you dealing with heat. Maintaining a proper balance of these two essential ingredients is key to your success. Though great when not training, drinking only water during training will dilute your body of electrolytes (sodium and potassium particularly) resulting in a condition called hyponatremia. Hyponatremia can cause some dire consequences and is very common as athletes try to over hydrate with water during training and racing.

Therefore, instead of water, we want to drink an electrolyte packed sports drink that supplies electrolytes as well as water to the body. There are many options on the market to choose from – some of my personal favorites include Gatorade Pro Series, First Endurance EFS, and Accelerade. Each of these drinks are packed with electrolytes to supply your needs. Furthermore, each of these are packed with calories in the form of high-glycemic carbohydrates which you are burning continuously during exercise and should be re-supplying at a rate of around 200-400 calories per hour. Err on the lower end of this range when running and higher end when cycling as your body digests food slower when running.

Once you have chosen your electrolyte drink of choice, you need to dial in two key variables: fluid and sodium intake. In general, you should be consuming 24-ounces (a standard water bottle) per hour. On hot days, you may drink more, and on cool days, possibly less. In addition to this, you want to make sure you are getting around 600-1,000 mg of sodium per hour. Most of the before mentioned drinks get you to the lower end of this scale allowing you to supplement as necessary when needed. In normal conditions assuming you are not a super heavy sweater and deal with heat well, you will be fine with around 600-800 mg of sodium per hour. If it is super hot and/or you are a heavy sweater, your goal should be to take in around 800-1000 mg/hour. To meet this level of intake, you will probably need to supplement with an electrolyte supplement. I recommend S-Caps - they have 349 mg of sodium per capsule and I have used them for years. With that said, you need to practice with these to make sure your stomach agrees with it during high intensity and low intensity training. Other ways to supplement sodium are through the use of gels or bars though not needed unless completing an event over two hours.

In addition to proper hydration, you can combat rising temperatures by simply keeping yourself cool. Wearing a visor, pouring water on your head, or placing ice strategically on your body before and during training and competition tricks your body into thinking it is cooler than it truly is resulting in less performance decline. There is one caveat in regards to this though. High humidity, which is common on the East Coast, does not allow your body to cool itself naturally through sweating which should always be your first line of defense. When humidity is low (below 50%), you want to rely on your body’s natural cooling mechanism first and avoid tricking your body into thinking it is cooler than it truly is as this will turn off your body’s signal to sweat. When humidity is high though, your body’s natural defense mechanism is already stunted so you want to do everything possible to keep your body cool through the methods mentioned above.

Practice these techniques in your training in order to dial them in for racing. Pay close attention to fluid and electrolyte levels and do the little things to stay cool before and during training. Be safe – high temperatures are dangerous but there are many things you can do to make it much safer and faster.

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.

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!!

>>>Next 5