Bluff Creek Olympic Race Report

We arrived in Ogden, IA for the Bluff Creek Oly Triathlon on Saturday afternoon and found a great camping spot about 2 miles from the transition area. My wife, eldest daughter, and I were fortunate enough to ride up with my parents in the RV so we weren’t exactly ‘roughing it’.   I pulled out the bike and did a quick 4 mile hard effort and 1 mile run off to get the blood flowing before the race.  The rest of the evening was spent eating dinner and relaxing before the first triathlon of the season.

Race morning started off with almond butter on pita bread and a banana.  I rode my bike down to the transition and set up.  I was feeling really relaxed and didn’t have pent up energy that I usually have before a race which I thought was strange, but passed it off as nothing.  I headed down to the bus that takes us to the swim start so I could test out the waters.  The Oly swim had been cut short to only 500 meters due to the cold water temps of 52 degrees.  I’ve swam in similar conditions before so I knew it would help to get in and get somewhat acclimated to the temperature before the start of the race.

Swim

It was a short swim with a small amount of people in my wave so it was pretty uneventful.  I found a few draft lines but my main goal here was just to catch my breath and make it to shore.  The cold water literally took my breath away and I just wanted to push through it and get out of the water.  After reaching shore there was about a 2-300 meter run up to the transition zone.  Total time: 12:40

T1

I had some trouble getting my wet suit off and kind of jacked around a little bit in T1 before I was finally off on the bike.   Total time: 2:07

Bike

Starting off on the bike felt great with a tailwind, but after 3 miles we were in a strong crosswind or a headwind.  At about mile 10 one of my aero bar pads fell off.  I knew it was cracked before the race but I thought I could get away with it, I was obviously wrong.  For the rest of the race I was not able to ride aero and relied on the horns to get me through the rest of the bike.  I dropped my water bottle and failed an attempt to grab another bottle at the water station and had trouble getting my Gu packet to open so I bailed on that attempt.  Long story short, no hydration or nutrition on the bike.  I didn’t feel very strong on the bike and felt like I was missing the power and speed that I’ve developed during the off-season.  Total time: 1:25:40, 17.5 mph avg

T2

I spent 2.5 minutes in T2 – I have no idea why I was in there so long, probably jacking around like I did in T1

Run

I headed out on the run with heavy legs and in need of hydration.  My legs felt better after the 2^nd mile but I was never able to find my rhythm throughout the entire run.  I was able to push through and reach the finish line.  Total time 53:22/8:36 per mile pace

I was pretty down after this race due to my performance and I had some time to think through it on my run Tuesday.  Here’s what I came up with:

-          Focus – I didn’t focus on what I was doing during the race and my mind wandered outside of what I was doing.  Losing focus takes you away from watching your form, harnessing your strength, keeping race strategy in tact, and pushing through the pain
-          Drive – I didn’t have much drive when I lined up at the start line.  I think I can attribute this to my focus being on IM CDA in a month and this was more of a “tune up” for the big race. 

Lots of mental mistakes during this race which inhibited my performance.  It’s the first race of the year so I’m not going to invest too much stock in the results and chalk it up to a learning experience.  I was able to take away some things to work on before my 1^st ‘A’ race of the year and dive back into training with more focus and drive.

7 Mental Keys to Weight Loss

The hardest part of getting into a routine or getting a workout done is we mentally talk ourselves out of it.  Listen to your inner monologue and you'll hear:
- "I just don't have time today"
- "I'm too tired to work out today"
- "It's too hot/cold out today"

Here are 7 tips to get you to overcome the mental hurdles and get the work done:

1)  Create Goals - I know this one has been ingrained into our brains, but it is a cornerstone to being successful.  Make goals for the year, month, week, and the day.  The daily, weekly, and monthly goals should align with reaching your annual goal.  Keep them attainable, but require hard work and reaching.  Post them where you can see them each day.  Here is more information on setting goals.

2)  Post Your Workouts or Planned Workouts on Social Media Outlets - This is a way to indirectly hold yourself accountable to others and lets your friends know what you're doing. 

3)  Educate Yourself - We tend to be more engaged and excited about doing something the more we know about it.  There are a lot of good resources out there today on the web and on news stands near you.

4)  Get Out of Your Own Way - This is one of the biggest inhibitors I see today.  Making excuses, using false logic, procrastination and other ways we try and trick ourselves out of doing the work.  Clear your mind of the negative self-talk replace it with positive self assurance..

5)  Take it Day by Day - It's not what you did yesterday or will do tomorrow that counts, it's what you're going to do today.  Refer to your daily goals.  Consistency counts.

6)  Avoid Instant Gratification - Today's society relies heavily on instant gratification.  Information and feedback is so instantaneous that we expect that from everything we do.  Getting the fitness and body you want takes time.  You will get instant gratification of feeling energized and a sense of accomplishment after a work out and good nutrition, but be patient and the work will pay off in the long run.

7)  Conquer the Foothills, not the Mountain Today - Starting off slow and hitting small milestones will guide you to more success than going full bore out of the gate.  Build your confidence slowly and consistently.


Reaching your goals is 90% mental and 10% talent.  You've got the fitness and nutrition knowledge, now it's time to conquer the mental roadblocks and meet your goals.

For more information and training plans, visit GettingFitness

12 Nutrition Keys to Weight Loss

Last week I touched on 5 Exercise Keys to Weight Loss and today I will cover the basics of the nutritional needs you'll need to accomplish weight loss.  This is the hardest component of weight loss to deal with because of the constant temptations, the amount of misinformation out today, and it's really hard work.  So, here's the tried and proven methods that will guarantee success.

1)  DIETS DON'T WORK.  Diets have a start and end time and, although you may have some short term success, 99% of the time people gain back the weight and more after they end the diet.  Calorie deprivation isn't the answer either.  The body is very smart and will compensate by using muscle as energy, store fat, and slow your metabolism. 

2)  Eating well is a lifestyle change.  Add one of the bottom list items to your life each week and stick to it.  Keep in simple and make it a habit.  A habit will develop in 5 weeks

So, here's the list:

- eat 5-6 small meals a day (this will keep your metabolism high all day, keep you more
- energized, and keep your sugar levels in check)
- Eat protein with every meal.
- Eat breakfast
- Eat whole foods and avoid processed and manufactured foods
- Eat whole grain foods (this includes pasta, bread, rice, etc) – more fiber, keeps you full longer,
  and better energy source
- Eat protein in this order – fish, chicken, turkey, red meat
- Avoid trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, and wheat enriched flour (read labels)
- Eat good carbohydrates such as brown rice and pasta, fruits and vegetables – avoid sweets
- When shopping at grocery store, only shop the periphery – avoid isles (the outside will have produce, meat, and organic

When it comes down to it, it's pretty easy.  There is no 'silver bullet' or secret weight loss method.  Do it right now and reap the benefits forever.

5 Exercise Keys to Weight Loss

There is a lot of information out there today on weight loss and some of it is good, but a lot of it is not in your long term best interests, or more importantly, not healthy for you.  I'm going to go over the REAL DEAL information that will guarantee you results.  I'll cover 3 topics over the next few days:

1) Exercise
2) Nutrition
3) Mental/Emotional

So, without further ado, here we go:

1)  Resistance/weight training is going to give you the biggest bang for your buck.  Here's a quick explanation - weight training breaks down the muscle fibers which requires the body to repair them.  In order to repair them your body needs energy, also known as calories.  This raises your metabolism for at least 24 hours which burns more calories more efficiently.  More muscles also needs more calories

2)  Skip the slow cardio work and do HIIT or high intensity interval training.  For example, hop on the treadmill or elliptical and after a quick warmup, do 5 sets of 3 minutes fast, 2 minutes easy or 3 minutes at a high level of resistance, 2 minutes of easy resistance.  Same principles here apply as above.  Don't forget to get in a 5-10 minute cool down

3)  Work the big muscles!  The biggest muscles in your body(glutes, legs, chest, back, shoulders) will require more energy to repair due to more muscle fibers so spend extra time working those muscles and do them first in the workout.  If you have time go ahead and include abs, biceps and triceps but they are not priority.

4)  Combine movements for more calorie expenditure.  Grab a pair of dumbbells and while doing lunges alternate doing shoulder presses or do dumbbell push ups combined with dumbbell rows.  This makes the workouts more challenging and is excellent for those that have limited time.

5)  Aim for hypertrophy - hypertrophy is specific to defining/toning the muscles which is doing 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps.  This is going to be challenging enough to get the results you want.

A few extra tips
- perform weight training before cardio if training for weight loss
- while endurance sports help you lose weight, they are not the most efficient
- it takes hard work and dedication, there is no way around it
- for weight training ideas, check out http://www.gettingfitness.com