Optimistic

With my first off road race coming up fast I really have one word that sums up the way I feel about it. That word is optimistic. I have done a lot of really good things this year starting in October that have added up to make me feel really good about the season ahead. The training has gone the way Id had hoped, I have not been sick since the fall and have no major injury's. I have had some bumps in the road and the ITU Clermont race was for sure one of them. I swam with my hands closed or something because that swim was not what I had in mind. Still made the best of it and lighted the bike up. Rolled over 300 watts and dropped many athletes right off my wheel my normalized power was over 350watts so bike wise I know I'm doing the right things. That race Im happy I did as it gave a opportunity to blow out the cob webs out, rather then have that feeling at West Xterra Champs. Since the race in Florida I have worked on some of the weak points that showed. My running was missing some higher intensity work I felt fitness wise I could hold 3:20 per K all day long but had a hard time dropping it lower I had a few key sessions that help get me well under that mark and now feel good about my running. One of my biggest weakness last year in xterra was not being able to close out races because I didn't have enough base fitness. I was fit for events for 1h-1:30h rather then 2h-2:30h. Many of my training days are now well over 4 hours and adding a strength program has helped me feel very strong. I have done many workouts on some very tired legs because of it. I think being able to execute on the tired legs was something I just could not do last year. The great thing about racing is I can see if we made all the right moves and find new areas to work on. In closing last year was the year I learned most about off road racing and this year its time to apply what I took away. Also Happy to Officially announce ENVE as a Sponsor! Last year I rolled ENVE on my mtb. I rode it because its truly the best stuff out there for durability and performance. Please check out what they have to offer! www.ontheedge.ca

The Break

Typically if your not blogging your probably training well. Over the last 5 months I have put together my best training ever. As I'm gearing up to make a return to ITU racing I really didn't want to half ass it. I started to train like it means something. I thought I trained hard in 2014 but nothing compared to what I have been able to do so far this year. I was tired of handing wins away in the swim I was sick of digging myself a hole every damn race. If you have followed my blog there are countless post about improving my swim but never really happen as I never really applied myself to the task at hand. Last year I laid some good building blocks and this year really build on it. I have not really talked times on my blog much but this set today proved to myself that the work is paying off. for some context last year I did this same set before ITU cross nationals (that race is the one that pissed me off most, I lost the race by 17secs. I was about a 1:20 min down in the swim to a great athlete Sean Bechtel) July 1st 2014 Broken 1500 400m on 6:00 all out (4:55) 3x200 on 3mins Pull paddles (2:36 2:34 2:35) 5x100m on 1:20 (1:16 1:18 1:18 1:19 1:20) March 3rd 2015 broken 1500 400m on 6:00 all out (4:35) 3x200 on 3mins Pull paddles (2:24 2:25 2:27) 5x100m on 1:20 (1:12 1:14 1:13 1:15 1:13) Every race I will enter this year I will no longer wonder if I did enough training. I will now be able to stand on the start line knowing I have done everything in my power to be the best I could be. I have not been able to say that since 2009. Its also not just the swim both my bike and run are much improved I have applied all the same things in to every sport and starting to see the results across the board. Now with all this being said their are people that have helped me I could not do what I have done and what I plan to do alone. Craig and RTC have been everything in this. They gave me a chance to have success and every single person in that crew has welcomed me and helped me along the way. Can not thank them enough! To keep everything in perspective I still need to get faster and work harder this is not a post claiming I have made it. This is a small marker of hard work but still knowing there is much more work to be done. Here are some photos from Clemson Training camp.