A glimpse of the Pro Lifestyle from a BTCer
BTC member Cliff Worden-Rogers is currently preparing for IM70.3 Southern California and took part in a 5 day pro triathlon camp hosted by his coaching company — LIFESPORT — during the week of February 15, 2010 in Victoria, BC.
He chronicled his experience, you can read his notes from each day by clicking on the Responses at the bottom of this post.
5 responses so far
DAY 1
This is my rendition of a triathlon camp that I did out West. I’ll be posting a piece each day this week to give people an insight into the daily adventures of a pro-triathlete.
Alright, so I’ll give anyone who is reading this a little background if you don’t know me. If you think you do or don’t care and just want to read about the pro stuff, feel free to skip ahead. I’ve been doing tris for about 2 years. I started as a duathlete but converted over because I found duathlon didn’t get the recognition that triathlon does. Having never been a swimmer in my life, and having done none as a kid, this posed a big challenge. Sign me up!
In August of this year my mom and brother competed in Ironman Looville, which is where I was introduced to Lifesport. If you haven’t heard of them they are the “official coaches of Ironman”. You can check them out online. Their headquarters are in Victoria, which is also where my story will take place. I talked to Paul Regensburg, senior coach at Lifesport, in Looville about maybe seeing if the pro option was in the realm of possibility. He said that they would be putting on a camp in the winter and I should come out. So, without further ado.
A week ago Thursday my flight got into Victoria. I had my bike, running gear and swim stuff all stuffed into a hockey bag. A little tip – this saved me all the bike handling fees that Air Canada charges for . If you pack it right, it’s a very good (safe) way to travel (if anybody has questions about it email me).
Being a part of a Pro camp gave me the luxery of free room and board for the week. My “homestay” as they call it, was a guy named Clint Lein (checkout Peak Performance).
Great guy who reminded me of Billy Bob Thorton if he was a triathlete. He was really sarcastic, a little impatient but knew his stuff. His day revolved around teaching swimming, writing movie scripts, sleeping and watching movies. Honestly, I never saw or heard of one person while I was there that actually had a real 8-5 job.
So Friday was my official first day of camp. On tap was:
AM – 2 hour ride easy on your own
OM – 1 hour swim – 2 x 800 TT
PM – 2 hour(I added this because I couldn’t stand to waste not having any snow on the ground!)
Victoria I found to be a good cycling community. Pavement was nice. Most roads had a good shoulder. Plus, no snow for almost the entire year. No wonder it’s the triathlon capital of Canada.
Having no car, I relied on my Cervelo commuter tri bike to get around. Everywhere I went, swim, run practice, bike practice, heck even recoveries all had to be commuted too! I was constantly asking Clint where stuff was (as I didn’t bring my computer). You could tell he was a cyclist as he gave me good routes with minimal traffic to all my destinations.
First up was my swim at the Commonwealth center, a swimmers wet dream with a 50 meter pool, two 25m pools and a kiddy play place. Very impressive. On deck I met my fellow campers. Magali Tisseyre, Brent Poulsen, Amanda Stevens, Lisa Mesnik and Brent McMahon. Go to any tri mag and you’ll see their names at the top or near the top at any race they’ve been too. Luckily I don’t get worked up over celebrities and found that everyone was (mostly) happy to be here. My goal for this camp was to learn as much as possible and hopefully take home a few pointers from them.
Read the rest here: http://www.livemultisport.com
DAY 2
Day 2 at the Lifesport Pro camp in Victoria inflicted pain very early on. On tap was an 8:30am track session of 6 x 1 mile at 10K race pace. A great way to kick off a Saturday morning!
My body was recovering well from the travel, training and commuting. I got up early to begin my ride to Magali Tisserye’s house. Having a car amongst pros makes you a very sought after individual. The track was at a high school near the ferry to Vancouver.
I mentioned in yesterdays post about how extracurricular activites or added mileage was frowned upon. In most aspects of life doing more work is typically a good thing. If you think about that guy in the office who is always staying late and coming in early usually gets the promotion. What I found in my experience is that every athlete follows their training plans to a T. If it says 1 hour, they put in 1 hour. Good weather outside but you have a swim, maybe next time! Clint Lein (my homestay in Victoria: Peak Performance) said it best. He told me that when Peter Reid won Kona he spent 9 months at Clint’s house. He said that when Reid wasn’t training he was watching mindless tv on his couch. Clint even cooked a lot of meals for him. Eat, train and recover. Thats it. Clint also mentioned that most Ironman winners adopt the same lifestyle. Which I don’t disagree with but for all of us that need to pay the bills thats a tough pill to swallow!
Back to the track. It was a typical winter morning in Victoria, light rain, windy and about 10 degrees. Beatiful compared to Ottawa as I got to run in a t-shirt (small victories!). The track thankfully is where I feel more comfortable then the pool. Lance Watson, previous coach of Simon Whitfield, was with us taking splits. One thing that really stuck with me was how serious he was. Running in circles meant more than just that, it was about focusing on yourself and pushing your body to its comfortable limits. All while keeping perfect form.
Running around was myself, Brent Poulsen, Magali Tisserye, Amanda Stevens and Lisa Mesnik. Brent showed that even without a lot of speed work he still had great form from Clearwater in the fall. I managed to hang with him for the last 2 but it was a real challenge! It was great to be out even if it was quite painful!
Read the rest here: http://www.livemultisport.com
DAY 3
After crashing early (8:30pm!) from yesterdays track, swim and run day, I felt surprisingly well. A good night sleep has always been my secret to a great recovery.
On this day I got to relax in the morning. I still got up at 6:30am to use Clint Leins (Peak Performance) computer while he was out at swim lessons. Today’s schedule was a bike lactic threshold test (LT test) and an easy 45min run. This was to start around noon so I went out and did one of my favorite thing: shop for groceries.
The LT test was done at the Pacfic Institute of Sport Excellence (PISE). This is a place where I could really see myself working in the future. It’s a place where fitness and science are married together for the benefit of all variety of athletes. Soccer fields outside, huge indoor gym, weight center and of course testing labs inside. Their soon going to be adding a pool, which now has us multi-sporters covered.
If you’ve never done a LT test I suggest (if your serious about the sport) to get one done. It’s very helpful number to know. It also allows you to compare yourself to years previous.
After my 30min commute to PISE I got on a stationary bike for another half hour to make sure I was ready. I’m not going to lie, the LT test hurts. You start off at a very easy pace/wattage, this is based on your weight, and then every 3mins the amount of resistance goes up. At first I just gabbed with the students/employees there. We talked about what it was like to work there. What other crazy tests they had performed. Then the increase in resistance starts to hurt. It’s game time.
The bike I was riding was fully customizable. This is to ensure that you can get the best fit that balances your power output and being resonably comfortable. This bike also had a display showing your watts and the countdown till the next increment.
Before gonig into the LT test I was told that most people always wish they had pushed a little harder. Why? Because at some point your sitting in that seat pushing as hard as you can, not going anywhere, going till you give up. Giving up basically means a drop in cadence by about 10-20%. Think of going up a hill in your granny gear when all of a sudden it gets so steep, you can’t pedal. Thats what the end of the test feels like. Legs go boom.
You know what though? It’s just a number. It really has no bearing other than another bit of information to help you train. Watching some of the other experienced athletes go, they got worked up over what the LT test produced. Amanda Stevens went before me and she had a bad test, in her eyes. A bad test could really mean any number of things, over training, bad setup, not enough to eat or just a bad mental lapse. When your a pro, I guess you live and die by the numbers that you create.
Well anyone who has done this kind of test knows that you feel pretty spent after. I had reached 10 beats below my max heart rate, which on a bike is pretty amazing. For my recovery I decided to postpone my run and cycle around Victoria. I know I was disrespecting the “listen to your coach” rule (see yesterdays post) but it was sunny out. Damned if I was going to be in doors with my feet up.
I took in the sights along the ocean. Amazing views which reminds me a lot of Southern Califoria with the number of Ocean front houses. After a couple of hours I decided that was enough. Only a run left and I could call it a day.
Out on the run my guts started to do a familiar rumbling. It wasn’t the sound of hunger. It was the “I need the bathroom real fast” noise. I was in the ‘burbs with no gas station or convience store in sight. I started cramping.. not a good sign. I knew that my only choice was to go knock on someones door or….
Luckily a guy out washing his car let me in his house. He probably thought it was a little weird but looking at my size, he knew that I couldn’t steal much. Turns out I was less than a km from Clints house. Oh well. It made the jog a lot more comfortable!
In the PM I got a small taste of Victoria’s night life as we went out for music trivia. It was a good night as Clint ended up winning $10 (after he beat a 16 year old for fourth place). I ended up being the DD as our company got a little tipsy!
DAY 4
Hump day. This was my second last day at the camp and it was a busy one.
On this morning the weather was quite cool. After bundling up I commuted over for the 2 hour scheduled run. I must have been eager because I got there 20mins early. I don’t even arrive that early for work!
Luckily Amanda Stevens arrived shortly after me. I climbed into her mini van to keep warm till the rest of the athletes got there. We chatted for awhile about this and that. One thing that shocked me during our conversation was how many injuries that everyone had or has. It almost seemed that if you didn’t have a stress fracture you weren’t working hard enough! For me, I’ve always believed in taking a break before breaking your body. Guess it doesn’t hold true for everyone…
Dan Smith, one of the top Lifesport coaches, arrived first. Magali Tisserye, Brent Poulsen and Lisa Mensink all rolled in shortly after. Lance Watson, senior coach, came in last. But since he was the only one who knew the route we were happy to see him drive in!
Our run route was one that is highly recommended when visiting Victoria. We started at Rithet Bog, working our way to Mt.Douglas Park. We started as a group but Brent, who usually does his base runs at 3:50/K, was getting antsy to go. Me, seeing this as another opportunity to trash my legs, followed suit and we quickly became lost.
Lost in a good way though. Brent assured me that he knew the way back. I mean he did this run once before. Two years ago! So off we ran, me in tow.
I’ve been fortunate to be doing Hammertime with Rick Hellard so my legs are now accustomed to 2 hour runs. The trails in Mt.Douglas offer a variety of different paths. Most were quite steep and I had a hard time keeping up with Brent. This was suppose to be easy run, I kept thinking! On the down hills I quickly caught up; hoping silently he wouldn’t notice I was behind.
We went around for about 90mins talking about his race season. Last year he started concentrating on Ironman 70.3 distances, his best placing being 5th in Calgary. He talked about living in Forth Worth, Texas, and although not a triathlon hot bed, it still beats Canada’s winter. We also talked about how I could get better. I asked him how long it takes to be a pro? This question of course is different for everyone. Brent has been doing tris for the past 10 years. He use to be out in Victoria’s tri center training full time under the supervision of Lance Watson. For me to compare my meager 2 years in the sport I felt was an insult to him.
So I decided to turn the conversation back to his training. Trying to pick up any tips that I could.
On the way back Brent stopped for a nature break and I found the rest of the group running back to the beginning of the trail. The pace you could tell had picked up because there wasn’t much chatter. I pulled up along side Magali and we ran off together after Lance told me to go run with her.
Magali personifies what a pro triathlete should be: a hard worker who just loves what she does. If you don’t know her story, she basically came from out of nowhere last year and made enough money to buy a car (a used one but hey it’s a start). You may have seen her on the cover of triathlete magazine recently. She showed herself that with a lot of work, she can be a very successful triathlete. Now though, she feels she has to live up to a lot of peoples expectations which I think is unfair. I told her my two cents (an Ager from out east) about how the only thing she has to live up to is her own dreams. Hopefully she can blow us all away again this year. Go Canada.
So were coming to the end of the trail and were a tad early; 12mins exactly. Lance tells us to do another lap (3K). Yes sir coach. Out we go for an easy 4min/k jaunt (insert sarcasm). Upon finishing we did some stretches, had a little talk about what the rest of the day was: 90min swim workout and an ice bath.
Instead of waiting till after the swim, everyone decided to go to the ocean to ice bath. Cold is usually something I loathe but having a cold shower or bath after a hard workout is something I actually enjoy. At first I was happy to go along but once I got there time wasn’t on my side. I had my commute back to Clints, then to the pool. This left me only about 20mins to get some grub in/put my feet up.
Off I peddaled, ate, peddaled and then swam. It was another hard workout for me. Problem is since I wasn’t resting between, I go into the swims tired. If you think of your strength in triathlon, on a bad day, you can typically “fake” your way through the workout. However, we all have our weaknesses and when your not on, it can be a real struggle to get through.
But you know what? It really wasn’t that bad. Tired or not, you go out try your hardest and hopefully that is enough. I got some good advice from Magali after. She said “don’t worry about your times. Worry about finishing each set. Your going to get faster if you keep working at it”. Thanks Mags. What about all that water I drank, is that going to make me faster?
After swim practice it was just my usual commute home. Afterwards I was feeling pretty spent. Looking at tomorrows lineup I thought it was best to get some rest (plus the weather was rainy). A nap, some supper, some Olympics and I was ready to call it a day.
DAY 5
This was a big day. Probably the hardest I’ve had since running the half marathon trail race in Sutton, Quebec (if you haven’t done it go try it!).
First thing in the morning was another 90min swim. I began my day like any other, eat, pack, and commute . The swim was again at the Commonwealth Center. I was greeted by our tester, James, who was going to be monitoring us later at the Pacific
Institute of Sport Excellence (PISE). For the sweat test, which I’ll go over later, it required everyone taking part to swallow a thermometer disguised as a purple pill. You could almost feel it going down as it was quite hard to swallow. Magali Tisserye joked that it was a tracking beacon so the coaches would always know where we were.
The testing interested me so I started talking to James about what the test required. He said that we were to sit on our trainers for 3 hours and drink nothing but a liter of gatorade. He asked if that was reasonable. I told him that although I know this is a test, I can blow through 2000 calories depending on how hard the workout is. If were doing anything but soft pedaling I’m going to hit the wall in the third hour. My suggestion was that if we all were given the same gels, thus keeping the parameters the same, we might all survive. James and the coaches talked about it and they came to an agreement. One gel and 1L of gatorade per hour. Little victory.
We had to get through the swim first though. The warm up was a mix of 50s/100s and drills, totaling about 1000ms. The main set was 3×500, 50 easy and something else which I can’t quite remember. My lack of memory is probably due to how hard I pushed myself during the workout. I don’t think I’ve ever pushed so hard in a swim! At one point I actually couldn’t get my arms to turn over. The engine that is my body just stopped. Thankfully it was just for a second. My lats burned from pushing thorough the water.
Coach: Don’t glide so much at the front of your stroke. Me: I can’t move because my lats hurt so much. Coach: At least you doing it right. Get going. Me: Aye aye.
Thats basically my swim summary for the week. Go like crazy, try not to die, and keep going.
Afterwards I had a nice 90min break which gave me lots of time to get over to PISE. I took my time communting and when I got there, started cramming in food till the start of the test. I got to watch the men’s curling match (on TV) between Canada and Norge. Good game as we won but the Norge players stole the show with their flashy pants.
Test time. The point of the test was to measure our sodium loss during the workout. This was gathered by patches taped to our forearms. We were required to do a pre/post weight for hydration loss. Pee in a cup prior to the test and measure how much if you peed during the test. Lactate and heart rates were also taken at regular intervals as well. You remember that pill I had to swallow? Our body temperature was also measured throughout the test. We were a human science project.
Read the rest here: http://www.livemultisport.com