As a triathlete,
you know your day is going well
when Siri Lindley offers to buy you lunch
and you get to share a pool and gym with elite triathletes.
Good morning! As you may already know, I got into Boulder, Colorado two days ago for Triathon Research's training camp with Mirinda Carfrae and Siri Lindley. Yesterday was Day #1 and man was it exciting. For us triathletes, that means that it's packed with workouts and info to the point of "normal" people thinking we're crazy. We wouldn't have it any other way.
To see how Day #1 went, keep reading. If you'd like to see how the other days at camp went, click the links below.
It is 3:30a and I've been up yet again since 3am local time despite being up quite late. What my body is quietly saying to itself, I have no idea. Here is a quick, mainly visual outline of how Tuesday went.
Yesterday, I left off with breakfast. We left the hotel at 5:50a and were at Rally Sport, Erin Carson's gym in Boulder, CO, by 6:30am. Each group had different swim, bike, and run sessions to run through in order to obtain video or info on their strengths/weaknesses. My group was set up to bike first. It turned out to be the best thing to start with. We hooked our bikes up to Wahoo Kickrs and ran through an FTP test.
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| Hooked up to the Wahoo Kickr. |
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| Projection screen with all of our individual info |
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| Our bike leader pushing us through the torture |
I must admit that it was best to start with the bike because it was the hardest part of the day. I am very much used to FTP tests, but I'm set up with Trainer Road on the incorrect trainer, so I'm used to skewed numbers. That left me free to not expect anything. And MAN was that test easier in a group than any previous test I've done locked in my own apartment alone.
Misery loves company!
Then we were off to run. We hopped in a van and headed off to a local park.
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| All packed in! |
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| Local CO park (and the rainy weather we're having) |
The run was pretty quick. We went out to a soccer field and did ten separate runs to capture on video. Given how far apart we all live normally, many of the warmer weather campers were freezing. I, on the other hand, felt pretty comfortable!
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| Getting instructions for video session |
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| Getting video for Bobby McGee |
Then it was back in the van to head back to Rally Sport to swim. Thankfully, I got out to the pool faster than the rest of the group, so I got to jump in and warm up. Despite the cooler air temps, the water temp was around 80 degrees and felt GREAT!
There were some speedy swimmers in the pool with me, so I asked the leaders who they were. Oh... That's Rachel Joyce and her English crew. WHAT?! Yup...
I swam and checked out Rachel Joyce
and other triathletes I'm sure have big names.
#NoBigDeal
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| Rachel Joyce's crew in the Rally Sport outdoor pool |
Once we got over trying to figure out who was in the pool with us, we got some video of our swim technique for Eney Jones and Rebekah Keat our swim leader.
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| Our crew getting video for Eney Jones |
We ran through this session pretty quickly, so we spent some time in the hot tub, I got in about 1500 of mixed yards and meters, and then we were off to do a mix of "admin" activities including Remote Performance Measurement/Monitoring (RPM2), glycogen level testing via muscle ultrasound, body fat testing, and Power Cranks.
Frank above with Power Cranks showed us how badly we pedal, showing us where on the 360 degrees of movement we have little power, and then how we can work on that using his product Power Cranks. These crank arms actually move independently!! It was WEIRD, but it works!
At this point, it was about 12pm and they were starting to bring in food for lunch. We were HUNGRY!! This was also the time that Siri Lindley showed up. I cannot say how down to Earth she is! And when she found out that we hadn't eaten since breakfast at 5am, she was blown away!
Siri Lindley offered to buy us all lunch there at Rally Sport!
Thankfully for her, lunch came in minutes later and we chowed down like ravenous wolves. After food, our day relaxed quite a bit. We spent some time chatting with Siri...
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| You haven't eaten since WHEN?!? |
We chatted with Erin Carson, Mirinda Carfrae's strength coach, while watching some of Siri's squad being put through a strength workout...
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| Erin Carson explaining to us the strength workout |
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| Siri's squad going through strength |
Then we headed upstairs for Siri's talk. And we got to work out some of the work we did earlier with the Normatec boots!
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| Normatec chairs during Siri's talk. |
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| Forget the beach. THIS is my vacation! |
Again, Siri is SO INCREDIBLY down to earth. She gets side tracked very easily, but loves telling stories and sharing her experience with everyone. And her passion for her job is palpable.
Then with 45 minutes to go, we had some guests show up; Rafa Gonclaves and Mirinda Carfrae. We got to listen to their advice on a NUMBER of questions.
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| Rafa, Mirinda, and Siri |
And then the last, but certainly not least interesting part of the day! My bike fit with Ivan O'Gorman of Retul. This guy has an awesome personality and just like Siri, you'd have to be blind, deaf, adn dumb to not see his passion for his job. He took my info, we talked for a bit, he hooked some sensors up to me, I did some riding, and then proceeded to show me how he wanted to tear my bike apart!
As you may recall, I had a bike fit in March of 2014 with Todd Kenyon in Rhode Island which was great, but to both Todd and my testament, the changes that Ivan made were simply more extreme versions of what Todd did, but my body absorbed it without a problem. I would have never been able to handle it back in 2014, so I've come along nicely.
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| Ivan tearing apart my bike! |
Then, since we were at Rally Sport so late, the rest of the group had already headed back to the hotel, I hung out while Ivan worked through a bike fit with another camper's fit. Despite wanting a shower and some time to relax, it was awesome seeing Ivan work from the other side.
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| Ivan working on Ali's leg position |
We got to Rally Sport at 6:30am. Our ride home showed up at 8:15pm. It was a looooong day, but AWESOME!
Today we are into our squads. GO GREEN SQUAD! We get 4 hours with Seton Glagget, the founder of TriSports.com to go over equipment and what is best to buy to gain speed and an advantage. Then after lunch we have 4 hours with Ivan O'Gorman to go over the bike; how to improve, what to do, and a decent workout.
As much as I'd love to dive into more, I need to eat (again!). The monster is hungry!! I will most likely see you tomorrow at 3am thanks to my earlybirdiness. Yup, I said it. Call Webster!
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Questions
1. Have you ever been able to hang out with elite athletes?
I've seen them at the race talks, but not during their workouts or out in public on a normal day.
2. Have you ever had a bike fit?
I rode my bike for 2 years based on my own adjustments because I didn't believe the bike fit was THAT helpful. WOW have I been corrected on that.
3. Have you tried the Normatec Boots?
That was my first time and I am quite jealous of one of my athletes who has a pair!
DREAM. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE.
1 comment:
What an awesome experience! Isn't it amazing how much work goes into being the best? Pretty cool to see it first hand.
-Trevor from TrainerRoad
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