base, base, base...

Base training is hard... at least for me. I like swimming hard, grinding up hills on the bike, and running fast/hard and this time of year that is absolutely the opposite of what I should be doing. This is when it pays off to have somebody (or a group of people) in your corner keeping you in check.

I had a good talk with my friend/coach/mentor Jim Vance this week as well as a couple of email exchanges. Every time I talk to him he leaves with something to think about. In a sense I think I am a great athlete to coach because I have as much motivation and commitment as anybody out there. On the other hand I like to smack myself down too much. I am not a fan of rest days or traditional base training but I know they are essential to having any kind of success. Without proper guidance and advice I would probably dig myself into a deep hole before the season even began.

I have been working with Jim since my first season racing (2006). I can honestly say that I would not be where I am today without his help. He has taught me a ton over the course over that last two seasons and I have been able to watch him become a better/smarter coach. The though of myself coaching some athletes has definitely crossed my mind and is something that I am very interested in doing in the future. I just want to make sure I am as educated and knowledgeable about training before I step into that ring and just add to pool of unqualified coaches. It seems every triathlete these days is a coach and the good ones are few and far between.

so back to base training... here's a couple of graphs.

Zone 2 run. I pretty much had to walk up the hills to keep the HR down and still got it up to 180 bpm at one point. The avg was 158 thouhg. (my zone 2 is 150-159).


Hill Repeat workout # 2. This was my second crack and it looks better. Power (yellow) was up and HR (red) was down just slightly.