Something I never really understood until this year

is explained very well by Dan Empfield, owner of Slowtwitch. It is the concept of “junk miles” . The term is thrown around a ton when it comes to endurance training, but as Empfield puts it — “There are no junk miles. Only junk theories.”

Keep on keepin’ on!

After a somewhat disappointing first half to the year things are beginning to turn around. I basically raced more than any other American but somehow slid backwards in the rankings. I mean, by May I had already been to Chile, Ecuador, Australia for 3 weeks, South Korea, and all over the U.S. I struggled with bike crashes, food poisoning, nutritional problems, and other success-hindering roadblocks. Now that I’ve resolved all those issues (except for crashing   ) the good results are slowly starting to filter in. My race in Coteau du Lac was a breakthrough as I was able to perfectly execute my race plan and had no nutritional difficulties. I ran well enough to earn a podium finish. That was something to build on — it gave me confidence. This past weekend in New York, while I should have done better, I’m very pleased with the result given the bike crash. It wasn’t easy limping my way back into the top-5 on a busted hip… It has been a hectic year so far for sure. My race schedule literally changes every week depending on what races I can get into. It’s rough when you’re ranking is hovering around #6-10 American (the US has 6 slots at each WCS race). I can never plan too far ahead. Despite everything I’ve been lucky to have a great coach who is able to keep me focused and doesn’t get frustrated with my disastrous races. I’m also lucky to have a great family that doesn’t mind me running up the grocery bill well into the triple digits on a weekly basis. Furthermore, I have some amazing sponsors — Fitwerx, Team Psycho, and Parlee in particular, who have really helped me out of some jams this year. When my bike was stolen from Chula Vista (did I mention that on here? I don’t think I did) Parlee rushed me a new frame and Fitwerx worked tirelessly to build it up the morning before I left for Canada so that I could race on it. I can’t thank them enough.

So here’s the game plan for the next few weeks: I’m going to race locally. Definitely Marlborough, probably Gloucester, too. The next big race will be in August — ITU WCS Kitzbuhel, Austria if I can get in. If not I may go to South Korea for a continental cup or just train until the Chicago Tri on Aug 29. The way this year has gone, 1 month is way too far away to make any definite plans, so who knows. I’ve gone back into a base phase to get ready for the 2nd half of the season. I’ll put on a few pounds, take a break from grain windows, and maybe even enjoy a few Harpoon UFO’s.

Catching Up

I gotta start updating thing thing again. Let’s start with some racing:

June 26th. ITU Coteau-du-Lac Continental Cup: (2nd place)
Race Report here. (on xtri.com)

July 11th. ITU Holten World Cup. (47th place)
This was a tough one. Holten, Netherlands was hot as hell that day. 95 degrees and humid made for a tough race. I hade a decent swim and quickly was able to bridge up to a pack led by Renaldo Colucci of Brazil. And when you’re in a pack led by Colucci, you know that you’re going to get to the front. We bridged up to the lead group, and then the pace slowed considerably. On the 2nd lap we were going over a section of cobbles. My bottle popped out of my cage. When you have a sweat rate as high as I do, that’s not a good thing. I got down one bottle but was way short on my fluids. Eventually another large pack bridged up to us and we became one massive, 60-man pack. I was in the back focusing on conserving as much energy as possible. I got off the bike at the end of this giant pack and began flying by guys. It was like someone had pressed a fast forward button on me. I passed over 30 guys and was moving in on the top-15 by the end of the first lap. Then I simply blew up. Someone hit “rewind” on me this time and I watched, 1 by 1, everyone I had passed pass me back. Severe dehydration set in. I had awful side stitches. I jogged it in for 47th place.

July 18th. New York City Triathlon (5th place)

Official Race Report

This past weekend I raced the New York City Triathlon. It was my first time doing this race and quite an experience. My day began at 3:00 AM when I arose to eat my pre-race breakfast before our 5:50 AM start. At 4:20 AM I rode my bike from my hotel to transition. I quickly learned why NYC is nicknamed “the city that never sleeps” as the traffic was just as bad as if it were midday. After not getting killed on the ride over, I set up my transition area and then jogged down to the swim start.

The swim is in the Hudson River and known for its favorable current. The pros were announced, marched down to the starting dock, and then we were sent on our way. The water was pretty choppy, making it hard to swim in a straight line. I crashed into the guys next to me several times and also took an unintentional (I hope) punch to the nose. As things started to thin out after a few hundred meters a lead pack had formed of 4 guys about 10 meters ahead of me. I focused on closing down the gap and did so pretty quickly. I felt very comfortable, so I decided to make a move. I swung outside on the right and took the lead. I was hoping to slip by unnoticed but soon thereafter the pack had moved over and gotten on my feet. I tried to keep the pace high, and I led out of the water for the first time in my career in such a high profile race.

After the 800 meters run to t1, I got out on my bike. Philip Ospaly, the eventual race winner, passed me on the run to t1, so I headed out in 2^nd. Very early on into the ride I was going around a sharp turn where the pavement was rough. I hit a bump and my back wheel started fishtailing. I crashed pretty hard but luckily wasn’t going too fast. Seconds later I was back on my bike. I did my bike assessment first. Was everything working okay? I had to open up my front brake as my wheel had started rubbing. Then I did my body assessment. I had sharp pains in my hip and wrist and a few scratches on my knees and elbows. I would press on. Feeling a little flustered, guys started passing me. It took me until about halfway through the ride to start feeling okay again. I settled in with a (legal) pack of 4 guys. I was sitting in about 9^th place. I hung out there until we got off the bike.

Immediately my hip locked up. I slowly shuffled out of transition, hoping the pain would fade. Eventually I just stopped to rest it. Was it even worth continuing? I slowly started limping along again hoping it would loosen up. When I got out on 72^nd street I could see 4 guys up ahead in the distance. This provided a little motivation and I picked up the pace of my shuffle as we headed to central park. Just past the 1 mile mark I passed a couple guys and moved into 7^th. My hip was gradually beginning to loosen up. By mile 3 I felt like what I was doing was actually starting to resemble running. I moved into 6^th place. Prize money only went 5 deep, so I started making a big push to catch 5^th place, which was 25 seconds up the road. I could hammer the hills, but my hip hurt too badly to open up my stride on the down hills. My pace was continuing to get faster and faster – the hip was definitely loosening up. I hit mile 5 less than 10 seconds away from 5^th place. I continued closing in and made the pass about a half mile later. For the first time I felt like I could push the pace and threw in a surge to make sure he wouldn’t try to come with me. It worked and I was able to hold on to 5^th place.

Definitely a tough day at the office! I left NY with a sore nose, wrist, hip, and lower back and had scrapes on both knees and elbows. At least I was able to end the day on a positive note.

Thanks for reading. More updates on my future plans to come. As always, thank you so much to friends and family and especially my sponsors — Fitwerx, Parlee, FuelBelt, Team Psycho, TYR, and PowerBar — for staying behind me during such a tough, bad-luck-ridden season.

Seoul WCS Race Report

Traveling to Seoul last week was my first time ever in Asia. It was a cool experience but luckily not too bizarre or foreign, so getting the right foods was pretty easy. The field at the Seoul WCS race was unbelievable stacked. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a quality of field like that before.

The swim was in the very cold Han River. The technical bike course was half in a park area and half on the main thoroughfares of Seoul. Same with the run. I had an okay swim. Great start but then got beat up a little going into the first turn buoy. I exited the water on the tail end of the giant 50+ man lead pack. When I got out on the bike I could see the big pack forming up ahead, but instead of going flat out 100% and bridging up on my own immediately I waited for a small group and we slowly but surely bridged up. I think the energy I saved by working with the group was worth not going off on my own initially. When I got out onto the run I felt pretty flat. My legs may have been a little toasted from doing so much sprinting on the bike. I ran okay. I placed 42^nd and was in the 5% time cutoff for the first time in a WCS race. 3:30 seconds separated 1^st from 40^th, to give you an idea of how competitive it was.

All in all, this race was a bit like St. Anthony’s – not spectacular, pretty mediocre in fact, but no disasters, which for me is good coming off stomach cramps and a bike crash in Australia. It’s progress. I’m continuing to chip away and the results are slowly improving.

When I got back from Seoul I was terribly jet lagged and wrecked from the travel. I’ve taken this week pretty easy, but these next two weeks are going to be just about the toughest of the year. It is my finall build-up before Hy-Vee, triathlon’s million dollar race. I want to be on top form going into that as I’m sure it’ll be another stacked field.

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The Latest: Sydney WCS & St. Anthony’s Triathlon

I’ve been a busy man lately racing and traveling all over the U.S. and World. On April 11th I raced the first WCS race of the season in beautiful Sydney, Australia. After having a solid swim and bridging up to the front pack on the bike I crashed while making a left turn on some slick blue carpeting. I was only 5k into the bike. To be honest, it happened so quickly I’m not even sure what exactly happened – I think I took the turn pretty fast and bumped into the guy in front of me who was going a bit slower. After that I fishtailed and clipped the fence sending me down. I landed pretty hard on my hip and back and was completely disoriented for a couple minutes. I slowly got back on my bike and continued, but by this time I had lost 3 minutes and my front wheel was so out of true that the brakes were rubbing, so I ultimately had to pull out. Not a great start to the WCS season, but I’ll get a second chance on May 8th in Seoul, South Korea.

After getting back to the U.S. and getting a brand new (awesome) Parlee TT bike, I had to get ready to race triathlon’s Spring Classic: the St. Anthony’s Triathlon in St. Petersburg, FL. I only had about a week to train on the new TT bike, and I think my inexperience in the different position showed. I had a solid swim, exiting the water with a who’s who in triathlon – Greg Bennett and Craig Alexander. As soon as we got out on the bike those guys pretty easily rode away from me. I chased hard for 15 minutes but backed off to avoid blowing up in the later stages of the race. I simply didn’t ride well – I made a couple stupid mistakes and ultimately came off the bike in 12th position. I could only manage an average 33:16 10k and just caught one person. I finished 11th place, the worst position — prize money goes 10 deep. Although it wasn’t a great day, this has been my best race of the season so far. No crashes, no nutritional difficulties, but nothing spectacular. For now I’ll continue with my current training block and hope to pop off a good one in Seoul.

Sweet

Pics from Mooloolaba WC & Update from Noosa

I’ve been here in Noosa for the past 6 days, and I have to say — I absolutely love it. Noosa has jumped way up on my list for possible winter training locations in 2011. I’m at this camp with fellow Americans Kevin Collington, Jasmine Oenik, Jill Peterson, Chris Foster, and USAT high performance director Scott Schnitzpahn. After the Mooloolaba race we rode our bikes the 25 miles up to Noosa – it was a scenic route along the coast. Scott rode sag in the van with all our luggage. We’re staying at the Sunseeker Lodge. Our next door neighbors are Canadians Kirsten Sweetland and Kathy Tremblay. Noosa is the unofficial capitol of ITU triathlon. I’ve seen the Bennett’s strolling around, Gomez at the pool, some French, Swiss, and Dutch athletes. The cafes in Sunshine Beach are amazing. All of us spend massive amounts of time there drinking too much coffee and relaxing.

After the Mooloolaba race I was pretty frustrated with myself. There was a massive gap in my running performance indicators and my actual performances. This was due to nutritional issues during the race. On Tuesday of this week I did a race simulation to try to solve this problem. I did my pre-race carbo-load the day before, I ate very light the morning of the race sim, and I had my pre-race meal 2.5 hours before. I cut out a couple gels that I normally have leading up to a race. The simulation involved me riding out-and-back on this road like 20 times, sprinting out of the turn arounds and then holding a strong pace in between. The overall effort was actually harder than a race! I worked on my new fueling place, and I also tried stretching out my stomach the best I could while I was on the bike. Then I transitioned into my racing flats and ran about 2k at race pace. No issues. It certainly wasn’t a pleasant experience, but I was able to run at 5:10 pace off the bike without my stomach feeling like it was limiting me. I’ll take this nutrition plan into Sydney and hopefully won’t run into any issues.

Mooloolaba Word Cup Pics

"American Ethan Brown leads the chase pack"

At times our pack was absolutely useless -- the "I'm not going to pull" collective action problem...

Ethan's Meltdown.

Mooloolaba World Cup Race Report

I flew down to Brisbane, Australia last Monday in preparation for the first World Cup of the season in Mooloolaba. There was a competitive field of fit Aussies and Kiwis along with athletes from all over the world. I’d been sick at the very end of February and beginning of March, but the past week and a half of training had gone great and I was finally feeling ready to race well. I had starting number/ranking 26.

As we lined up in order, I got incredibly lucky as someone left a spot wide open next to a few of the field’s top swimmers: James Seear (AUS) and David Hauss (FRA). When the gun went off I immediately go on Seear’s feet and had an easier-than-normal opening 300 meters to the first buoy. Midway through the swim I settled in at the back of the lead pack. There were a few of the super-swimmers stringing it out at the front, but for the most part I was comfortable in the back of that group with the exception of a few surges. I exited the water in 20^th position and bridged a small gap during the very long run to t1.

When we got out on the bike several groups quickly formed. I was in the 3^rd group. There was a breakaway of 2 Aussies followed by a group of 8-10 followed by my group of 10 or so. We rode like mad – I did more than my fair share of work, and by the 3^rd lap we had caught the pack ahead. Unfortunately, once we caught them, the pace slowed considerably. Looking at my power file, there was a stretch that was slightly downhill where we averaged 38-39 mph for the first 3 laps, but on the 4^th lap we went about 31mph. It was no surprise when the pack behind us was able to reel us in, and we became a massive 30-man pack with the “I’m-not-going-to-pull” mentality. We ended up losing 1:45 seconds to the 2-man breakaway. I tried to stay near the front during the technical sections going through transition. Coming into t2 I fell back a bit further than I wanted to be but was still in it.

As soon as I stepped off my bike my race took a turn for the worse. I had a massive side stitch and felt like I could barely take a step. The course was awful for me. It was an out-and-back up and over a hill 4 times. The downhill sections were treacherous on my stomach. I tried everything to alleviate the pain but nothing worked. Since our race started at 3PM we had the hot afternoon sun to deal with. It was a sufferfest for me. Finally with 1 lap to go the pain subsided slightly and I was able to run hard for the final 8 minutes. I finished, but it wasn’t fast or pretty. I took 31^st place and was completely demoralized. This race was not any indication of where my run fitness is.

At this point, I’m basically getting desperate for ITU points, so I made a longshot attempt to get into the Sydney World Championship Series race in 2 weeks. I got the very last slot. So now I “have” to stay in sunny Australia and train here for the next couple weeks. The other Americans and I are at a training camp in Noosa, which is an incredible town – the training is great, TONS of ITU athletes are here, and it’s extremely beautiful. Yesterday I did a race simulation to practice a new fueling strategy to avoid the cramping. It was almost harder than an actual race, and I had no issues, so hopefully I’ve solved that problem and will be on my A-game in Sydney.

One of my Favs: Pomegranate Green Tea

Pomegranate green tea is awesome. You’re combining one of the most antioxidant rich fruits with a tea that contains EGCG, a substance linked to reduced inflammation, enhanced muscle recovery, and one of the most potent antioxidants. There’s no doubt that it’s healthy and you should drink it, but it can get expensive. So for the past few weeks, Doug and I have been making our own PGT. It’s cheap and simple:

Just boil some water

Find a big, empty jug and fill about 10% of it with 100% pomegranate juice.

Then pour boiling water over 5 or 6 of your favorite green tea bags (I always brew a caffeinated and decaf version)

Steep for a few minutes and then pour the tea into the jug with your pomegranate juice. Put in the fridge for a few hours and VOILA! You have refreshing, fitness-improving PGT.

Bottom line: Drinking it will make you better triathlete.

Ecuadorian Disaster

When your hotel is $15/night including 3 meals/day... Maybe you should eat out instead...

I came down to Salinas, Ecuador in hopes of getting enough ITU points to secure myself a start at the Sydney WCS race in April. I needed to get 9^th place or better, and I thought going into the race that getting on the podium was a possibility. My training had been going great, I was very confident, and things were generally on track. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be, and I fell short of achieving my goals.

I left for Ecuador Thursday morning at 6AM and finally arrived in Salinas 20 hours later after three flights and once very sketchy two hour bus ride (When I say sketchy I mean sketchy – the driver warned my roommate, Barrett, not to take too long to pee on the side of the road because “the people might get him”… What a way to start the trip). Anyway, we arrived at our hotel at 4:15AM the day before the race – generally not a good idea. My stomach felt “funky” all day, and it continued the morning of the race. I had my normal pre-race breakfast, did my regular warmup, and was taking a gel 15 minutes before the start when my stomach absolutely revolted. I started vomiting and basically lost my breakfast. Not a good precursor to racing in humid conditions.

The start was madness – classic ITU violence with a touch of South American anarchy. There were some cones in front of us on the start line (which was a very narrow area). We had rows of guys 5 deep. As soon as they took the cones away a whistle blew and the race started – I was caught completely off guard and had a terrible run-in to the water. I found myself behind a wall of bodies fighting for every inch. The swim was two laps, and towards the end of the 1^st lap I was able to find a hole in the madness to the outside of everyone and bridge back up towards the front. At the start of the 2^nd lap we exited the water, ran around a buoy, and dove back in. I got a good look at where I was in the field and was relieved that I had made it into the front pack. That’s where I stayed for the remainder of the swim.

While we were swimming a light drizzle was making the streets of Salinas super-slick. When we got out on the bike, the first 6 or so minutes were an absolute death trap. At the 2^nd semi-technical turn 3 guys crashed. At the next turn another 4 or 5 went down including Renaldo Colucci. Both Barrett and I managed to keep our wheels rubber-side down and were comfortably in the front group. Basically half of the front pack crashed on the first lap! After that people were extremely cautious on the turns. I rode towards the front not wanting to get caught behind any crashes. My stomach was still pretty messed up, and I wasn’t able to execute my normal race fueling plan – I barely got down 80% of one bottle. On the 7^th of 8 laps I was feeling comfortable enough with the course that I decided to launch an attack. It had stopped raining and the streets were beginning to dry. I was taking a pull and just sort of rolled off the front. I then took a technical turn very aggressively, turned on the jets, and started opening up some ground. A Chilean athlete went with me. We worked together alright but were caught half a lap later. Going into t2 I did a bit of a similar thing but not quite as hard. It was semi-successful and I was the 2^nd guy into t2 with a few second lead on the rest of the pack.

Guayaquil Expreso Newspaper

When I got out on the run my stomach problems and lack of calories started to catch up with me. I ran in the lead group of Colucci, Chacon, and a couple other guys for about 1k. At that point my stomach started cramping up bad. It basically reduced me to a jog. I ceased to be “racing” and was just kind of shuffling along in survival mode. I wanted to drop out but figured I could still manage to snag a few ITU points. I hung in there for 17^th place, falling way short of the 9^th that I needed to get me into Sydney. Colucci ended up winning after crashing and stopping to mess around with his back wheel. That guy is strong.

Needless to say, I’m disappointed with the result. But the good news is that I’m almost positive that my bad performance was directly linked to my nutritional disaster on race day. That’s always a worry when traveling to strange parts of the world. In general, I think my fitness is where it needs to be for this time of year, but unfortunately I’ll have to wait until my next race in order to show it.

Heading Down to Ecuador for ITU Round #2

It’s been a busy past four weeks since Chile. I got three solid training weeks in and have finally started adding speed work back into my training regime. It really feels great to start doing some faster training again – I’m reminded of why I love being a short-course triathlete: track workouts, dive sprints in the pool, and duking it out with Tucson’s pro cyclists in the Tuesday group ride. What painful fun! I should be much, much sharper for Ecuador this Saturday than I was in Chile four weeks ago. Based on how the TT went this past weekend, I’m right on form and should be a podium threat on Saturday. I’ll be going into the race with the #3 starting position. I would have to say the race favorite is Renaldo Colucci after his 3:52 70.3 Pucon win, but I’m not counting anybody out! Will post results to my Twitter as soon as I can…

Nice riding scenery: some mountains in the background

Didn't I come to Tucson to get away from the snow?