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Epic Camp Day One

A solid day to kick off the camp. Good thing that we didn’t make it too taxing as some of the lads got a lesson in the effects of tempo at altitude. It was a tough day weather-wise and we had a ton of rain, wet hail and lightning. We climbed up to 9,200 feet for the first KOM and then huddled in a General Store for about 45 minutes until the electrical storm headed off. Hoping that it would clear, we headed up to 10,000 feet and were greeted with more cold rain. It was about 48F when we arrived at Brainard Lake so we decided to run back in Boulder. Roger sustained a mechanical on the way up the hill and had to pull the pin after the KOM. To redeem himself, he was the only guy to run up at 10,000 feet. The rest of us ran back in Boulder before dinner. We had a little excitement on the run when we came across a Frenchman that had broken his collarbone when he lost control of his mountain bike on a dirt trail. We got him to an ambulance and then managed to complete our run. Six hours of training and the whole crew managed the swim, bike, run bonus. We are really lucky that the full squad is strong and keen.

At the end of Day One, Gordo’s in Yellow, Rob’s the KOM and KP is in Green. The points are stacked to the back end of the tour so things can change fast.

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Scott’s going to be giving little stories in each of his daily reports. While I can’t compete with his stories — I thought that I’d offer a little of my own personal insights into training and life. Today’s bonus theme is “how not to epic”.

Some of you may get fired up reading about our training and how hard we are all going. While there are huge benefits from this type of training (I’ll cover that in the next few days) — monster days are not what builds fitness. Real fitness comes from simply doing a hell of a lot of training, every day, every week for a very long time. Persistence and consistency are what yield results. Go too far with your training and you smoke yourself losing your consistency. Lose your consistency and you’ll plateau. Each of us will have had training pals over the years who find themselves frustrated with a lack of progress despite a strong work ethic. For most of these athletes, consistency is the missing piece of their performance puzzle.

Last summer I was in Scotland helping a friend out with some business stuff. My training suffered significantly and I managed a total of 54 hours in the first four weeks of July. I then freaked, emailed Molina and tried to cram three months of IM preparation into two and a half weeks. That’s how not to epic. To get the most out of this type of training, we need to prepare our bodies to be able to handle the volume. Even short course athletes require a very deep base of fitness as an athlete’s ability to absorb intensity is also limited by the depth of their base.

One of the key decisions that Scott and I made on my 2003 season was that I would try to get as many 28-hour weeks as possible. The goal of these weeks is to change my physiology so that I will be able to absorb the training required to meet my ultimate triathlon goals. Part of what you will gain from reading about our training is seeing a possible roadmap for where you want to go. When you have the ability to train at epic levels, you will have the ability to do what it takes to get to the top of your AG. There are no short-cuts.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk about “how much is enough” as well as offering thoughts on “how much we can take”.

epic g

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Epic Camp Day Two

Q: How do you know that it’s raining hard?

A: When the county sends out snow removal trucks to plow the gravel off the roads, that’s how you know.

Molina and I knew that there was a risk with waiting, but we also knew that today featured about 30K of climbing so that even if things were shitty we’d be unlikely to get really cold. We also implemented an MJR (mandatory jacket rule) — on Day One some of the lads economized on weight by leaving clothes behind (bad idea in Colorado). To make things fair for every one, we imposed the MJR.

We rolled out of Boulder at a very gentlemanly pace through the flat — the flat in the Front Range is pretty rolling if you come from the Flatlands but if you live next to the Rockies then it’s flat enough. Once the climbing started, we had a re-briefing and things broke up.

Scott ate “Eddy’s Breakfast” and was riding inspired — true to form as the previous night he’d announced to me that Day One represented the trough of his epic performance. We arrived at Big Thompson Canyon and the heat was on, Molina riding solid steady up the front completely neutralizing any desire I might have had to attack.

Scott rolled off and I got the urge to let ‘er rip. So I rode off the front. Trouble was, the weather was truly shitty at this stage and I had an attack of conscience (attacking the lads with 25K left to ride). So I waited and we rode together as the storm built. It was raining so hard that I had to remove my glasses just so I could barely see the road. Lots of dirt on the highway and standing water in the corners. Pretty wild. It reminded me of the Typhoon rides that I would do in Hong Kong. In Asia we would ride in all conditions. Probably the craziest ride I ever did was when we had eight inches of water on the road when we were climbing home. Strangely enough, we loved training in heavy rain in Asia because it was the only time when it was cool in the summer.

I was riding solid steady in this crazy weather and the guys were on my wheel getting serious dirt and road spray. After a while, I assumed they had enough and I was along again. We regrouped in Drake and I let them know that it was 13K to the sprint line. I then fired it up again.

Pretty solid day for me. I’m not used to being this strong on the bike and can’t figure out what caused it (a shitload of training perhaps…).

Payback was at hand when the Baron took me out for a run off the bike. We averaged 4:15 per K pace (uphill) and just over four minutes per K pace overall. You can sure cover a lot of ground at that rate. Six hours + of training with more than half max-steady-state. I wonder when I will get tired.

Tomorrow the group rides up Trail Ridge. Clas and I will ride up and then return to Estes Park — we’ll then start Day Four by repeating this 40km climb.

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Ironman — an eight to 17-hour endurance event where the goal is to swim, bike and run from A to B as fast as possible.

Ignoring the misnomer that IM is a race, if you were doing an eight to 17-hour time trial then what’s the critical success factor for a good day?

Think about it. It’s not about beating anyone around you. The event is far too long. While there are some group dynamics, they mainly pertain to your mental state.

You can read my view on the CSFs on my Tips Page. Some of what follows makes more sense if you understand my Endurance Essentials as well as my Training for IM articles.

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How much is enough?

Personally, I want to give myself the maximum steady state aerobic stimulus that I can absorb. Now that I am confident of my aerobic endurance relative to race duration, my goal is to maximize my aerobic pace (my ironman race pace). The simplest method of maximizing this pace is to spend a lot of time close to my goal intensity.

There are all kinds of sports science articles on using XYZ protocol, holding MM% power/pace, blah, blah, blah… my honest opinion is that the time that we spend worrying about this could be better spent training. I have a keen interest in sports science but feel that it is a tremendous distraction for most working athletes. By building up a simple week and repeating it very consistently, you will improve. You don’t need a slide rule to calculate your interval intensities to within 0.5 watts, you simply need to have a good feel for your body and get out there and train.

This is part of what Epic Camp stands for — Just Fxxxxxg Train — we get out there day after day and train. Because the days are so huge, you are forced to spend most of your time at or below ironman race pace. The guys that try to tempo themselves get so smoked that they have to back off (that doesn’t stop a brave few from trying!).

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How much can we handle?

Assuming you can sleep — a BIG assumption in a world where everyone thinks that more is better — then you will be able to absorb quite a bit of steady state training. What’s quite a bit? Again, highly variable but you’ll know when you are getting toasted — if you choose to listen. Even if you get smoked, when you follow an aerobic protocol, you bounce back from being over-reached pretty quickly (with myself, it can be as quick as eight hours — if a get a good nap).

Without a doubt, we can all handle a lot less high intensity work than we think. With myself, I have been surprised over the last few days to see that my tolerance for tempo has greatly increased over the last six months. I credit an improving base for this change. By becoming very aerobically fit, we reduce the lactate cost of moderate tempo efforts. In doing this we increase our capacity to absorb this type of training. When we don’t have the fitness platform, even a moderate tempo effort will generate substantial lactate levels. My observation is that these elevated lactate levels increase fatigue and slow recovery time.

See ya,
Gordo

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Epic Camp Day Three

Pretty solid day today and we managed not to get shelled by the rain, hail, thunder…

Another early start and we kicked off with a swim at the local pool in Estes Park (7,200 feet). The lads reported feeling pretty gassed in the water – a hot indoor pool combined with steamy thin air. I have to admit that I was feeling it a bit.

After the swim we did a Colorado Classic — Trail Ridge Road. Its 38km of climbing that ends just over 12,100 feet. Once we entered the park, the lads needed a piss break so we all pulled over and took a pee facing the trees. Some tourists drove by and must have thought that we were looking at wildlife. Then craned their necks to see some animals, but all they came up with was the epic lads having a slash. Once they realized the score, they made a hasty retreat.

The ride is complete with a long rolling section above 11,000 feet (into a cool headwind, naturally) and a false summit. Makes for a pretty taxing day. The lads rolled through to Grand Lake while the Baron and I headed back down to Estes for a trail run in the local hills.

Tomorrow we are extending ourselves a bit. Baron and I will kick off at 5:30am and ride most of the day. It will be a mixed day of flats, rollers and climbs into Steamboat. I’ll be swapping out my road bike with my Trek — need to get my body used to the TT position.

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Fear, and its role in achieving excellence.

Before epic, a few of the guys dropped me a line to express concern that they might blow up at some stage of the camp. For me, that’s the point. Trying to find our limits and not being afraid to run a risk of failure. Whether it’s a hill climb, a track session, a race, a camp or something challenging in another area of our lives, there’s always the risk of failure. Part of what Epic brings is nearly guaranteed ‘failure’ at some stage. By being forced to deal with failure on a minor level, it shows us that these risks are a lot more minor than our minds might think.

gordo

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Epic Camp Day Four

Today was the first big day of the tour — 250K of riding, two mountain passes and a short 30-minute run off the bike. Baron and I headed up Trail Ridge for the second time in 24 hours. I was feeling pretty ordinary and was pleased when Baron agreed to take it easy for the climb. We were about 20 minutes slower than yesterday. The weather up top was beautiful, but a bit fresh. We stopped at 12,000 and I put on everything I had. Baron was in the gents and asked if I was going snowmobiling when he came out (summit photo should be in the daily snaps). However, I had the right idea as it stayed cold for the entire descent.

At the base of the descent I swapped onto my Trek and felt awesome. Baron and I drilled it for about 80K to our first break of the day. Then another bike swap for the second pass. The second pass was a roller and Baron did some solid work.

After this pass, back on the Trek for some more drilling it. KP and Scott had waited at the lunch stop and we rolled in to Steamboat together. The day ended with a little sting in the tail when we found a 3K climb at the end of the ride.

Coming off the bike, I was in that “quiet place” that big training gets me. I was also unable to think all that clearly and had a full body shake going. Eight plus hours of riding (four plus very steady) can do that to a guy. By the end of the day, following a massage, two meals and a few hours of chilling, I was back in the saddle.

Tomorrow is supposed to be our easy day, but Molina wants to run up Mt Werner (10,000 plus feet at the summit). Oh well.

Oh yeah, my motto for today was “ride til you die” — I was pushing solid steady watts as best I could the whole day. Great training, didn’t manage to kill myself, but did get a big workout done. Baron and I also came to a cycling armistice — he’s admitted my current climbing superiority so we ride friendly until the last 2K of the climb and then I am allowed to attack.

Molina and Baron were giving me a bit of a bad time because all of the high passes are big point situations. They want greater run and swim points so they can kick my butt. Being a man of the people, I listened and decided that we’ll have a KOM on top of Mt Werner as well as a swim meet in Vail. Every time I say, “man of the people” KP and Scott give a chuckle, they know me too well!

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Short homily today...

Q: How do you know that you are making progress on your endurance?
A: Your training buddies start to be a little bit scared to train with you.

I’ve always had great training buddies. As my endurance increased I’ve been able to train with faster and faster folks. That has helped me learn new things and make improvement. Its part of what’s neat about Epic for me — having the opportunity to push myself into situations were I just might crack. Having the crew around makes it less likely that I’ll completely fold.

Anyhow, that’s my thought for the day.

Take care,
gordo

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Epic Camp Day Five

7:21am — sitting in bed dreaming of an old girlfriend. When I get extended my subconscious mind searches for comfort in the past. She comes to me to settle me down. The comfort didn’t last for long. My first vision of the day was Baron sitting on his bed with his run gear telling me… “Nine minutes to go, buddy”.

7:31 am — out the door, running towards Mt Werner with the lads.

7:41 am — the pace was in that uncomfortable zone, a little faster than easy and too slow for steady. Following my own advice from yesterday (if in doubt, attack early), I bolted up the trail. Baron and Molina responded and we were smoking up the hill. The 10-minute warm-up wasn’t sufficient for the Baron and he started to cramp. I was able to tell because he was using “French Technique” to climb the hills (running up with his feet pointing sideways). I didn’t have enough mental juice to take him down at his moment of weakness.

The workout ended up being a 1:20 hill climb with 2x20 minutes hard out. Molina loves this stuff, says it’s the best way to improve VO2 Max. Baron and I were pretty impressed with the performance of his 43-year-old body. There were times that we were going pretty darn hard and we couldn’t drop him. It wasn’t until we’d been climbing for more than 45 minutes and were above 9,000 feet that we managed to gap him (Baron gapped me simultaneously). It was good the see the Baron back in good form as he grabbed 10 bonus points for the run KOM title.

I spent the last 30 minutes of that climb wishing Molina would simply give up and make my life easier (memories of Epic #1). But he was loving it. Even managed to sneak a piss in on the fly when I eased off a bit. Wish I knew so I could have surged him then!

I needed a huge nap to regroup after this session, then headed out on the Trek for a three-hour solo, easy to steady paced ride. Rode up to Steamboat Lake — really beautiful ride, highly recommend it if you are in the area. Stopped at the pool on the way home for 45 minutes of 100s, then some quick weights and back home where my dinner was waiting (thanks ladies).

Tomorrow is the Molina Wattage Challenge — after my eight-hour effort yesterday, I made the bold prediction that I could hold 300 watts for as long as he wanted. He called me on it and said that I couldn’t hold it for an hour. I said that I’d go for it, but requested a 5% altitude allowance (we are above 6,000 feet here). So tomorrow, I’ll be going for an hour long 285-watt effort. I’ll report back. Other than that, he’s placed an AeT limit on me for the bike. We’ll need to see if I can melt the lads within these new restrictions (in a friendly, epic camp sort of way). I’ve been doing my best to “ride with honor” over the last few days. That means the overall goal is to keep the group together at the highest average speed. To do that, the majority of my work is done on the flats on gradual downhills. On the uphills the stronger guys sit up and we back off. This let’s the group roll together. Although, word on the street is that there was a bit of every-man-for-himself yesterday.

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Running a bit late today so no homily.

Have fun,
gordo

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Epic Camp Day Six

It was bound to happen eventually... today was all Baron, all day! He crushed me on all three climbs, I gave it my best shot, but he was simply too strong.

So how did the wattage challenge go? Well, the SRM battery was dead this morning so I didn’t have my equipment live. However… there was no way I was going to hit that target today. Five days of dealing out punishment to myself and others left me a bit flat today. My aerobic performance was solid and I was still able to contribute. But when I tried to step up into my mod-hard/tempo zones, there wasn’t a whole lot there. Max effort saw me hit 150bpm (about 10 bpm below my normal LT). So I sat in a bit and let the Baron roll us along.

I had the freaky moment of the day when I hit a massive hole at about 77 kph. Popped out the other side of the hole with a huge speed wobble, but no flats. Managed to salvage the situation without decking out… phew!

Ran off the bike when we made it to Vail — so it was a seven-hour day including the AM run and swim. Great day of training, even if the Baron was smoking me for most of it.

We just had a team meeting and decided to hold an aquathon tomorrow. Three times through 300m swim, 1,000m run. Should be a tough one. Especially as Molina wants to do a 50-miler with 3,600 feet of climbing to kick off the day. He keeps talking about being sure that we don’t bring the camp into disrepute. Oh well, time for bed.

Back tomorrow,
gordo

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Epic Camp Day Seven

Baron woke up this morning and saw that my bed was empty. Thinking I was getting a few points on him, he leapt up and went for a 10K run. Turns out I was downstairs, sleeping in another bedroom — it was too hot in the loft so I moved in the night. Of course, he insists that he doesn’t care about the points...

Well, the aquathon succumbed to a general fatigue in the bunch as well as the admin hassles of sorting the transition area out — something about soaking wet, semi-naked men running through a fitness centre...

We did get the ride up and over (2x) Vail Pass done. I felt pretty ordinary at the start, but my legs returned shortly after a 20oz coffee in Frisco. Good to see. I should be ready for Independence Pass in two days — it’s MY pass, bay-bee!

The route we took this morning was on the most beautiful bike path I’ve ridden. It’s the section from Copper Mountain to Vail Pass (another recommendation if you are in the area). When I first came to Colorado a few months ago, this part of the trail was totally under snow! Right now there are wildflowers and a creek — great trail.

Ate some lunch, had a cup of coffee, wrote most of this report and decided it was time for a run. Two hours easy pace. I might do another one of those before the camp is out. Simply a time-on-the-legs run designed to give me a little pounding so that the marathon isn’t a huge shock to my system. Cooler up here at 8300 feet — nice day for a run.

Had a massage then hopped in the pool for 25x200, SCM. Solid day and we did a great job despite the cancellation of the aquathon. Baron added up the A-Team distances for the bike this week — 840K and 11,000 meters of climbing. Good effort!

Tomorrow is a relatively flat stage (no passes) about 105 miles from Vail to Aspen. I haven’t decided which bike I’ll use. The Trek is a good one, but I get dusted on all the points because it’s more of a steady pace machine than the road bike (good for jumps and climbing).

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The quote of the day on the Epic site is a statement that Roger made after we’d been riding for about 3.5 hours yesterday. He said that he’d never seen anyone training as hard as us. When you watch elites train, that’s a common thought... that we are hammering. There’s no doubt that when we wind it up we are smoking, but that’s a small percentage of the day. The bulk of our training is simply sitting on (or under) AeT and, for me, that’s the most impressive part of the equation. True endurance fitness is the ability to sit on AeT forever. In doing that, our aerobic paces increase and, when we want to rock, we can really motor.

It’s all about steady — what’s your power/pace at AeT and how long can you hold it? Those answers will predict IM performance and those aspects are what we are seeking to improve. Until the distances in an IM are routine, then you’ll never be able to ‘race’ it. You’ll simply be trying to survive (not a bad attitude for all of us!).

A question came up on my site about how long it takes to recover from a camp like epic. I think the recovery times will be very different. For the Baron and me, it will be pretty quick (despite how it appears, we are going more long than hard). Aside from the Mt Werner hill climb, we’ve managed to avoid any all out KOM battles (still to come no doubt — Molina must die). I’ve found that it’s the high intensity that tends to extend recovery. As well, my base is much deeper this year so I bounce back far faster, Rubber G.

How long would it take a ‘normal’ person to recover from something like Epic? Honestly, you could blow an entire season by trying something like this when you weren’t ready. That’s why we have the 10-hour requirement. To make sure that the folks are able to handle what we have planned. Back-to-back-to-back, six to eight hour days. You need to be strong both mentally and physically — even then, odds are you’ll have a few days where it turns into a grovel-fest.

Another question is why I do this training when I recommend a more moderate approach for the majority of people. The answer is related to the above. These weeks are at the same volume as my normal training weeks. The difference is that I do a much greater amount of steady paced work. When I did the Vegas to Boulder trip, the average intensity was lower than this camp. It was earlier in the year and I was preparing my body. That brings up another point, being able to control your intensity across a year. It’s where a lot of folks ‘go wrong’ with their own training. You need to prepare the body and have patience. The specific preparation period for IM is about race specific intensity. For me, that’s all-you-can-eat steady training NOT extended periods of high lactate training.

Also bear in mind that a sub-9 athlete has a physiology that is completely different than a sub-10 athlete (I think the average IM time would be in the 12-13 range and that athlete is completely different than the epic crew). Part of what we are seeking to achieve with this training is to change our overall physiology. That’s why I’ve been doing somewhat crazy workouts (other than the fact that they are fun). Rides of 200+ miles in the Rockies, mountain marathons... these workouts change your body and mind. Any athlete can use these principles to train, the key is applying it rationally to your current physiology.

Many folks wish to short cut the necessary hours through intensity, equipment, supplements, gizmos — truth is, there is no easy way. Of course, if you love what you are doing then the path is neither hard nor work. Some people talk about us doing hard work, we’re simply having fun.

What are the epic lads doing? They are doing what it takes.

See ya,
gordo

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Epic Camp Day Eight

Phew, big day today. Lost the Yellow jersey after seven days — a sad moment in Epic history! However, there’s a shitload of climbing coming up so plenty of opportunity for me to redeem myself.

Scott’s latest warning is that I don’t want to end up a burnt out shell of a domestique — in danger of missing the cut off, having pulled my team leader (him) to victory in week one! If you’ve been reading his updates then you’ll have seen his bit on Bob Roll. Well, when he suggested that I ride my Trek (again, despite it’s lack of sprinting ability) as well as placing a main set of 5x4 min LT+ on two-minute RI in the middle of my day... I started to wonder if I was being mentored right into a black hole.

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Another solid start to the day, but I was feeling quite ordinary after my weights. Swimming was simply a mix of intervals to log the 3K necessary for my daily swim points.

The ride started with a rolling downhill section and we were smoking. After lunch Molina picked up the pace. I had been given instructions to do some hard intervals on the flat and decided to ramp it up after Molina took his pull. Drilling it for about three and a half minutes then the lads rolled a red light when I eased off. Baron waited up, but Molina and Rob continued, logging the two open sprint bonuses for the day (along with an epic-asterisks in the annals of Epic history). I didn’t really mind as I get crushed in the sprints, but Baron clearly got shafted.

Anyhow, no harm no foul and we hooked up for a trail run in Aspen. Pretty flash town, Aspen.

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People talk about making things big, but I like the select groups that we’ve had. No hassles, a few people to push each other along. It’s what it’s all about. There are other events where you can ride with 100s or 1000s of people. This is different. Simply a small group of like-minded folks rolling along

Too tired for more — I have some thoughts on periodization, but they’ll have to wait. I think I am starting to feel the effects of an appropriate training stimulus.

gordo

PS: Molina was also writing about Epic Sex. The Baron and I are pretty tired each day — that’s the last thing on our mind. I think we need to get him up front more to take the starch out of his sails (so to speak).

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Epic Camp Day Nine & Ten

Remember those early reports about how we were training steady most the time? Well, in the interests of full disclosure, I need to admit that the last 48 hours have consisted of a fair amount of drilling each other. The only way to give you a small idea about the ups and downs is to lay it all out piece-by-piece.

What really happened on Day Eight? Well, Clas and I pulled the crew for the first three hours to Glenwood Springs. We then had lunch under the trees (see photos) and rolled out for the second part of the ride into Aspen. Molina was a bit fired up and kept coming to the front and taking the pace up to 42-45kph. The rotation was such that Clas would follow Scott and I’d follow Clas. We were really rolling down the road and making excellent time. It seemed such a shame that it had to end...

Inside I smiled because, “there’s always one guy that ruins it for everyone.” Seeing as Coach Molina had assigned LT intervals for me, and because he was well up in the General Classification, I decided that it would be his pull that would be the lucky one. After 10 miles or so, and following another big Molina pull, I drilled it just as the Baron went to the front. My watts peaked at 900 and I held 600+ for as long as I could (not quite long enough as there was a wagon train behind me after a few minutes). Scott had Rob drag him back up to my wheel and then rolled past when I stopped at a red light (did I mention that?).

I spent quite a bit of time thinking about Day Nine’s Independence Pass the night before. Should I attack early or simply sit in until the last 5K and then dust the boys. My cycling strength is long aerobic climbs and Molina/Baron are very dangerous when they get close near the top. I think this is because they are willing to suffer more than me.

We were all feeling a little shelled at the start of Day Nine. We headed off to a brand new recreation center in Aspen — very nice, complete with hot tubs, lazy river and kiddy pool. While the quality of the swim was only fair, most of the lads did a little extra in terms of distance. Then back to condo for breakfast.

We rolled out in a beautiful day. Aspen would be a great place for a run camp — flats, hills and altitude. They even have a new track at the high school. After about 20 minutes of riding, I asked Scott if it was all uphill to the summit. He refused to give me any informational assistance — and I was OFF! Gapped the lads and the self-talk started...

• You da man...
• Today is YOUR day, death to those suckers...
• No *&%$#@% red lights on THIS pass...
• Push, push, push...

I took things up to 150bpm and held the gap even. Baron made an attempt to bridge up (going for the win, have to respect that), but today was MY day. I held him off, he blew. Molina counterattacked and left Baron for dead. I took it up even higher — max effort at 12,000 feet. Held Molina off, hyperventilated over the pass, tasted blood. They were only a few hundred meters off my wheel, had aerobars and would shortly reel me in and leave me for dead. I had strategically placed a sprint bonus about 25K down the far side of the pass. I had expected to have about five minutes in hand, but it was only 20 seconds.

Go ‘til you blow... I might get caught, but it would be on my own terms. Molina had suggested some more LT intervals after the sprint. I figured that I’d start a little early — like just over the pass! Visions of Tyler Hamilton in my head, I drilled it and took a few chances in the descent (I am a crap descender unless there are points on the line!). The first 5K was pretty easy as it was a nice slope. Then there was a hairpin and the road flattened and a head wind came up. I couldn’t see the lads behind me, but they could see me.

[Support Bunnies edit note: Gordo had a BIG gap on the boys when we drove past, and the look on his face was all Lance.]

Max effort the whole way, after about 15K my legs felt totally dead from the climb and the hard riding. I stuck with it as best I could and started the self-talk again...

• Just hang on...
• Come-on you (#*$&%..
• Stick with it...
• Hold, hold, hold...
• One more hill, one more hill...
• *&^%$# Tyler, *&^%$# Tyler...

I was on top of the world, I’d crushed the day.

I told Scott that Baron was going to make us pay for kicking his ass. Sure enough, following a big break, the rest of the ride was solid steady. There was a tailwind and I was working very steady on the Baron’s wheel. He pulled us all the way to Leadville. I hit a patch of sand on one of the final corners of the day and went down! The first Epic-Crash. It was a good metaphor for life as there was less than an hour between my highest epic moment and my lowest. I was pretty lucky on the spill as I only lost some skin and smashed my hip (okay to ride, not so good to run).

Leadville is 10,200 feet and we were all feeling the altitude. Check out the photos and you’ll see that Baron and KP were so shelled that they couldn’t even sit in their seats at dinner. We had a huge steak dinner at Quincy’s (recommend it) and then the boys headed out for beer, ice cream and cookies. I went to bed. Outside the hotel I ran into the Baron, it went like this...

G: Hey buddy, you going out for ice cream?
B: I don’t need ice cream, I need air!

I was a little bummed about my injury, but figured that it would clear by IMC and was happy that I was still able to ride.

Even though it hurt to move in bed, I had my best night’s sleep of the camp. We enjoyed a monster breakfast at the hotel (Delaware Hotel, neat place, looks like it is stuck in the 1880s). Turns out the worst part of my injury was some whiplash that popped up in the morning. Not too bad so long as I am looking straight ahead.

Molina didn’t so much attack as simply speed up and leave everyone behind except for me at the start of Day Ten. About two miles from the top of the first summit, he went for the big ring and dumped me out the back as he ground his way up. We regrouped and rolled into Frisco for coffee and bagels.

Next up was Loveland Pass — Baron said that I wasn’t riding the high passes like a “sportsman” — something about early attacks not being fair. I suppose it’s more fair for me to wait until the end and then get dumped by the sprinters. On Loveland, I didn’t attack early and rode upper steady. I was quite happy to find myself alone in the middle of the climb. Molina counterattacked about three miles out and once again the big ring left me for dead. Baron was also closing me down — bummer! I just held the Baron off. There was no catching Molina.

At the top of Loveland, I was white as a sheet, having a full-body shake and more than a little demoralized. When you are getting dropped you can come up with all kinds of excuses (saving myself for Canada; it’s not smart to go that hard; blah, blah, blah). Truth was, Molina kicked my ass and I didn’t like it. Pretty impressive. Inside my head I was wondering...

• How can you go 8:30 if this guy drills you?
• What was he like 15 years ago?
• Just how strong were the Big Four in their peak?
• Mark Allen used to punish him in his peak, how strong was he?

I ate 10 Clif Shots, two colas and a Clif Bar, praying that something might help. We had a 30K descent coming up and perhaps that would help. My body shake continued on the decent and my mental state was weak from the crash the day before.

We had a final break in Georgetown and I grabbed a liter of Dr. Pepper. I didn’t expect it to help, but needed some calories.

At the bottom of Berthoud Pass, Rob started pulling us along at 45-50kph (tailwind with some flats). That broke things up and it was Baron, Rob and me. Molina is either crushing me or right at the back. We worked together easy to steady pace and the guy at the back was charged with “Molina duty”. We were all expecting HIM to bridge up and past at any time (“he” was now a pronoun, no need to name him).

Rob noted that this climb was pretty difficult. I pointed out, “not as difficult as if HE was here”.

A couple of miles from the top Baron started surging us. I covered 11 surges. 500m from the top, he looked over his shoulder and said, “Well, I tried my best”. I was unable to talk and he must have seen that. He did one last, max effort surge and put 50m into me over 100m. His first high mountain pass in Colorado! He dusted me, straight up and legit. Hunched over his bars at the top, he was a happy Swede. Fifteen hours from being on the floor of Quincy’s to winning his first “proper” KOM. He would note later that he now understands how Tour riders come back from the dead.

I was pretty screwed and let gravity bring me to Winter Park. My throat felt like it was six inches wide and I had a few coughing fits (quite dry air at altitude).

Once I arrived at Winter Park, I managed to hobble a 50-minute run off the bike (running uphill isn’t so good with my messed up hip).

My brain was a total flatline for the rest of the day. Scott noted that it was the most stuffed that he had ever seen me.

What were they like in their prime? Scary. Very scary.

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Drugs and sport. Epic training takes you into some of the darkest holes that you’ve ever experienced. If you had to back it up for three weeks and it was your dream, job, vocation, to finish a race like the Tour then I can see how a young man could end up getting juiced. Bicycle stage racing has to be the toughest sport in the world. The immune, mental and physical stressors have to be the greatest out of any event.

I’m not commenting on the moral implications of sportsmen doping. However, now that I have had a taste of the depths of the fatigue that they must experience, I can understand how some are tempted to take the easy way out. One point though (made by Dick Jockums), once you have used performance enhancing drugs then you have lost forever. Why? Because you will never know if you did the performance or the drugs did the performance. In his heart, Baron knows that he came off the floor in Leadville to beat me up Berthoud Pass — no chemical additives. That strength will be carried with him forever. If he’d taken some speed then he’d never know if he was truly capable of that kind of performance. In fact, he commented after the ride that he didn’t really think that he was capable of that performance, a true breakthrough.

We’ve had other examples of that on Epic. Roger spent a lot of Week One off-the-back. Yesterday he dropped Joe (and nearly Rob, who was in Yellow) on Loveland Pass. On Berthoud, he dumped Molina (!) for 4th. He claims that he’s simply riding steady all day (sound familiar?) but I think what’s really happened is a change in his mind-set. He’s discovered that he’s capable of far more than he realizes (even now). It’s good to see.

I’m writing this on the morning of Day Eleven. Happy to report that I bounced back over night.

Take care,
gordo

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Epic Camp Day Eleven

We don’t have rest days on Epic Camp, we have less hard days. My easy day was pretty cruisy — ride to Snow Mountain Resort, weights, run, core/muscle activation, swim, ride home. About four and a half hours of training. I felt much better than last night, but could tell that I was fatigued when riding uphill or walking up stairs.

The whiplash was quite stiff this AM, but my massage dude did a great job working it out and this evening it feels much better (or I am simply getting used to it). The massage lad did point out that my regular guy in Boulder was going to have plenty of work when I returned.

As an aside, I prefer massage from guys. When a lady gives me a massage, Austin Powers starts up in my head…

• “Do I make you horny, bay-bee?”
• “Do I make you ran-day?”

Anyhow, it’s all going to come down to Day Twelve and the Mt Evans climb. We have a graded and a weight adjusted division. Rob’s got the Green Jersey locked up in advance due to his sprinting prowess (red light assisted, but I’ve gotten over that — honest!).

So that’s a wrap from Winter Park. We are all resting up and loading up for the 8:30am weight in.

The other day I asked Molina what he’s getting ready for. “Nothing, I got ready for this.” He has a point, 12 days of smoking ourselves is a blast in its own right. Tomorrow is the last day of his A race. I’ve told that the boys that I’ll be giving 100% all day. If they take me then they’ll know that I’ve given my all. Pretty much everyone is going into Evans with the attitude of total war. Seven epic lads all aiming for a personal best — should be fun.

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Had a note from a reader who took issue with “Just Fucking Train” — I thought about that a bit this afternoon. Here are my thoughts:

• On my board, I’ll do my best to be polite. In my life, I’ll do my best to be honest. I think, I speak, I am profane at times (probably not in front of your wife, certainly not in front of your kids, but absolutely in front of you if you are one of my buddies). When I talk about my life, my training — you get the real picture, the real me (at least that part of me that is typing on my machine).
• When you spend as much time as I do answering similar training questions, you get the urge to pass along the fact that it’s simply all about JFT. It’s simple, eat right, train as best as you can, build your strength, build your endurance — everything else is mental masturbation. It might matter at the Olympic level (personally, I think that’s more about heart), but it certainly doesn’t matter for 99% of us in sports. What’s my training plan for each day of epic camp? Do as much steady as I can, ride as hard as I feel comfortable to bag KOM points.
• Sports science has a few useful concepts, but it clouds the picture for most athletes. My second book is going to lay it out the way I see it. Basic and real — not everyone will agree with me (and I’ll likely change my mind over the years to come), but it will be an honest reflection of what it takes to move from good to great. Most people have no idea what’s required. The people that know are generally considered a bit mad. I like these guys and gals — my kind of people, like mountaineers, ultrarunners and other fringe folks.
• Train 40+ hours in a week and life becomes pretty basic. When life is basic, it is real, raw, profane and powerful — anger, despair, elation, nothingness — this is Epic Camp, this is Epic Training.

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Oh yeah, we need an Epic Babe or Epic Chick or whatever you would like to call yourself. Somewhere out there is a woman that has what it takes to get through one of these things. Ten-hour or better fitness, a desire make breakthrough performance and an enjoyment of training shoulder to shoulder with a group of tanned, ripped and slightly crazy guys. You are out there! Erin/Paula used to train with Molina and crew — they crushed. Come on and send us a note. I’d be happy to offer a discount to the right lady. Don’t worry if you think that you might crack, we can handle that as long as you stay out of the van.

Up coming camps: New Zealand in January 2004, Kona in September/October 2004, Australia in January 2005, Alps/Pyrenees in summer 2005. Mark your calendars and get training!

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Why are IM athletes the same speed today as the Big Four were in the 80s? I think that technical advancement is no substitute for hard work. I spoke to Molina and he actually thinks that scientific advancement is hampering athletic achievement. Many triathletes are scared to take the risks necessary to make progress. Many scientists tell these same athletes that these risks are counterproductive. With no road map you simply do as much as you can handle — that’s Epic Camp, a bike, a pair of shoes, a speedo, some goggles and a gutful of desire.

Well, having done 10 days of training that should have left me for dead, I can say that we all have a lot to learn about what’s possible with our bodies. Molina, Souza, Allen, Pigg, Scott, Tinley — these guys simply went out and did a little more than they were capable of handling, just to see. They blew themselves up, they have worn out body parts and they went as fast, or faster, than anyone before or since. It makes me think and I feel honored to be able to smoke myself alongside one of these pioneers. I can think of no better way to say thank you than kicking his ass the whole way up Evans. No excuses, no mercy.

Back in a day or so,
gordo

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Epic Camp Day Twelve

Day 11 was pretty low quality in terms of a Lydiard protocol for training excellence, however, it did enable me to recover from Day Ten (the closest that I have come to crying in training). You know, for a bunch of guys that claimed they didn’t really care about the points... there was a lot of interest in the standings when I read them out last night. Rob, Molina and I were pretty much tied. As forecast, it was all going to come down to the last day (and my best event — a long, high altitude aerobic climb).

I lay in bed thinking through the climb, the day and generally mulling things over. After two hours of that, I figured that I might as well do something useful. Got up and read Willy Voet’s book on drugs in cycling, Breaking the Chain — gnarly stuff. Got me thinking about how things can spin out of control at times. Finished the book around 2 or 3am and managed to bag a few hours of sleep before we rolled out.

Baron must have liked my idea about an early attack because he rolled off the front before some of us had even made it out of the driveway. Joe bridged up to him. Either none of us were in the mood to bridge or we figured that he’d wait up. I can’t really remember how I was feeling other than a bit tired!

After a few miles, when the Baron started looking over his shoulder and increasing the gap, we lifted the pace a bit. With 10K to the summit I started to ride steady to mod-hard and managed to close the gap to about 20 seconds. I leaned over my shoulder and asked Molina to pull through so we could work together and reel in the Baron. I heard a short moan as Molina rolled backwards from me. Seems the Baron was the only one feeling sparky this morning (pretty impressive following a two-hour run, deep squats, leg press, calves, leg extensions, dead lift, hammie curls... the day before!).

What happened next was an exponential drop. What’s an exponential drop? It’s when you are dropped on a winding climb and each time you see the attacker, he is twice as far away as the last time you saw him. Twenty seconds became 40, 40 seconds became 80, and then he disappeared for good. The gap was two minutes on me at the summit, but I did my Tour de France stage winners pose (see photo) just the same.

The other guys were feeling similarly jaded and we all simply rode up to the top. Could this be the Baron’s day? I was happy to see that he was feeling good. I sensed that I might have another gear left, but you are never sure until the time comes. Just to be sure, I pounded some more drinks.

The descent was COLD and I was chilled by the bottom. As I mentioned before, I am a crap descender when there aren’t points on the line. I was also a little spooked since my crash a few days earlier. The guys waited for me at the base of the pass and we rolled together to Idaho Springs.

The ladies were waiting at Idaho Springs and we had a long break where we fueled up and had our weigh-in. Times would be adjusted based on weight. If a guy was 10% lighter then he’d have to be 10% faster to win the weight-adjusted category. At the first weigh-in Molina (and bike) were heavier than me. I topped up with water to make sure that I was the heaviest rider (with the exception of KP) and then declared that I was racing everyone scratch. In other words, I took the same weight as each rider that was racing me.

Before we start the Evans climb story, I’ll share an interesting experience the Baron had over the course of the camp. If you read Scott’s diary from EC-NZ then you’ll see that Baron had some “pressure” issues last time. I got myself a pair of the most expensive riding shorts I have ever seen ($250+ a pair) and have been using them for my longest sessions (but I did do my 13-hour Grand Tour in a De Soto skinsuit — building testicular toughness!). So these shorts, let’s call them the “special shorts” — Baron and I have another name for them, but that one is sufficient for now. These shorts come equipped with a large, soft chamois vulva on the outside of them. So Baron and I are riding along at some stage of the camp and he smiles at me, “These shorts, they are the best — no pressure, no problems, the lips wrap around my saddle and I am very happy.” So I guess that’s the closest Baron came to epic sex...

Back to Evans...

We started the watches at the green sign that’s just across the overpass from I-70. Our pace was very gentlemanly, easy to steady with Scott and I sharing the work. I’d had two caffeine pills (about two cups of coffee worth) at the base as an experiment. I felt extremely fired up, but didn’t do anything rash as I knew that the Baron was feeling good and I didn’t want to instigate a 28-mile all out KOM battle.

The Three Amigos (Molina, Baron and I) rode together to Echo Lake where we even agreed to a short stop for each of us to take care of various things. We were lucky with the conditions and the typical headwind was missing for the early part of the climb. We rolled through the Ranger Station at 1:10:30, smiling and feeling comfortable. Well, most of us, Molina was struggling a little. I tried to perk him up. Given how strong the Baron was feeling, my view was that the longer we stayed together, the better for Scott and me.

Another aside... lying in bed before Day Twelve kicked off, I had another realization, Epic’s really about drilling each other and using the environment to take ourselves far, far further then we could go on our own. Took me 11 days to realize that and I thanked Scott for coming along.

Back to the climb, after passing the Ranger Station we headed into the trees and the steepest part of the climb. Scott wished us both luck in battling for the Rocky Mountain Championship of the World and started to fall back. With a little coaxing we had him sticking with us. He rolled back a touch a few miles later (but made it through the treeline).

Baron and I continued just the two of us. Our breathing and HRs would pop at the slightest change of pace or if we took a drink. So we were happy to ride along at steady pace until... well, I wasn’t really sure until when. I sensed that my breathing was a bit easier than the Baron’s, but I also knew that the closer we get to the top, the toughest he gets to beat. I was happy to wait.

The air above 12,000 feet is so clear that we were continually surprised with how far it was to the next turn. It would appear to be only a few hundred meters and actually be a mile or more. Eventually, we hit the switchbacks that lead to the summit. With about three miles to go, Baron looked over his shoulder and saw that Molina had re-emerged out of nowhere. I think that was what got us rolling a bit faster. Soon we were riding hard tempo.

With about 2.5 miles to go, Baron cut the corner on a switchback in an attempt to put a little gap into me. However, I have the ability to crank up my cadence and an rpm surge saw me open the slightest of gaps on him. I stayed seated and spun my advantage to about 20 meters. Seeing that he was falling back I turned around and yelled, “FIGHT!” as loud as I could. Just then I went past the mile 13 marker (14 is the summit) and did my best to hang on.

I was having a blast. We were both drilling it, no prize money, no glory, just him and me smoking ourselves. Baron is one tough fella and he gave it absolutely max effort for about half a mile. He pulled me back to 20 meters and he was breathing so hard that it sounded like he was going to swallow his tongue. Frankly, it was a bit scary and I knew that if he caught me then adrenalin would carry him past me.

Do the guys in the Tour ride this hard? I’d never seen anyone ride that hard in my life. I dug deep and spun as fast as I could (which wasn’t very fast as we were both lactated out the wazoo). If the climb had been 500 meters shorter then he might have got me but we turned, yet another corner, and saw that there was still at least a half a mile to go. There were no additional gears and we both simply hung on deep in oxygen debt and swimming in lactate.

After a little under 2.5 hours of riding, we ended up separated by only 20 seconds. It gave me an appreciation about how hard cyclists must go in order to put minutes into each other on climbs. It was pretty satisfying for both of us; we’d ridden together the whole way and then had 5K of max effort to decide it. While I was a tiny bit quicker on the day, it was only fitness. In my eyes, the Baron won the true battle in that he was able to give a lot more than me on the climb. Scott and Clas always impress me with their ability to dig and suffer when they want to. Well, beyond reasonable and what I can manage.

Some of you might be interested. Weight adjusted position in parenthesis...

Gordo: 2:27:45 (1) — ends in Yellow
Clas: 2:28:05 (3)
Scott: 2:31:02 (2)
Rob: 2:38:11 (7) — ends with the KOM and Sprint titles
Roger: 2:48:58 (5)
Joe: 2:56:55 (6)
Kevin: 3:03:18 (4)

There were no adjustments for the age or sea-level location of the guys. Had we done that then Scott would have been the clear winner (pretty solid geezer, he is). Of course, we could also have a former World Champion adjustment to even things out!

We rolled back down the hills, climbed over Freemont Pass (always nice to have a little climbing after the main event) and enjoyed a big snack. KP, Clas and I rolled back to Boulder to make it another eight-hour day for me (including the traditional, short run off the bike).

My totals for the camp...

• Daily volume: an average of 6.5 hours
• Swim: eight hours, nine swims
• Bike: 1,000 miles with 66,000 feet of climbing, rode every day — switched between road and TT bikes
• Run: about 100 miles, 13 runs, one very tough hill climbing session
• Strength: four SM weights — all reasonable efforts

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What are the key lessons that I think we learned from this camp?

Volume — With the proper preparation, we can absorb a heck of a lot of training. For me, this camp was lower in volume terms than Vegas to Boulder, however, it had a much broader spread of training and the average intensity was much higher.

Recovery — Hard efforts took the longest to recover from, but each of us was always able to stick to the overall plan and continue to train. I had my darkest day (Day 10) that followed my greatest effort (Day 9). Clas came up off the floor at the end of Day 9 to finish Day 10 stronger than any of us. Typical, recovery protocol would be total rest for a guy that was as shelled as him, but he managed a further three days of high quality training.

Altitude — We have a lot to learn from altitude. The guys arrived on the Sunday before the camp and started in the next day. Without a doubt, the guys that played the first week the most conservatively finished the camp the strongest. However, even the guys that drilled it in the first few days managed 12 very strong days of training.

Group Environment — There is a huge advantage to the atmosphere and camaraderie of a training camp. Even if when we start to get on each other’s nerves (Super G going 24/7 simultaneous smack, tri and training talk can test even the most Zen of athletes), having the other guys on the road/trail helps each of us achieve far more than if were we on our own.

Mental — Day 10 was the closest that I have come to cracking in training. I had a similar experience with Day 10 on the last Epic. It wouldn’t have taken much to finish me off on Berthoud. Thankfully, Molina knows me and had mercy. Coming close to cracking, cracking, deep fatigue, the whole range of base emotions — experiencing these in a real world situation — that makes us mentally stronger and provides us with a forum to grow. I am now understanding Molina’s insistence that “racing is a skill” as well as the reason why the best swim coaches are able to push their athletes through pain barriers in training. It’s a necessary component of breakthrough performance at the elite level.

Post Epic Recovery — Well, it’s Sunday and two days post epic. My resting HR was 72 at 5AM this morning, down to 64 at 8:30AM. I had been slated to race Boulder Peak Triathlon this morning, but that wasn’t going to happen give these MRHR numbers, as well as a number of other excessive fatigue markers: nutrition was poor yesterday, mood was blah yesterday, sleep pattern was a two-hour nap and 12 hours yesterday, the urge to contact old loves — resisted that one as it helps no one!). Pretty sure I made the right call, but we’ll never know. Just to show that recovery is highly personal, Scott won his AG at Boulder Peak and Baron ran 34K. Makes me feel like a slacker for being tired!

One thing I can tell you is that there is always more. I constantly wonder if I am training hard enough, working smart enough. Even during epic camp I wished I could do more, pull longer, ride at a slightly higher HR, swim faster. However, in review, there is no comparison between my fitness now and at the start of this year. It’s been a fantastic summer.

Once in your life, you will have a chance to completely dedicate yourself to something — take it.

Until next time,
el guappo

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