Nugent Coaching Systems

Congrats to all the NTTS’rs that raced SJIT!

Danielle, Jeff, Keith, Anatole…

Nice JOB!

On a personal note the SJIT is becoming an annual tradition with my family and something that I look forward to every June.  This is my sixth year of SJIT!!

Great race.  Well organized, and always something that will test and allow me to see where I stand compared to a year ago.  I am glad to say that I improved my overall time and surprised myself on a couple areas.

Thanks to the workouts with Ultimate Body Potential, I was able to sneak by with zero pool time since August 07!  I also swam my fastest 1.25 k in YEARS.

Bike commuting has been a boon to my training opportunities.  Stoplight intervals, fast tempo rides with other commuters, and a pack full of gear, food and clothes becomes the standard ride format.  Set another personal course record.

The run.  This is where I started to fade.  I pushed it hard on the two other disciplines and had little left over for the run.  Needless to say I will be focusing on shoring up this part of my race but I also recognize that the last two weeks (NorCal 3), and zero taper had a role to play in the race effort, I didn’t play by the recommended best practices for triathlon, and I paid the price, but I am still very happy with the result.  Next time 2:15! 

For the NTTS’rs I will see you at tomorrow’s workout.   Get ready to run!

Cheers,

-Brandon

Change is Constant

There is one thing that is for certain, the best laid plans rarely play out as we expect them to. Teammates get sick (and thankfully recover!), new teammates show up, and sometimes it all happen right before race day! It wasn’t until the night before the race that I found myself on the same team as Kerry Ward and Dave MacLachlan.

Keep Expectations In Check

Whenever you get into a situation where everyone is new to each other, it helps if everyone involved keeps the expectations to a flexible level. Once you begin understanding the race habits and methods of your fellow teammates, then you can start setting tougher racing goals. This is not to say you should slack or take an easy-road approach simply because you don’t know who you are racing with – that’s what tow lines are for. Go all out, just don’t expect everyone to be at the same fitness level. Go all out, and don’t set rigid, breakable-make-you-cry-expectations.

That’s What Tow Lines Are For

That would be me needing the tow. Hamstring completely seized up on me as we neared the end of the bike course. This is around 4 hours into the race. I was dumbfounded. Cramping SUCKS! I knew I just needed time to let the muscle recover and massage it. Of course I also wasn’t keeping track of how much salt I was taking in nor how much water I was needing, it was hot, my bike is heavy… I have a slew of excuses.

“Need a tow?” Kerry asks.

“YES” I say with relief. So glad Kerry had his tow system ready to go. I quickly reached for the line and hooked on. He pulled me until the cramp subsided.

Race Review

• Bike – Brutal – Up-down-UP, then straight down.
• Kayak – Thanks to SeaTrek for the double rental. It was a bit overkill for our purposes – this boat was made to cut through serious chop. Seeing Mark Manning with his homemade triple has inspired me. I am dusting off my bar-making skills (see Wallace and Heinz) and I am going to build something that will kick Mark’s ass. (I do need to thank Mark and Galen here for helping me take the massive double off of the rack – even if if was at the wrong beach, and thanks again for helping me get it back on!)
• Trek – Awesome. The views and the size of Henry Coe really come out.
• Navigation – I did very little of it, but my impression is that since since we did zero off-trail nav, (nor would we want to because of the drop-offs) is that it was more about strategic thinking in the trail use than it was finding checkpoints in difficult or tricky contours, re-entrants, etc.

Final Results:

• 6th Overall.
• 100 points – all CP’s captured.
• 8700 feet of elevation gain
• Team walked away friends

Summary

I’d race with Dave and Kerry again in a heartbeat. I’d do another Rich race in a heartbeat. I will pause when contemplating another Coe race – but that would be it. That place requires some pause. Then I’d race there. After the pause.

Sea Trek was awesome and very helpful. They were the farthest for me to drive to (within my limits) but they were great.

Notes to self: remember to bring the ankle gators, keep better track of eating and drinking schedules (time to pull out the countdown timer craziness), stay alert to trail changes, bring at least one tow line for each discipline, take at least one team picture – doh!