15 years ago, I was trying to hang with my elite competition. These days, my focus is keeping up with this guy. My training partner reminds me of my younger self.
What one thing, if it happened, would change everything?
Protein, especially with good fats, moderates my appetite and keeps my digestion happy.
Dairy
I tolerate it well but I’m careful not use as a sugar crutch.
There can be a lot of added sugar in dairy (especially “vegan” yogurts).
There is information in cravings and binges.
Cravings => usually a depletion signal. High-performance athletes need to train the ability to process food for fuel. Long sessions provide enough depletion, even when eating.
Binges => a sign of too much – too much intensity, too much stress, too much load.
To make progress with your body, and counter your binges/cravings, trade stress for the ability to lose fat.
A stable weight is a sign you have your act together.
Get to a stable, strong weight and stay there.
Effective nutrition is defined by what is not there:
Swings
Cravings
Binges
Injures
Illness
Where to focus:
Eat less sugar – sweeteners are everywhere. Do not restrict whole fruits, they fill you up and reduce processed food intake.
Protein with every meal – all day long
Incremental change – lifetime journey!
Start by improving the quality of your non-training nutrition
Appropriate levels of carbohydrate – fuel the burn
Most athletes would be best served by doing the “warm-up” – the aerobic benchmarking – then hit the trails for a relaxed hour of running.
When I did this workout, I’d run a 2:51 marathon (off the bike) ten weeks earlier at Ironman New Zealand. My LT1 numbers were creeping ever closer to LT2… Scott Molina wanted to give my run training more “headroom.” Scott was right.
What would I do differently? Test lactate: baseline, LT1, LT1+10bpm and end of every 2nd 800. The La- data would have give pace/HR more context.
If you read to the end then you’ll see we were thinking about “the next trip” – Clas and I never got that done.
When YOU get the chance to take the “trip of a lifetime,” I hope you take it.
Take your shot.
gRAAM – Trans USA Day Sixty-One aiken, south carolina
Wasn’t sure how this workout was going to go. I was feeling pretty good for most of yesterday. Had a false start at one school and also had to negotiate with the facilities manager mid-session. Went like this…
FM – Ya’all CAN’T be here! B (rippin’ it) – Talk to him, I’m running. G – I’ll be right there, sir.
FM – Eye, got signs everywhere. No Tress-passin’ G – Well, that big sign says open to the public. FM – Eye, don’t care what that sign says, I put up them other signs yisterday. We be sprayin the grass tamarra!
G – Oh sorry about that. That gate over there was open. FM – That was the mower man. Told him to leave it open last night. G – We didn’t want to cause any problems.
FM – You ain’t from ‘round here, are ya? G – Nope, we’re from Canada. FM – That’s a long way. Just passin’ through, eh? G – Yep, riding to Hilton Head tomorrow. FM – Well, ah guess it’s OK. Just head out that same gate. Ya looked liked ya needed a break anyhow. See ya.
My session went like this..
Concrete Track Low 80s, moderate to high humidity, light to moderate winds Two Miles Easy Two Miles AeT, 3:51/3:55/3:57 — avgs 141/142/143 Three K AeT+10, 3:46/3:46/3:46 — avgs 151/152/153 Four Strides
Not sure why I popped the HR on 5/6. It was pretty hot, maybe I was dehydrated RI was mid 50s to around a minute on the 200, HR might have got a little under 150 but not all the time
2:44 is 34 min 10K pace, I think. Pretty solid aerobic numbers. Morning weight was 78KG. You know, I am aerobically faster and more powerful than I’ve ever been. I know that light is useful but it can’t be the whole story. Baron thinks that I am lighter than I think I am (not sure what that means, it’s the same scale as last summer).
A little bit about why I like this session so much.
First up, I need at least a mile to warm my legs up. During big IM training, it can take a 30 min spin plus the two miles for me to get rolling. Even though I was shelled a couple of days ago, I was pretty fresh (on my standards) for this session.
The warm-up is 10.6K including the strides (and their RI). It lets me check in on my key metrics of AeT Pace (steady state) and AeT+10 Pace (what I like to call max steady state). It also gives me a big dose of running that is at (or above) IM pace/effort. It does it in a way than supports and enhances my run endurance, cardiac capacity, and leg turnover. Also, if I have an inability to get to LT then that is a clear indicator of a substantial training fatigue.
I’ve been doing this session (in various forms) for over a year – I two years ago, I used to do Yasso 800s at a much faster pace but now feel that protocol is sub-optimal for IM (too fast, not enough volume, too stressful). The numbers above represent my best yet performance for this workout.
While a variation of this workout is useful. When I review most athlete’s training performance vis-à-vis their workout performance, they would simply be best riding more and doing the 10K warm-up section as a week day aerobic test set. Why? Because most folks are running IM so far from their AeT pace that their true limiter lies in steady state bike fitness. So they are simply getting themselves tired for no benefit if they did the main set above.
The track also provides a good opportunity to experiment a bit with cadence and body position – quick light cadence, controlled speed, relaxed speed, long spine, tall balanced athlete.
I’m glad that I have some sea-level data to benchmark against my Boulder numbers.
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Ironspeed
We threw the Baron on the track this morning. I was a little nervous because he’s a real racehorse and you never know what will happen on the track. However, it was a unique chance for us to get some data when he’s heading into a race.
15 min easy 30 min goal IM Pace 15 min goal IM effort 5 min bring it a little over LT 10 min easy
AeT Pace (140) = 3:40 per K, 5:54 per mile Max Steady State (150) = 3:33 per K, 5:40 per mile Total session was a Half Marathon run in 1:18:40, 145 avg
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We said good bye to Ben today – like Barry, he found the track session challenging. Muscular fatigue possibly combining with the beginnings of a sore throat made it tough for him to elevate his HR. I’ll let him tell his story but I will give him _respect_ for making it the whole way!
Well done, Amigo.
I’ve extended an invitation to him to come out to Boulder and hang for a bit. Maybe he’ll come out for more action. He reciprocated with an invite to hang at the spacious Casa del Travis during the September Hell Camp.
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After we dropped Ben at the airport. Baron and I headed to the pool. We each had our own lane in a VERY fine 50m pool – Augusta Aquatic Center if you ever get to town. Very nice, $4 for a swim.
LCM with sleeveless wetsuit 400 easy every 4th back 4×100 on 1:30 (1:25 to 1:20) 4×50 on 1:00 (40 to 32) 20×100 on 1:40 (first 10 avg 1:19, second 10 avg 1:17/18 – all three stroke breathing) 450 easy (booted out due to lightning)
No lightning rod on the roof so we were evicted part way through the final 1K steady finale!
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B.D.Gae
Buh-duh-gay! What’s buh-duh-gay? Baron drills gordo across Europe. Even when nuked, I’ve been enjoying this trip. My life might not always be “fun” but it’s certainly rewarding.
At first, we were thinking about Rome to Mockfjärd but that seemed like a long way and I’ve been to Northern Germany in April (wet!).
Next year is Baron’s Zofingen focus year so I was thinking that some climbing might make sense. Also, this trip started getting a bit ‘old’ around eight weeks so, perhaps, that’s a decent length for an extended tour.
So right now, we are considering Gordo’s Latin Extravaganza – start with a swim in the Atlantic (Portugal or Spain) and then rip every major Southern European Mountain Range. Skip the camping and go the pensionne route, perhaps.
I’ve done some riding in the Alpes Maritimes in May before – that would be nice. We could also do Epic France recon and bag most the grand tour climbs (Spain, France, Italy).
Just an idea, for now.
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Final Thoughts
Not much left to go. Hope you’ve enjoyed the ride.
Had a little bit of Krishnamurti run through my head over the last few days. “We can never be deceived if we don’t want anything.” So true, whenever I feel deceived then I try to look to what I was seeking to possess in the situation.
Do you ever feel you are behind? That you don’t have enough? That you might run out?
What to do?
Make vague feelings real by writing down some specifics.
Then get to work.
ONE => Is this a Reference Set issue?
If I spend time in Aspen then my “needs” escalate, and my self-assessment “declines.”
Same deal in Boulder, but it’s from a fitness point of view.
Others might have vanity triggers in places like LA, or on Instagram!
Feelings are sensitive to environment. The same life, done somewhere else, will be different.
Feelings of envy, fear and anxiety are sensitive to images – careful with environment, turn off cable news, get off Facebook/Instagram.
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TWO => Is this a Skills issue?
A 35 yo surgeon with $250,000 of education debt, is in a different position than most. The surgeon is likely to earn themselves into financial security.
Where does my current job track lead?
Do I need retraining?
Armed with additional skills, it is easier to move up the income ladder?
Do I need to do the same job for a higher bidder?
What is the market rate for my skill set?
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THREE => Is this a Spending issue?
It’s not always spending… but sometimes it is, particularly when spending isn’t generating satisfaction.
If you have the skills & the salary, but are left feeling uneasy, then a family financial review can make sense.
These discussions are HIGHLY emotional. I recommend a skilled facilitator.
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FOUR => Is this a Time Horizon issue?
Back to the surgeon… highly skilled, employed, spending under control… the situation is going to play out just fine.
Pay down debt
Keep spending in check
Conservative monthly investment program
15 years along, the family is in a strong position. They had doubts, I did not.
I was asked, what would I have done?
Starting over at 40 yo
Core Job matches my highest paying skill set. Medicine, tech, finance, aviation… track into something that pays well.
The Core Job enables me to borrow long for a Core Investment. Buy real estate in a zip code with great public schools and a diverse local economy.
Secondary Job in an area of personal interest. It’s what many do with coaching/consulting.
Side Projects with Equity Upside. I would be looking for opportunities to invest (primarily time) in situations with financial upside. Do enough of these and something is likely to hit.
One new skill each year – coding, online marketing, blogging, video content, copywriting, language, ministry, education, graphic design, photography… stacked across a decade… powerful.
Core Job
Secondary Job
Equity Upside
Continuous Learning and Skill Acquisition
I have a friend, who did all of the above.
Around 40 yo, they were divorced
Then their employer went bust
Then they found our their pension had invested in the employer
So the pension went bust…
Long story short, a rapid journey from “set” to “f*%^ed”.
They could see “effective net worth” was negative due to financial obligations related to the divorce.
What I saw for a decade…
Three jobs: two of the jobs had flexible scheduling. Time off was used to work continuously (7/52/365). The third job was consulting, which was done inside the daily gaps.
Modest spending: given the income rolling in, not much went out.
Heavy investment: every single month, buy financial assets. Take overtime, buy more. Bonuses and financial windfalls, buy more. Buy, buy, buy.
This path isn’t for everyone – it comes with a cost in terms of family life. You need a spouse, who is completely on board. It’s a team effort.
A decade of grinding and the family is in a strong position. Now, the challenge may be to shift away from financial assets and build multigenerational Human Capital.
Final Word
Think deeply about Reference Set
There is a weak link between financial assets and life satisfaction
We never get time back
Too often wants are driven by external influences
Know what feeds your soul – write it down, take your shot
Make the target clear to yourself – for me => an active, outdoor life sharing experiences with friends and family
I wrote this in Memphis, the ride into town was the greatest tailwind, and scariest bridge crossing of my life!
What I call “tempo” is now known as the Heavy Domain.
The names have changed, the training errors remain.
Then, and now, athletes hinder their development by capping their aerobic gains.
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I’ll share the “20K Track Workout” (mentioned below) next Saturday – it’s a great set that will surface useful data for you, and your athletes.
Big Picture => my advice (then and now)… repeat the week, for a while… only then will we have the basis for a conversation.
Old school navigation – we avoided cities as much as possible
gRAAM – Trans USA Day Forty-Seven memphis, tennessee
Reviewed my track sessions I appear to be well ahead of last year. This is pretty exciting because I did ZERO track work over the winter.
Anyhow, Scott and I have another moderate session planned for next week and then we’ll do my standard (20K) “track” workout to see where I am at. That will be about a week and a half out from Triple T. Should be a good indicator for me.
Baron says that there’s no way that I am ten pounds over race weight. He thinks it’s more like six.
We said good-bye to Barry this morning. Over the next couple of days, I expect that he’ll pull his thoughts together on the experience for InsideTri.Com – should make interesting reading. We threw everything we could at him and he just kept bouncing back. Fourteen days of monster training is really the furthest that I’d recommend anyone goes so it was probably for the best that he headed back to Oregon – even if it would have been nice to have him along.
Season Pacing & Race Preparation
Some of you might be getting fired up reading about these entries. I’d urge caution on trying to mimic the training that the Baron and I are laying down. To be honest, we are a little surprised ourselves that we are surviving. Yesterday, I wrote this to one of my crew that frequently does big day training and is aiming for a late season peak.
Patience — it’s a long season so don’t extend yourself “way out” in May. Keep it rolling, keep it fun, keep it large but… keep it reasonable (for us at least).
Tempo — aerobic tempo is a waste of time for you, me and everyone. When you leave your steady zone you need a reason to be out of there. Big Gear, Strength Hills, Race, TT — probably the only reason for Tempo bike and run work. Otherwise you are having fun going fast but simply making yourself more tired — not more fit.
Weeks — No more than 12-14 “on days” without a 3-5 day recovery cycle. Even with that you should have 2-3 easy days in the on-cycle. Otherwise you won’t get the recovery that you need to bounce back from the outstanding training you are laying down.
Also yesterday, I sat down with Steve (our Little Rock host) and talked through my thoughts on the training that he needed for his first Half IM at the end of the summer. Key points that might be relevant to you:
Basic Week – build a basic week that is “doable” within your life and agreeable to your wife (husband).
Consistency – repeat the basic week for 15 weeks.
Key Workouts – plan a sane progression of volume for your key sessions.
Intensity – insert blocks of steady into your longer workouts. Learn _even_ endurance workout pacing.
Swim Goal – get comfortable with swimming 1.2 miles without using a lot of energy. What you do is far less important than simply swimming 3x per week every single week for 15 weeks.
Bike Goal – build your long ride up to six hours to train your body’s aerobic system.
Run Goal – stay healthy, run 90 minutes once a week, run off the bike for time management and consistency. Slow down and aim for a consistent period of pain-free running.
Focus – ignore all the various ideas and tips that everyone throws your way. Repeat Your Week. Repeat Your Week. Once you finish the race, you’ll have some data and will know more about whether you enjoy training and racing long.
Sammy came up with a great term that I’d like to share with you. No doubt the sports scientists will beg to differ but (deep down) I kinda get a kick out of their attempts to save the world from it’s own ignorance.
Lactate Bruising – the dead legged feeling from smacking out the intensity early in a TT, race or workout.
I’ve often noticed that any sustained periods over LT will have a big negative impact on late workout or race performance. That’s with my own training. For Racing Long, I’ve extended that observation to “take some time to give a REALISTIC assessment of your average race intensity for the whole day. Bear in mind that your medium of movement becomes less dense as your day progresses. So, you’d better have a clear reason for exceeding average race intensity, especially in the first third of your day.”
ITM Riding
Baron does a pretty good gordo-imitation. Get him to show it to you some time. He’s especially good at imitating my run form and when I’ve had a lot of coffee.
The conditions today are what Baron calls “I’m The Man” riding. We had favourable tailwinds and he was content to let me set the pace all day. So I get fired up on cola and Dr. Pepper – sit up front, ride 40-43 KM/h and go…
Hi! I’m gordo… I’m _THE MAN_… I’m going lower… I need a 58… I feel GREAT!… And on… And on…
And I laugh out loud and sing along to my MP3 player.
Baron does a good imitation of that. Makes me smile. Unless my back’s locked up – which hasn’t happened for a while.
Andy From Memphis
Andy rode out into a MONSTER headwind to meet us. He’s also set us up with his wireless network, a couple of spare beds and a sweet pad! An excellent set-up and very much appreciated by the crew.
There won’t be a State Line photo for entering Tennessee. If you’ve ever driven the I-40 bridge into town then you’ll understand our reluctance to stop…
A – You wanna stop? G – Dude, it’s hammer time – get me out of here!
Top Three scary situations for the trip.
Didn’t run
Swim was SCY and courtesy of Steve’s club (one heck of a nice guy) 200 fr, 200 alt by 50 bk/br, 200 IM, 200 easy, 50 kick/100 fr/50 kick 15×150 fr on two mins arriving on 1:55 100 easy 4×100 IM on 1:40 arriving on 1:30 5×200 on 2:50 arriving on 2:40
Ride was 250K over about 6.5 hours of ride time. Flat, hot and humid – we were grateful to have Lance ride us out of Little Rock to make sure that we got on our way.
Reduce, and redirect, resentmentraising young kids is tough! We’ve had to “fire” different childcare people… but the marriage endures. Better to “fire” the babysitter, than me!
Kind, athletic spouse – create space so your spouse can be the person you’d like to build a life alongside. Never let anyone sacrifice their life for the “benefit” of the family/marriage.
Stay well back from the edge – there were times when I disliked being a father. Create space so you don’t act on negative feelings. ALL feelings are temporary! My marriage, and my family, needs me to not-act on temporary feelings. It is never OK for me to blow my family up.
Create happy memories – I’ve spent the equivalent of a very nice SUV on trips with my wife. Bora Bora, Napali Coast, Paris, London… these are some of the happiest memories of her life.
Over long time horizons, these shared experiences have continued to pay dividends. Much more than I expected.
Lesson: my spouse is likely to connect, and find meaning, in ways I don’t fully understand.
Some nuts & bolts about removing friction…
My body looks better when I eat salad => I spend $2,500 a year on prepared salads – I don’t care if I throw a bit of food out. I want it easily available, always.
Related, a luxury good is the ability to not price check the person doing the shopping. If quality & availability matter then provide an incentive for what you want to have happen.
I’m a better person when I train in the morning => At replacement value, there’s $28,000 worth of fitness equipment located where I live.
Weights and cardio… ZERO friction between me and what I need to do for health.
Many of my best friends, now, have kids => make it very easy for them to visit me, or visit them (with a kid).
Mantra: Spend money and time seeing good people
Who to vist? Simple filter…
Do they make me laugh?
Do they help me think better?
Do they set an example for the type of man I want to be?
Some do all three – recruit them!
Remove as many micro-triggers as possible => Twice a year I write a large check to my wife. From that check all the small stuff comes out of our family. My job is to make sure that check gets funded. Her job is to take the pain of those micro-payments.
Do not micromanage my spouse! Agree the master budget and trust your partner to run their slice-of-the-pie. I get one number a month from my wife, net cash out. That’s all I need.
Drop my worst environment – when I was younger, it was commuting. I paid a premium to live close to work. These days… driving. The goal for my family is to get my driving down to ZERO.
Anyhow, know your worst environment and throw some money at it to reduce your exposure. This is a luxury good with a good payoff… your family gets a better version of you.
Beware… you might be hooked on the drama of suffering through for the “benefit of the family” – I’m calling BS on that. Just like your health, you need to own the outcome. Your family needs the best version of yourself. You need it too!
Human Capital over long time horizons. Supported by:
Nutrition
Exercise
Connection
Mood management
Conflict reduction
None of them make me appear rich, all of them contribute towards True Wealth.
The Block phase lasts ~17 weeks – NVDP uses Swedish 5:2 loading implying (at most) 85 days “on” and (at least) 34 days “off”.
Across each Olympic Cycle, there are “85” days that are special. The other days are foundational & recovery.
Intense internal focus => at times, never for long.
Even for Superman, life mostly happens outside the arena
Some nuggets in the podcast:
Threshold Block:
early-week longer intervals set the work-rate across the week – recovery is added to preserve a good enough work rate – when work rate cannot be hit, recover
seek to gather TIME “fast enough” rather than progressing targets – key attitude for error prevention
Coaching expertise can help quantify “good enough.” NVDP carves most everything else away.
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Repeat The Week:
NVDP knows key sessions, by DAY, inside his 5:2 week
There is an early week expectation, and a late week expectation
Higher work-rates not always better – experience with bicarb letting him train “beyond the limit” forcing additional recovery the next week – [For me: a reminder to respect natural limits.]
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The Bike: I suspect we will see more athletes using supplemental cycling for fitness (metabolic, aerobic, threshold) – this would work for both running and swimming – if you are a “large” runner or a swimmer with limited access to pool time… then the bike seems life a useful supplement to your plan.
People are going to figure this out. Might you be one of the people? Athletes lead the process.
Clinicians: before you add “running”… keep the “walking” and add “cycling.”
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Always watching has a cost.
As NVDP says in the Manifesto… “There is a cost of everything.”
How much of my watching is making my team faster?
Might constant monitoring of The Work be creating a net-negative cost?
There will be times when you need to trust yourself and resist the urge to count.
In our own lives:
Project – where do I want to take myself?
Work – a long period of enjoying what it takes, with ample recovery
Block – 2-4 month focus-periods, every 3-4 years, intense focus, ample recovery
Session – what one thing, if you get right, will change everything?
The above approach, with buy in from your family, is VERY sustainable!
Feel The Byrn 
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