BOULDER TRIATHLON CAMPS FILLING UP:
The Newbie Triathlon Camp, June 5-8 and the Olympic Triathlon Camp June 12-15 are filling up quickly. We have individuals who are planning on doing longer races also attending the Olympic camp to learn as much information as possible from the best coaches and athletes around. You can see the "Schedule of Events," learn more information and you can now sign up for the camps online at http://weshobsonperformance.com/camps/index.htm. As a special for you, bring another camp participant and you each save $25! Room selection at the Lookout Bed & Breakfast Inn is becoming limited so reserve a room soon. While you are at the site, check out the Ironman distance week long camps tailored to your specific group.
DESIGN A WES HOBSON PERFORMANCE LOGO!
Wes Hobson Performance needs your creativity. We are looking for a new company logo. The winner will receive a three pack of Triathlon ~Through the Eyes of the Elite, Triathlon ~ Racing Faster and Rides: The Rockies. If you already have the films, then they are free gifts to give to friends. Please submit logos by May 2 to wes@weshobsonperformance.com.
TRACK WORKOUTS ~ HOW HARD?
Now that you are approaching race season, you most likely are going to the track once a week. The track is an excellent tool to check your pace, better associate your heart rate with pace and to train with others of greater or lesser ability than you.
I used to think that at track sessions, the objective is to go all out and "kill" yourself. In high school, our cross-country team would be doing up to 14 X 800 on the 5:00. With 8-10 ego driven boys wanting to prove themselves, the lead four of us would run these between 2:20-2:25. In the short term, this provided the most rapid improvement as long as you stayed injury free. Knowing that the cross-country season for high school was really only three months since many of us did other sports such as swimming in the preceding months, maybe our coach knew what he was doing. I carried this mentality into triathlon and for years I would go to the track and "kill" myself. Eventually, I got to the point that I dreaded going to the track, beginning not just the morning of, but days before the session. My philosophy changed in the mid-90s as I trained with other top pros such as Molina and Allen. Their mentality was not to go all out, but to create the endurance and/or speed needed for triathlon.
It is very rare that we run all-out in a triathlon for an extended period. Most races, you need to pace yourself and you are already tired from swimming and biking. At the end of the track session, you should feel like you could do one more interval when you are done. This thinking allowed me to have a quicker recovery for future workouts. It also made me enjoy the track session more. Sure it is fun to go balls out sometimes and it is necessary. But, it isn't needed all of the time.
SWIM WORKOUTS IN A BINDER NOW ON SALE:
WHP is now selling the Workouts in a Binder: Swim Workouts for Triathletes. Authored by coach Gale Bernhardt, the workouts are a useful waterproof tool to have with you pool side. The binder is designed for different workouts depending on where you are in the season. For a limited time, WHP is offering the book for $4 below retail price. You can read more about and purchase it at click here.
CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME FOR ATHLETES:
I had Chronic Fatigue that you can read about at http://weshobsonperformance.com/articles/other/fatigue.htm. The article below is from someone who recently wrote me. He is an avid triathlete, but not a pro who trains 25+ hours a week. Many stresses, not just training can put you in a state of fatigue that is hard to correct. Although research has been done on chronic fatigue. It is hard to determine and even harder to cure. Are you on track to possible chronic fatigue such as this person?
Dear Wes,
I am 35 years old, an active triathlete since 1998, an airline pilot in my profession.
I am 182 cm tall and weigh 73 kg.
Best performance:
Olympic Triathlon 2:11
Swim - around 24 min 1500 m
Bike - around 1:05 hr , 40 k
Run - around 39 min , 10 k
Training volumes:
At peak time I swim 10 k, bike 200-250 k, and run 50 k per week of training.
The last five years I have participated in 15 Olympic triathlons and 2 half ironmans (the last one more than 2 years ago).
Work schedule:
I am a pilot and on average I fly 15-17 days a month. I fly all over the world (America, Asia, Europe, Africa). Around 5-6 days a month I fly during nighttime thus going to sleep at 5-7 am. I also fly F-16's as a reserve airforce pilot (approximately 3 days a month)
I used to train twice a day, almost every day. I used to rest one day a week. I slept 6-8 hours a day (sometimes separated sleeps). My nutrition is very good .I take vitamins: C, E, Q10 , Magnesium, B complex. My health/blood tests have tested normal except WBC count which was around 4.0 the last 2 years with high lymphocytes (47-48) and low Neutrophils (1.36%). I do at least two tests a year due to being a pilot
Symptoms:
Since January 2002, on three occasions, separated by 2-4 month, I encountered a significant drop in performance. I could point the exact day the symptoms appeared each time.
Symptoms were:
Fatigue - mainly during exercise
Elevated morning heart rate (from 38 to 45)
Rise of 15-20 beats during exercise at a known effort
Slow recovery
During these three occasions, I reduced my training volumes by at least 50% with no intensity training at all. The symptoms disappeared after 2-6 weeks. It was diagnosed by my physician and my self as some kind of virus. After the symptoms disappeared, I resumed normal training schedule. My performance and general feeling were very good between the events.
At the beginning of December 2002, one week prior to the most important race of the year and in peak shape, the symptoms appeared again (I felt it immediately the morning it happened ). I did not race and had a full rest for ten days. Since then, and for the last three months, I did not recover and the symptoms this time are much more severe. The first month after it happened I did the same as I did before but after one month my health condition deteriorated. I slept ten hours at night and I could hardly drag myself out of bed and I fell asleep again in the afternoon. I could not train at all because my heart rate, when jogging at a pace of usually 130 bpm, was now 165+ (my OBLA).
Other symptoms were:
Fatigue during the whole day
Morning heart rate - 50 bpm
Headaches
Dizziness
Depression
Very slow recovery from any effort
Eco Doppler check was o.k.
All the Medical doctors that I had seen said I am healthy.
Two Exercise medical doctors diagnosed me with over training syndrome.
The last one had treated me with Zinc, Copper and Magnesium shots (Trace Elements MT4 , 2.5ml to the vain ).
For the last eight weeks I am not training at all. I am walking 3-5 times a week for 30-45 minutes. My heart rate while walking at 7.5kph is around 120. There is a rise in heart rate each time I do some more intense daily action (as climbing the stairs). My general daily feeling is not improving and not becoming worse. Usually I am not tired during the day although there are some kind of cycles in which I feel worse or more fatigued. When I have these feelings, they are usually till the afternoon after which they become better.
I am writing to you because I am uncertain about my diagnosis since the beginning.
I had trained much harder during 2000/2001 and had never encountered any of those symptoms. I feel that regular MDs do not understand the issue and we lack experts in exercise and sport science in Israel.
Sport is my life and I miss it very much ! I will be very grateful if you could help me in any way from your knowledge and experience.
Thank you in advance,
Wes' Response:
You seem to have a lot of the symptoms of CF that I had. The cure is that there hasn't been a definitive cure. I think I still have lingering affects of chronic fatigue for the past eight years since coming down with it. After CF, I could never be the same Wes Hobson of old where I could go and punish myself with training. I went from training 20-30 hours per week consistently to 18 hours max per week. I also couldn't do as much intensity.
However, I was able to train and to enjoy my training as I still do now. You need to realize that you have a lot of stresses on you that are not just training stresses such as work, relationships, training, etc.
You need to value each one as a stress and not overdo it. As much as I would like to inspire you and say everything will be great, I can't do that and I have to be honest with my opinion. I would recommend that you give yourself time and relax. Forget about racing this season in triathlons. Train when you want to and don't set any athletic goals for the next six months. It sounds discouraging, but I think if your goals are longer than a year, it will be beneficial for you.
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"He who has a reason why can bear almost any how."
Nietzsche
