Computrainer Special Discount

Computrainer is well established as the "trainer of choice" for indoor riding. Guaranteed to improve your cycling performance, these units give you a challenging workout, provide you with key information (including power data) and are well known for their patented Spin Scan analysis of your pedal stroke.

Order a Computrainer through Inspired Performance Coaching before December 31^st and save $250, plus take advantage of interest free financing if you choose to pay for your unit over the next year. More information.

Information about Ironman Lake Placid 2011

For 2011, a number of North Jersey athletes will be training together, following a similar (but individually customized) training plan. The plan will break down into details of daily swim, bike, run or strength and conditioning workouts. Training will begin on the Monday following Thanksgiving. The group, however, will be limited in size and only six (6) slots are still available. Read more!

Congratulations, Jenny Zhang

Congratulations to Jenny for a great performance at Age Group Nationals in Tuscaloosa. Jenny landed a spot on Team USA to compete at the World Championship in Beijing next September!

Inspired Performance Athletes Continue to Kick Butt

Congratulations to Amy Broadwell who just completed her first Ironman at Lake Placid. Amy kicked butt and achieved her goal times in the swim and bike and although slowed down by a migraine, still managed to finish off the run and complete the event in a highly respectable time. Bobby Cooper recently took 2nd place in his age group in the CA Police and Fire Games. Jenny Zhang won 2nd place in her age group at the NJ State Triathlon. Great job, all of you and a nice payoff for your hard work!

Congratulations Bobby Cooper, Rich Kiser and Jennie Zhang

Congratulations to Inspired Performance Athletes who are having a great season so far. Bobby Cooper placed 3rd in his age group in the FLOW 2 mile swim in California. He is preparing for IM Arizona this year (his A Race). Bobby followed up his 3rd place swim with a 3rd place tri finish a week later. Rich Kiser placed 1st in his age group in the Highline Hustle Triathlon in Grand Junction, CO. Jenny Zhang placed 2nd in her age group at the Mooseman 70.3 triathlon in Bristol, NH and then returned to NJ to place 3rd at the Philly Tri in what can only be described as "hellish" conditions on the course! Great job.

Greatest 3 days of training

Glad to see that our Triathlon Training Camp at Lake Placid is starting to build momentum. We're looking forward to a nice group of people training for various distances in one of the most beautiful venues there is. For more information about the camp click here.

Varying Brick Workouts to your benefit

A combination (or brick) workout that combines two or more disciplines into one training session pays big
dividends, for multisports racing and provides physiological as well as psychological training for the stresses of
race day. Many athletes use the “same old brick” as a staple in their training plan, however,
workouts can be combined in an infinite number of ways and should be structured to
make them suitable given a variety of factors that should be considered. read more...

Maintaining Performance During Longer Training

As most people start ramping up their training during the Spring Season, it becomes increasingly important to pay close attention to your "fuel intake". Lately after group rides with athletes I've started working with, I've been asking how much nutrition they took in and in what form. I'm surprised at the response I get from most people who either have no idea of how much they've taken in, or who dramatically fell short on their needs. What's not surprising is their comment that they started to fade toward the end of the ride.

Following a smart nutrition plan on your longer training rides and runs is critical to your success. A lot has been written about how to estimate your needs and here are some common threads:

• Depending on body size and intensity level, most people will need somewhere around 275 to 325 Kcal per hour of carbohydrate replacement. Start on the lower side and see how you feel. Tweak the amount you take in until you feel good throughout the ride or run.
• Fuel up continually. According to "Exercise Physiology" (McArdle, Katch & Katch, c.2001), the body can process a maximum of 1.2 grams of Carbohydrate per minute. This equates to a little under 300 Kcal per hour, but given the limit of how much can be processed per minute, it becomes obvious that you have to eat/drink continually during that hour and not wait for 60 minutes to consume 300 Kcal (in which case you can expect a bit of stomach upset!).
• Practice the form of energy that mostly agrees with you. I use all liquid and find that easy to process without stomach distress. Some people tolerate energy bars well or take gels. What works best for you under high stress loads is what you should use.
• Differentiate what works during easy training from what works during high stress/race conditions. It most likely will be different!

Once you start to keep track, it's not that complicated. But it is crucial to your success (and to feeling good) with endurance sports.

Training in Lake Placid

Plans for our Annual Triathlon Training Camp in Lake Placid are coming along nicely. We have a special package at the Northwoods Inn for our Campers and rooms in town are no longer available due to the Annual Horse Show going on during the same weekend as well as the Tupper Lake Half IM race. Camp will start on Thursday evening, June 24th with registration and a reception. Friday morning we'll get into Mirror Lake to swim before returning to the Hotel for a continental breakfast (included with camp registration) and workshop. We'll then get out onto our bikes for a fully supported ride (various distances). Camp will conclude at about 2PM on Sunday with individual training assessments.

Every year we have a number of people who are tweaking their training for an Ironman distance event and also people who are not training at the Iron level, but want to experience this beautiful venue. We will have something for everyone and everyone will be fully supported (beautiful bike loops of 25, 30, 42, 56, 112 miles). There is also a shorter 10 mile ride for those just getting into the swing of riding.

Camp registration is $179 until May 15th and $199 thereafter. We include continental breakfast each day, dinner on Saturday night, tee shirts, goodies, fully supported training, individual training assessments and special activities being planned.

There are lots of activities for family members or friends who may not be training with you. Possibilities include a visit to the North Pole, drive up to the top of Mount Marcy, ride on the Olympic bobsled course, visit the ski jumps, shop, hike, swim and on and on. The horseshow is also a main activity in town during this week!


I encourage everyone interested to register early. Rooms in town are booked up and we have a limited block with special rates at the Northwoods Inn, which is right in the middle of town!

Call me or email me with any questions: chuck@inspiredperformancecoaching.com or 201.506.3300.

Recovering Faster

I don't earn my living by selling supplements, but I do occasionally come across a product that makes a meaningful difference. When I do, I recommend it, and if available, I'll get the product and offer it to my clients at a discounted price. Over the past two years, I've been using a product called RecoverEase to come back from hard training. As one example, when I started using RecoverEase, I did a ride from my home in Ramsey, NJ to Long Beach Island, about 154.3 miles (but who counts those tenths?). I used RecoverEase and followed a good nutrition and hydration recovery plan the following day, when I ran an easy 5 miles and by the day after, I ran 12 miles feeling remarkably good! Since then, I've been using this product, which for the most part is a combination of amino acids needed for recovery (and one that you may have heard of for loading before competition- L-glutamine). Many of the ingredients are the same as in Endurox R4, but this is a capsule form product that is much more conveniently handled and no mixing is required. If you like R4, I think you'll like RecoverEase better.

I am able to offer my clients more than 25% off on this product. A bottle of 120 capsules normally sells for $39.99 plus shipping when ordered through the company. Order from me directly, and I'll get it to you for $29.99 with no shipping fees.

As I said, I'm not a supplement sales guy, but this is a product that I've used and I believe it will make a difference for you. That's why I've set up a relationship with the company to order in bulk at a price that allows you to try a bottle ad a pretty nice discount. For more about the product, go to: http://www.wickedfastsportsnutrition.com/p-1-recover-ease.aspx

To order, contact me at chuck@inspiredperformancecoaching.com

Congratulations Paula Newby-Fraser, Barb Linquist, Valerie Silk, Carl Thomas and Jim Curl

As Chair of the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame Committee, I had the privilege of inducting 5 really great people of our sport into the Hall of Fame last weekend. Paula Newby-Fraser needs no introduction, with her 24 Ironman wins including 8 in Kona. Barb Linquist was ranked #1 in the world for 2 consecutive years and won a huge proportion of her career total races. Valerie Silk was the original owner of Ironman in Kona and is responsible for moving the race to the Big Island and making it what it is today, before selling it to WTC.

Jim Curl and Carl Thomas may not be much a household word as the others, but these guys were visionaries who are largely responsible for Triathlon becoming what it is today, and specifically for it being an Olympic Event. Carl Thomas told the story at the Hall of Fame induction of how he came up with the race distances we today call the Olympic Distance.

When he went to the IOC in 1988 to petition for Triathlon to be an Olympic Sport, he wanted the support of the swimmers, the cyclists and the runners. So, he chose the 1500 meter swim, which is the longest distance in competitive swimming, 40km for the bike since that's the gold standard time trial distance for cyclists and the 10km run, for its popularity in competitive running. He also chose metric since, well, the whole world is on the metric system other than the US and UK! Before doing this, there was no real standard distance for triathlon, except for the distances of the US Triathlon Series, founded and developed by Carl Thomas and Jim Curl. The distances prior to Thomas' visit to the IOC were 2km swimming, 40km cycling and 15km running, a distance selected by them because it would produce finishing times that were comparable to the finishing time for a marathon!

After 24 years of racing, I never knew that story until the induction ceremony, although racing in the USTS is what really got me involved in the sport!

Running in Cold Weather

If you're in Northeastern US right now, you're doing your best to stay warm. Last night I drove up to Killington to check on our house there, and the weather forecast for today was for high temps about -5! And windy!

So how do conditions like this impact your training? I've heard from countless people how running outside in temperatures cooler than 20 degrees can freeze your lungs! Well, that's just not so. The body has an incredible ability to warm the air before it gets to your lungs. While you do have to be prepared for cold conditions, there's no compelling reason why you're limited to the treadmill.

First thing, dress in layers. A good tech fabric shirt as the first layer will wick moisture from the skin. A mid layer to trap warm air is critical to being comfortable. Then, your outer layer should be a wind proof fabric. Wear two layers on your legs. A pair of tights against your skin will help manage moisture and a pair of wind proof pants will keep you legs warm. One pair of fairly heavy socks should be fine on your feet. The most crucial items of clothing will be gloves and a warm hat (like an old wool ski hat). If you can keep body heat from escaping through your head and extremities, you'll be surprised at how warm you'll stay.

Once you have your clothes laid, do a warm up routine before getting fully dressed. A very important element to running injury-free in cold weather is to keep your leg muscles warm. Starting out with increased circulations which results from a warm up routine will get you ahead of the curve. Cold muscles are much more likely to cramp or knot than muscles that are warm and supple.

Running is a huge limiter for me, but when I'm coaching on the mountain at Killington, I almost always run home from the locker room at the end of the day. And those runs where I'm generating a great head of steam on a very cold day are some of my favorite experiences. Enjoy the outdoors!

January Training Off to a Good Start

Well, with a repair to my rotator cuff out of the way, I'm starting to get into a good rhythm of training. The shoulder work was mostly cleaning out scar tissue and bone spurs, as well as doing a decompression (removal of some bone to make some room for the muscles in the rotator cuff). The tendon was mostly intact, so no long term recovery is needed.

So, I'm thinking about my goals for this coming race season and wanting to get faster on the bike. My game plan is to build a huge aerobic base through January and February, but not ignore some work I need to do to increase my speed. Working primarily with power this year, I'm monitoring my wattage output, having measured my Functional Threshold Power (FTP). My endurance rides are primarily about 70-75% of FTP and my shorter rides during the week include some intervals at FTP (e.g. 20 min warm up in power zones 1 & 2/ 2 x 10 min. at FTP or slightly higher w/ 5min recovery, and 15 minute spinning cool down at about 75% of FTP).

If I were not using power, I'd likely be doing similar kinds of work using Heart Rate, so the intervals would be at Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR). You can substitute your HR zones and do the same workout.

I recommend the inclusion of intervals to those athletes who have some depth of experience with training. For those doing their first full or half iron distance event, I'd focus more on the lower heart rate work to build that base with perhaps some shorter intervals after the first four weeks of strictly endurance (zones 1-3) work.

My key "A" races this year: IM USA, Lake Placid and Age Group National Championship. About 6 other "B" and "C" races on the calendar starting at Columbia this May.