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.