by Todd | Nov 8, 2020 | Blog
I don’t need to reiterate the fact that 2020 has been tough. No one has been through this year without some sort of unexpected challenge – closed schools, lack of social interaction, health concerns, financial worries, and the list goes on. But out of all this, there seems to be a few things that will actually lead to growth and progress. Taking time to realize these things and being grateful for them has been a useful practice for me. But first a really quick recap of the 2020 “season”: Races lined up. Races canceled. More races. More cancelations. Keep training. But what for? Mental sanity. Endorphins. Try new training approaches. Sign up for more races. More cancelations. Virtual Races? Suppose its better than nothing. ½ Marathon. Good but can do better. Few days later a solo marathon sounds like a good idea. So painful. I guess worth it. 2:47 and a PR at 39 years. But now a strained shin. 39 now feels old. Back to back races maybe not so smart. Lots and lots of biking and not much running. Daily dinner conversations about shin start to get old. Alice very patient with my neurosis. Excited for great fitness but shin not feeling so good. Sign up for races. Races not canceled. I’ll get to race. Races modified. Not ideal but better than nothing. Hagerstown Sprint Duathlon. Aim for beating my 2015 course record. I smashed it. Oh wait, I got my first DQ for going off course. No record. But still faster at 39. Will try again next year. Small pro 70.3 in NC. Fast course. Can...
by Todd | Jun 20, 2020 | Blog
For the past two weeks, I satisfied my curiosity surrounding a few new topical products that had gotten my attention: AmpHuman PR lotion and Lactigo gel. If simply putting on some topical product before a workout could make someone faster or help them recover better, who wouldn’t be interested in using them?! So I got a few bottles and did a one week trial of each product. As much as possible, I kept my workout structure and volume (~ 16 hours) the same: Mondays short strength workout and a VO2 bike interval session, Tuesdays were long run and some swim drills, Wednesdays were long outdoor rides, Thursdays were a key strength and fun fat bike recovery ride, Fridays were a shorter bike interval session with some swim drills, and Saturdays were threshhold efforts on the bike followed by a brick run. Sundays were family day (I don’t write “off” since I’m usually expending quite a bit of energy chasing around my boys!). My training was very bike-focused as I’m still coming off of my 1/2 marathon and marathon virtual races, and quite honestly, the running needed a bit of a break. From my research, albeit limited, the two products are similar, but not mutually exclusive. For sake of simplicity, AmpHuman works to act as a PH buffer of lactic acid outside the cells (via sodium bicarbonate) and Lactigo attempts to buffer lactic within the cells (via carnosine). Both companies have at least some studies that are listed on their websites, which seem to demonstrate their efficacy. Also, both companies have been surprisingly open and communicative...
by Todd | Nov 24, 2019 | Blog
I had six races and six struggles this year. I was dished up some ass-whopping from fellow competitors and my body. All. Year. Long. From starting off at St. Anthony’s triathlon and coming out of the water in 2nd to last, to dealing with ongoing back issues that steadily got worse, to unexplainably having both of my quads cramp during mile 11 of Marine Corp Marathon, it was a humbling season. Sport can be incredibly uplifting at times but equally challenging. And a relentless challenge it was. I did my homework before electing to get my pro-license and knew that it would be an uphill battle, but to have it coincide with some unexpected challenges certainly was not part of my plan. It hurt. And even one month removed from my last race, it still stings a bit. But rehashing the details of this season’s struggle won’t be of any value for me, or anyone who happens to read this. So, instead, I’d like to focus on my top six lessons learned in my first pro season. 1. Numbers do not equal fitness “More work equals bigger numbers, which must mean I am getting more fit.” “If I take a short rest before the race, watch my recovery numbers rebound, I must be ready.” “All TSS is created equal.” No, no, and no. It took me a good 4 years, but I finally have learned that this is dangerous and it is wrong. As my wife – someone who has never used Training Peaks and logs her workouts in a paper journal succinctly stated one day: CTL is simply...
by Todd | Jun 5, 2019 | Blog
So why do you race? This is something I’ve been asking myself quite a bit the last two weeks. Before my last race at Chattanooga 70.3 – and even still a bit now – my answer would have been probably similar to what many would say: I race because I love competition and it provides me an opportunity to test myself. But what if those opportunities have not proven to be a good means to test? In other words, does racing lose its value if does not present an opportunity to get the most out of oneself? Let me step back a little. I absolutely love training. I love the challenge of writing a workout and executing it to the best of my ability. I love the juggling act of fitting in workouts around my responsibilities of being a father, an attorney, and a husband. I love the sense of fulfillment that grinding out a hard session – all by myself with no one watching. And this season, my training has been going really well. I’m swimming faster than I have since college, my bike power is as good, if not better than I’ve had before, and my run endurance and durability is about as solid as I can recall. Problem is, my performances in my two races this year have been far from what I have been doing in training. St. Anthony’s – my first race as a pro – was decent for me. I went 2 hours for an Olympic race and I certainly wouldn’t consider it a bad race. But my swim, bike, and run numbers were not...
by Todd | Feb 21, 2019 | Blog
This post has been a fairly long time coming – I’ve actually been thinking about it for several months. Consider it a bit of a intro to my new Ventum One and my first stab at writing something that discusses aerodynamics. I’ll start off with a disclaimer – everything I say about how fast this bike is applies to me and my setup. While I can say with confidence that the bike will make most people faster, aerodynamics is very individual and extremely nuanced. Furthermore, getting a bike fit is absolutely critical. If you aren’t going to dial in your fit, don’t bother with a new bike. I am not an engineer, and I have not (yet) taken this to the wind tunnel so my conclusions are close to accurate, but still not perfect. But before I get too deep in the weeds, I want to first talk about my experience with Ventum and how honored I am to be working with this company.Ventum first reached out to me after my IM Maryland win, asking if I’d be interested in riding one of their bikes in 2019. At first, I was extremely hesitant. Buying a new bike – especially a triathlon bike with all the gadgets and gizmos (power meter, hydration, aerobars etc..) – is a fairly involved process. Although my Felt frame was from 2013, I had upgraded almost all of the components in the past year so I was hard pressed to go with an entirely new setup. After doing quite a bit of research, inclduing talking to several existing Ventum owners, reading through all the critical...
