Mary Eggers

I learned about recovery workouts the hard way too.

You know how long I have been in this sport….. a year ago April at our QT2 Camp in Clermont…. I learned about recovery. I had Jesse riding on one side of me, and Wheeler riding on the other side of me.

“Don’t pass us.” They said to me. But guys…. I am riding like 12 miles an hour, my watts are about 80, my heart rate is less than 100!

Perfect. They promised me.

And then I got it.

I have been a coach since 2004 and I can’t think of any time off hand I have had to tell an athlete to go harder in a workout. Have I had to tell them to get workouts in? Occasionally, but when someone pays a coach to train them they usually don’t have an issue with that. 99.9% of the time I am slowing them down in training. Recovery workouts? forget it, it’s an all out battle. It takes time to learn. They are an ego blaster and let’s face it, triathletes carry a certain amount of ego around.

I will promise you this…… want to see surprising gains in your hard workouts? Learn to execute the recovery ones.

Before we get to our list of what recovery workouts are for….. here are two very important articles for you to read this week:

Sacrifices, Genetics and progress By Jesse Kropelnicki

Train like Crowie: The importance of slower sessions by Matt Fitzgerald

A few things about recovery:

1. Recovery is not to gain fitness: At QT2 our “heart rate zones” in what we call Zone R are so low, they are below the point where fitness is actually gained. We are even considering dropping the bottom out of zone R. recovery workouts are not to help add to our fitness. recovery workouts are to help the body, recover. Hence the name. Our blood flows through our bodies and carries waste products to places to be deposited and excreted (very simple explanation, I know, even from a nurse). In a Zone R workout we speed that process up just a little bit and we help fresh blood flow bring nutrients (from our good nutrition in the core) to our worked muscles. We are simply recovering from the previous day’s efforts and preparing for the next. In our base phases we don’t have as many Zone R workouts as we do in our build and race phases.

2. The better the athlete, the bigger the gap: I can show you the data of elite triathletes…… triathletes who routinely run sub 3:15 off the bike in Kona. These athletes routinely and regularly…… and even last weekend executed their recovery runs slower than 11 minute miles. Again, these are athletes that run 6:XX off the bike.

Think about this. You are a 7 minute miler off the bike in an Ironman. Your training pace therefore should not be 7 minute miles. But many….. are. That only lasts for so long (see above article references, especially to the one by Jesse). The better the athlete the bigger the gap between race pace and recovery pace. That is a fact.

3. What about recovery on the bike? Lower than 100 watts is what we go by here at Qt2. We have heard all of the excuses…. but….. but….. but….. no. Lower than 100 watts. Sometimes you will see us on Twitter having a contest of how low can you go with wattage? Trust me I have heard every excuse in the book, and I have given every excuse in the book as to why I can’t execute a recovery ride. I need to go fast for stability, balance….. and let’s face it, the real reason is because I have a bike ego the size of Mars.

After this past weekend I don’t’ even buy the….. but it’s hilly. I rode an ENTIRE loop of Ironman Lake Placid at an average heart rate of 98 bpm, and wattage of 76. Cadence 95. Yes, even up the hills. If I can do it, anyone can. By the way because Zone R rides are at times difficult to execute outdoors, do them on the trainer. Boring? Yes, necessary…. absolutely.

4. Easy days easy, hard days hard. If you are good at executing recovery efforts, you will see gains in your tempo and best effort workouts. Many don’t see the correlation between the two, but trust me it’s there. At Qt2 we take the easy days easy and the hard days hard. If you work your efforts right you come to adore the Zone R days.

Recovery is one of the many things that sets QT2 apart. It is part of the reason we have such healthy athletes who are so consistent in their results.

Try this: your next recovery ride or run….. slow it down to the point that is embarrassingly slow. See what happens over a the course of a week. See how you feel.

I promise you that the only thing that suffers during Zone R….. is your ego.

Coach Dave Alexander. We love you.

We had an amazing weekend at our QT2 camp in Lake Placid. AMAZING. I have much more to write about this….. however very little time! For now, the quick and dirty on the latest and greatest happenings!

I spent four days with these amazing people in Lake Placid. We swam, biked, ran did bike fittings, everything.

These are my home girls. Jennie, Tara, Molly and little dog Marley. Best roommates a girl could ask for. We are the girls of room ten.

This is what QT2 Coaches do…… we work together and we work hard.

On Monday I came home to a very mysterious box on my doorstep. I had no idea what it was. The amazing folks at Quintana Roo…… sent me a frame set. I almost passed out. Quintana Roo also donated the bike to Teens Living With Cancer, so they are pretty involved in knowing what we do around here. But really, I almost passed out.

I can’ thank QR enough. I don’t even know what to say! Except that it’s off to the Geneva Bicycle Center to get it built…… TODAY!

I know, I can not believe it! THANK YOU!

I have to also give a HUGE shout out to my husband Curt for winning his age group at Syracuse 70.3 and qualifying for Vegas. He hired me to coach him. He saw what QT2 does and after this amount of time being around it….. he’s in. What’s funny is that many people see that as recipe for marital disaster. Nah…… I think we are too grounded in reality for that. We have already begun, watch out Vegas!

(I don’t have a picture, I will get one!)

Welcome to QT2 Curt!

At the end of your life, I think it’s some kind of testament to the person you are, when girls you coached some 13 years ago, and haven’t seen in ten are absolutely rocked to the core that it is in fact…. the end. I think that the fact that they have all reconnected in preparation, that they are sharing tears and memories together, even though it’s been a long time, is a statement.

My college swim coach is at the end of his life. When you go into hospice it’s not like you are hoping for some miracle cure, miracle answer. It’s not even kind of the end. It’s the end.

How do you say good-bye to someone who has had such an incredible influence over who you are and who you have become?

You remember what they taught you.

So Coach…… here are the lessons I learned from you. And they really have nothing to do with the pool.

1. The water is transparent: I was a distance swimmer in college and when you are distance swimmers you are few and far between. There were two of us. Myself and Sunshine. Coach gave Sunshine her name…..  because she was depressed. She was depressed and I was in the height of my career as a Bulimic. We were perfect teammates. She swam with her heart and I swam with my head. We spent a billion yards together. Sets as a distance swimmer get pretty long.

One of our standard sets was 30 X 100 on a time interval with a ceiling. Often we did the set descending, so we’d begin with the 100′s on 2:00 and hold a ceiling of 1:10. Meaning we’d come in on the 1:10. The set would end up with the last 5 X 100 on 1:11 with a ceiling of 1:10. Do that set enough and you about lose your mind.

Every now and then we’d hide. Or think we could. We’d go to the bottom of the pool in the deep end. Thinking we weren’t able to be seen. Yes, we were educated college girls and we would hide on the bottom of the pool.

“You girls didn’t think I saw you on the bottom of the pool?” He said to me one day. Busted. “It’s more important to me that you two have fun. If for you two… hiding on the bottom of the pool is fun, good. It’s also hypoxic training.”

So while the water might be transparent….. he saw the forest through the trees.

2. Never forget your team fugly, tights, and cap: We wore ugly suits in practice. UGLY drag suits. F*cking ugly drag suits… hence the name Fugly. This was before swim shops began selling them as they do today. Not only that we wore nylons in practice, for drag (you cut off the feet) and you always always always had to wear your practice cap. Never, for any reason did you show up out of uniform. If you did…. not an issue. Coach always had extra in his office.

Once he even made us compete in our fuglies. We showed up to another college, whom we hated. Not only did we bring a bottle of our pool water to dump into their pool (that’s a big deal for swimming) we showed up in full drag, and won.

I learned then the power of team. Swimming is interesting in that it is an individual yet team sport. You have to work together when it comes to the points in a meet. You have to be a team. It wasn’t about the drag or the fuglies….. it was the power of unity. He brought us together as a family. We wore the same uniforms, we showed up together, we left together. We were a team in every single way. Today…. I believe the same thing.

3. It’s not all about the long black line: Coach had this way of talking to us. He is the father of four and the coach of a women’s swim team (and later the men’s as well). He had a sixth sense about him. Every now and then he would stop practice, have us gather on the deck and talk to us. More often than not he would talk about something other than swimming. He talked to us about how to live. How to dream. How to take aim and what it takes to accomplish. He wanted us to see us with good spouses. He wanted to see us live good lives. He’d lecture in a story telling kind of way and he’d be able to drive the point home. He taught me more about life than I could have ever learned in school.

4. You can kick a drunk out of a bar, but that’s not solving the problem: In college I was in the height of my eating disorder. I had actually recovered for two years and when I got to school….. you know how it is…… perfect set up for a relapse. He knew I was sick. He knew I was real sick. He later told me he struggled with whether he should kick me off the team as an incentive to get some help. But he knew that at the time, swimming was my entire life. I had nothing else. He taught me that while you can kick a drunk out of a bar, they will find another bar. On the team he could at least keep an eye on me, and that he did. He saved my life. Literally.

Since then I have been in those situations where you have to make the choice of kicking the drunk out of the bar, or keeping them close. I have done both and both are equally difficult.

In many ways my recovery is because of him (I am coming up on 20 years even). Not all him, but he had a very, very big part. I feel that in many many ways I owe him my health.

There are a lot more lessons. Life lessons. My husband has never met coach but he pointed out that not a week has gone by in 12+ years we’ve been together when I don’t reference Coach in some way.

That’s a life well lived if you ask me. That’s being powerful without intending to be.

There are people in this world who make it their goal to be inspiring. And then there are the people who ARE inspiring, just by being …. who they are. Those are the people who I find have the most influence. On me at least.

So thank you coach. Thank you for teaching me much more than swimming. Thank you for teaching me how to live.

I live 60 minutes away from where I grew up. My parents still live there, in the house I grew up in. While I swore up and down when I grew up I’d live in a different state I am grateful I live close. A trip to see Grandma and Granddad is easy. Having grandparents around for your children is a gift.

It’s hard to drive through Orchard Park. Not hard in a bad way, hard in an “It’s so different way.” It almost feels as if there are ghostly memories from when we were young. I drive by the animal hospital which used to be Super Duper and I think of all of the years Tina’s Dad put in there. I drive through town and see all the new stuff there, and I can almost see the memories of us riding our bikes through there. Now…. there are new buildings and new neighborhoods and new kids and new families…… in one way I feel as if our past has been erased and on another note I feel like it is still our little town.

I grew up lifeguarding at Green Lake. A few years ago when a triathlon emerged there it was a no brainer. I could sleep in the bedroom I grew up in and swim in Green Lake outside of the lines. I could race with my son. The next generation.

I hate when I hear athletes say… oh it was a big training week and I was a bit flat….. I feel that’s disrespectful to the competition. With that being said, that’s exactly how I raced. While I am not a fan of training through races, it’s what I did this week. Two weeks ago I arrived in Edinboro rested and raring to go, and my bike broke coming out of T1. I couldn’t lose any more training time so I had to train through like normal. I just made Friday and Saturday solid recovery effort days.

My bike situation is just about to be all sorted out. I can not thank Jeremy Clay and Bike Loft East for their incredibly hard work and effort through this whole thing. I am in the best possible hands. I am picking up my bike on the way to QT2 Camp in lake Placid on Wednesday….. I can’t freaking wait.

I can tell you more in about a week!

In the meantime Curt zipped my Cervelo P2 Carbon bike over to the local bike shop and when I went to pick it up….. Craig (from Mendon Cyclesmith) said “This bike is a warhorse.”

Warhorse. You’d better believe this bike is a warhorse. He was so right. I have had it since 2006. It’s been over guard rails, crashed into ditches, helped me achieve a sub eleven hour Ironman. It’s ridden through the mountains of the Carolinas, Placid, it’s ridden through Germany and Texas. In 2008 I will never forget the moment where I was loaded into an ambulance and I watched it get loaded into the back of a pick up truck. I felt like I was being separated from my best friend. I asked the medics if I could just bring the bike with me in the rig. I would have hugged it the whole way.

I admit, I get emotionally attached to bikes. I spend a lot of time on two wheels. Those wheels have carried me more miles than I can count. This bike has never, ever failed me. Ever.

Race morning was calm. I got myself to the site in time for registration and to catch up with some friends. Luc was coming down later with my parents, so he had the chance to sleep in.

I took a 3 mile easy run about an hour before the race began, through the neighborhood. I smiled as I remembered who used to live in this house, that house, the house three doors down. We used to go swimming over there…..  so many memories…. all good ones.

As I headed down to the water my goggles broke. I laughed thinking about my bike debacles this season. Any swimmer in the world knows that you travel to a race with about 6 pairs….. so back to transition for the swedes I went. The swedes, like the warhorse, never fail.

The gun went off and as it did my friend Amy said to me…… “This beep, it means WE go!” … for some reason it took my wave a second to realize we were beginning! The swim was good, I felt good. The longer warm up helped so much. My goal for these short course races is to shake off the rust that years of Ironman and peeing myself have allowed me to build. In sprint races time is of the essence.

As I came out of the water and hopped onto the bike I realized that I was in front. Like in front in front. My course was the sprint and there were just a few Olympic course guys in front of me. I was riding one loop and they were riding two. I also knew that Kevin Patterson (owner of TriSpot) was behind me, and I knew he was gunning for me. I didn’t know the time differential between my wave and his, 3 minutes? 5 minutes? It meant I had to go.

For the entire race I was alone. I like racing off the front. I like racing alone. Too many people around me and I begin to take care of them. Have enough fuel honey? You ok? So one of my goals is to stop doing that!!!! When I am out in front racing alone I know I am the hunted. I love being the hunted. In races like this I use my swim bike combo to get myself in front and then run scared to try to stay there.

That strategy has not worked so well in long distance racing by the way. But this was short course day!

Because of the bike issues I have been having, my confidence in the bike, not my ability to ride the bike…. has been shaken. because it’s caused me to crash…. I rode a little paranoid, a little scared. After a bumpy section I looked down. My headset had come loose. My aero bars were pointing to the right and my wheel was straight.

OMG.

I stopped immediately and straightened it out. I knew the remainder of the course was relatively straight and I promised myself I would not jeopardize my safety for anything. So I kept a good eye on things and settled back in. I felt good, albeit a bit tired.

When I come into a race in a big training weeks I do pace it a bit differently. While we know sprint is all out, there are some things I do follow to keep myself on track. In these short efforts I find that I have to remind myself to pay attention. In long course you can settle into a zone. In short course you have to be on fire in your mind. I knew what my heart rate target should be so I hit it and stuck there.

When I am rested I use pace or more tangible numbers to hit XX and YY. I go strictly by HR in these situations because I know that my true speed is masked by fatigue and I really need to aim for the effort in times like these. Then I don’t worry about time, I just go on effort. Can I match the perceived effort with what my HR says? Most of the time I can.

I came off the bike in what appeared to be first overall overall. I began hearing… OMG THAT GIRL IS WINNING IT OUTRIGHT!!! Yeah, no I wasn’t. The men were behind me and trust me they were coming. Wave starts mean they were 3-5 minutes behind me but many were 4 minutes ahead. It was purely the appearance of being first… first.

But I took it and used it.

As I began the run course my legs felt fine yet like they were missing that extra gear. Instead of focusing on what pace I was not running I made sure my bike to run offset HR was enough. In races like this it’s essentially best sustainable effort, but you’d better have that HR above the bike HR, not lower than. So that was what I went off of.

The HR cue was what helped me. I knew faster was within me but I couldn’t dig it out. Again I was going for the effort. And the effort was there.

The run course was weird….. no one was around. I like when races place confidence arrows on the ground like Score This !!! does. A confidence arrow is an arrow or some sort of cueing placed in the middle of a long stretch where you might be alone. Just to assure you that you are going the right way. There were none of these on the course, although I did know the course. However when we athletes know the course and then the gun goes off, it’s like our IQ drops by 50 points. I hope that’s not just me. Things I could calculate or think about in a second, I can’t remember at all.

As I came upon what I thought was the final turn in the course, it was an intersection with four people. No arrows. I thought I was to turn. I asked to make sure. They had no idea. I stood there for about a minute……. and then remembered….. path to the park. I looked behind me, no one was there. I just ran.

Turns out we chose the right turn!!! I came through the finish and let the directors know their volunteers might need some help at the final turn!

I was able to snag the win, keep my HR jacked and MOST importantly fend of Patterson. Of course he beat me but he never caught me (wave adjusted times). WHEW. He only runs like a 5 minute mile and I didn’t want that SWOOSH to go by me!

I don’t run a 5 minute mile.

I was happy. I still haven’t checked out the times and paces, I have just looked at my effort. Run HR higher than bike HR and aside from the one minute party at the final turn my pace was steadily descending. That’s all I wanted. A good solid effort and no bike drama.Oh, and the Patterson thing!!!!

Luc arrived with my Dad around 11am. If you have been around here a while you know that at age 11 Luc has only been on two wheels for about 2 years. Due to his delays he rode an assisted bike for years at these kid’s races. We went through an amazing program called Lose the Training Wheels, which UNYFEAT brings to Rochester annually. This program changed our lives. It’s for kids like Luc, in one week these kids learn to ride a bike. And Luc completed his first triathlon season on his own two wheels last year.

We don’t pressure him to race. If you’ve been around us at races you know he’s a kid who finishes last, or close to it. He chooses when he does and doesn’t race, and he seems to really enjoy the experience. Our goal for him is to be active and move. That’s all. There are things I need to assist him with like buckling his helmet and helping him with his glasses. But I no longer need to race with him. It’s awesome.

I picked up a pair of K Swiss racing shoes yesterday over at Trispot…… and Luc fits them. How can our feet be the same size? I am not old enough for this, am I????? So……. we traded shoes. I wore HIS sneakers and he wore my K Swiss. I had a QT2 Systems race top from 2009 that he wanted to wear, so he did. Is it strange to share clothes?

I am always so proud of him when he races. He’s cautious, he’s calm, and he’s usually last. But he loves it. And we love watching him move and be fit and have fun.

This time on the run he even passed a few kids. I saw his face light up as he made those passes, which made me be even more careful not to react. This is HIS thing, not MY race.

He earned his second medal of the season (first was at Keuka).

These are the medals he earned last season (I will use any excuse to use this picture)

Racing at home with my son, and Grandad watching…. is special. It reminds me of the history of our lives. The history of so many friendships. I connected with a friend I hadn’t seen in 20 years and in a month we will have our 20th high school graduation. I skipped the 10th. But now….. I am ready to come home again.

I was thrilled with my race. for me as I feel solidly on the comeback trail it was not about pace or time, it was about the effort and the execution. I haven’t felt this good in a long time. One day I will even tell you why. But my health is good and it’s taken a while to build back. I am blessed beyond blessed wot work under the guidance of the team I now coach with. QT2 systems. What I have learned as a coach and as an athlete with this group is nothing short of life changing.

I wish there was a better way to convey my gratitude. I admit, I get a little emotional over racing in general. I just love it so so so so much.

At the awards ceremony the Eclipse Multisport race directors Dan and Anne presented me with a donation for Teens Living With Cancer and gave me a minute to speak to the crowd. There are so many people who I run into at these local races these days who were a direct part of the Duel in the Pool. It’s my chance and my goal to thank every single one. It’s why I race in the suit.

we are over $71,000 in our fundraising efforts and I want to personally thank everyone who donated. I began writing the thank you cards last week. They are going to be slow in coming to you but I want to write them all myself. You took the time for us, now I will tak the time for you.

My gratitude towards you is never-ending. I don’t even know how to express it.

This is too long a report for such a short race….. but I am pleased with my progress. I am pleased with the trend. And I am honored to share this with my son and husband. (Curt didn’t race today!)

I have to give the biggest thanks to those who have supported me through so much. Thanks especially to Jeremy Clay and the entire staff at Bike Loft East. The bike drama resolution is Wednesday. These guys have gone above and beyond what they should have done for me in every way.

Thanks to my team QT2 Systems. Like I said it’s been life changing to work with all of you. We are headed to our first annual Lake Placid Camp this coming Wednesday…. stay tuned. You will want to see that!

Thank you to my husband Curt for always being the wind beneath my wings and for bringing the warhorse back.

The comeback trail……. game on.

Wednesday morning as I was running, a horrible realization came over me. I was thinking about the changes Luc will be going through with school/ While we don’t have an exact new school just yet, there will be one. I do have to be clear. It’s not at all that we are unhappy with his current placement. If everything could remain as it is we’d keep him there forever. The dynamics of the school change a bit as the grades go higher, so it’s time for him to fly. His progress has been nothing short of amazing.

Either way he’s going to go through a big change in September. As I was running it dawned on me. The Ironman 70.3 World Championships are September 9th. Curt and I are both scheduled to go. School begins the day I would need to leave.

I scrolled through the possibilities in my head. None of them felt right. Curt offered to skip Vegas. God love him he came up with about ten possibilities…… but when it came down to it none of them felt right. Me… leaving town for any reason during a critical transition in Luc’s life is just wrong. I can’t do that to him.

Am I upset about it? Definitely. When you qualify for a World Championships … it’s exciting. But to be honest even if I were to win the whole damn thing…..  what my absence during that week could do to Luc would be irreparable. How better to say I don’t care than to jet off while he needs his home to remain stable, not be shuffled around between grandparents.

Yes there is disappointment. Certainly. I am making it sound as if it were a bigger decision to make than it is. It took all of three seconds.

I honestly…… HONESTLY don’t know another parent who would NOT do the same thing. Trust me this isn’t a hero move, this is a move ANY parent would make.

It turns my attention ahead to 2013 and what I have been on this path for the past few years to accomplish anyway. As athletes we get VERY caught up in the here and now. As a QT2 coach one of the biggest things I have learned is how to plan for an athletes long-term development. Anyone can have a stellar season. Can anyone have the patience to really allow themselves to hit a potential.

As an athlete and a coach I find myself sometimes caught in the middle. I want to fruits of my labor to show TODAY. NOW. I want last week’s training to show tomorrow.

But that is not how it works. At least that’s not how we work it at QT2 and again, as a coach and as an athlete it’s been my greatest lesson.

On one part it sucks. You put in all this work and from the outside in it looks like progress is slow to nonexistent. You want to bust it out now, not in 18 months. We learn however that we must solidify health before speed and then when the right day and right time comes….. and I know that exact date in fact…… that will be our day to unleash.

I look to my colleague Cait Snow and realize what has made her so successful …as Jesse so beautifully put it (paraphrasing here” … “Is her ability to make the sacrifices she needs to 365 days of the year, and her unbelievable amount of patience.” If there is one athlete who you need to look towards to see the examples of long-term development and patience in action…. it’s Cait.

In those moments as an athlete she is my example.

As a coach I don’t have those moments for my athletes. I can always remain committed to their long-term development. The line between the two is more distinct than you might think.

So while the focus on 2012 has changed in terms of racing….. the focus in my development has not changed. Health before speed. Period.

The long term development of our son though……. remains priority number one.

You have to be kidding me. According to the Washington Post…..

“The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency brought formal doping charges against former cyclist  Lance Armstrong in an action that could cost him his seven Tour de France titles, according to a letter sent to Armstrong and several others Tuesday.

As a result of the formal charges, Armstrong has been immediately banned from competition in triathlons, a sport he took up after his retirement from cycling in 2011.

In the 15-page charging letter obtained by The Post, USADA made previously unpublicized allegations against Armstrong, alleging it collected blood samples from Armstrong in 2009 and 2010 that were “fully consistent with blood ma­nipu­la­tion including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.”

Mr. Armstrong immediately responded…..

“I have been notified that USADA, an organization largely funded by taxpayer dollars but governed only by self-written rules, intends to again dredge up discredited allegations dating back more than 16 years to prevent me from competing as a triathlete and try and strip me of the seven Tour de France victories I earned.  These are the very same charges and the same witnesses that the Justice Department chose not to pursue after a two-year investigation.  These charges are baseless,  motivated by spite and advanced through testimony bought and paid for by promises of anonymity and immunity.   Although USADA alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy extended over more than 16 years, I am the only athlete it has chosen to charge.  USADA’s malice, its methods, its star-chamber practices, and its decision to punish first and adjudicate later all are at odds with our ideals of fairness and fair play.

I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one. That USADA ignores  this fundamental distinction and charges me instead of the admitted dopers says far more about USADA, its lack of fairness and this vendetta than it does about my guilt or innocence.”

You have to be kidding me. You have to be. Do I live in the United States of Amercia? My taxpayer dollars are funding this?????? Meanwhile the teenage girl who came to the clinic who happens to be on my tax dollar and has Hodgkin’s was sent home with a disgnosis of Mono. I don’t need to be a damn genius to figure this out.

When you have met and raced Lance Armstrong and then something like this happens, people suddenly begin calling you for opinions and quotes. So here is where I stand….

I 100% without one single doubt support Lance Armstrong. I believe the US Anti Doping Agency is on a witch hunt.

Here are the facts as I know and understand them:

• Lance Armstrong has never failed a drug test. He has been tested over 500 times in his 25 year career.
• Lance Armstrong has  denied using any kind of performance enhancement anything.
• Those who have accused him….. correct me if I am wrong here….. those who have accused him….. Landis, Hamilton to be specific both denied ever using performance enhancing drugs. Both wrote books (correct me if I am wrong?) denying the use of performance enhancing drugs. Both later admitted to using performance enhancing drugs.

So we have people accusing a man who has not failed 500 drug tests, of using. Those people who are accusing…. are proven liars.

What has Lance Armstrong ever lied about?

Is he not one of the most TESTED athletes on the planet? Has he not PASSED, or NOT FAILED over 500 drug tests?

Let me tell you what I DO know for sure. I have looked into the eyes of many people throughout my lifetime. As a trauma nurse I looked into the eyes of liars and killers. We had to save them too.

I have looked Lance Armstrong in the eye. You might recall that I have MET this man. Have you?????????  This man has nothing to hide. If you tell me that by looking a man in the eye is not enough to determine guilt or innocence….. I will point out to you that apparently neither is the EVIDENCE. This man is NOT a liar.

We live in a country that states we are innocent until proven guilty. 500 drug tests. Not failed. Passed. That’s not enough to be proven innocent? What else do you want from this man?

Do you want him to use his status in this world to do something good? Oh WAIT……. he has. It’s called LiveStrong. You might have heard of it? You might have one of those yellow bracelets on your wrist. You might have wanted Mr. Armstrong to do something the moment someone YOU loved was diagnosed.

That changes things a bit doesn’t it?

Suddenly the spite and jealousy you have for a man who truly lived the American dream….. turns into something else. One moment you hate the man because he has his own plane and he has a few houses….. I believe those are things he worked for and earned by the way….. suddenly you are on the other side of the bad news. The Chest X ray….. YOUR Chest X ray was NOT clear. YOUR blood work was NOT fine.

That bloody cough was NOT because you coughed too hard.

Where is the first place you go? Livestrong.org. And they open you with welcome arms. Regardless of what you said or thought or made the hell up. They support you anyways.

I think we all learned from the Duel in the Pool that if we do come together we common folks can in fact….. make a difference. So who is going to be the one to defend Lance Armstrong? Who is going to be the one to come to his side?

We are. That’s who. Because I seem to believe this country is constructed of elected officials who represent the people of these United States. And I seem to believe that those elected officials dismissed all charges against Mr. Armstrong MONTHS AGO.

Why a quasi government agency then has the power to resurrect such bullshit is allowed to???? That’s beyond me.

Yesterday we began a petition. We have signatures from New York City to Singapore. We would like YOU to sign it and show your support. Click right here to do that. What am I going to do with  it? I am going to find whomever it is that I need to take it to, and take it to them. If they truly represent me, then they are going to listen to what I have to say. What we have to say. Do we have a say? In this day and age do we the people really have a say?

What we have to say is this: Leave the man alone. Drop these ridiculous charges, move along. Mr. Armstrong has had our backs. He’s helped us when we needed it. Now it’s our turn. Join me in supporting Lance Armstrong, and let’s end this damn witch hunt and the corrupted souls who began it.

Can we really do anything with our voices? Can we really do anything with a petition? We are talking about a billion dollar lawsuit here.

That our tax dollars are funding.

I think we can.

If you’d like to leave a comment, I welcome all constructive insightful comments. I am open to learning and seeing another point of view and having a good conversation about topics.  You are welcome to respectfully disagree with me, as I may in turn respectfully disagree with you.

My comments are screened by someone other than myself, all comments written with a rude tone, especially on the subject of Mr. Armstrong….I won’t even see.

Aid stations. The oasis of fuel in the midst of a long race. On the run they are typically every mile and for most races they provide the fuel you desperately need to help you continue to execute a good race. In bigger races aid stations tend to become crowded as volunteers get athletes what they need, and more often than not it’s a place in a race where an athlete mentally shuts down. Ah…. an aid station….. let me walk through here and take a break.

In an Ironman there are roughly 26 aid stations, in a half Ironman (70.3) there are at least ten. Imagine you take a 30 second break at each aid station over the course of a marathon or half marathon. That adds up.

When I review a race plan with my athletes, I treat the aid stations as part of the race. They are where you can lose valuable time and even make a jump on your competition.

Here are a few tips for making the aid stations part of your race;

1. Work the aid stations like they are your job:  One of my athletes came up with the mental framework of “punching in”" and “punching out” of an aid station, akin to punching a time card. That mentality was perfect. Think of this…. if you view aid stations as a break, you slow down, give yourself permission to walk, stop and then you have to get going again. Bu my athlete’s approach, you can feel the difference. He got in… did his job….. and got out.  So mentally view aid stations not as a break, but a job that you are going to execute.

2. Know what you need: Most aid stations are set up the same way. In an Ironman you will be told what the pattern will be. For example the order that products are being served may be like this:

Sport drink, water, coke, gel, ice, sponges.

What’s your race fueling plan? At QT2 we promote only taking in fluids that are worth something, sport drink. So I know coming into an aid stations that I don’t need to drink any water. I need the drink and possibly the gel. However, don’t ignore the water and ice, more on that in the next point. But know your plan, have a plan and know what you need going in and out of there.

3. Use the water and ice: It’s summer and races are hot. At an aid station we have the opportunity to cool off. Water on the head, ice in the suit and those GLORIOUS sponges….. all that can do wonders for controlling your body temp in the heat.

4. Have a plan: So here is how I talk my athletes through an aid station. The aid station is your job. Do not slow down. As you approach, know what you need. make eye contact with your volunteer but also be ready to grab it off the table. If the aid station is wicked crowded, as they were in Texas 70.3, and you can…. run behind the aid station. In Texas there were a few aid stations where that was possible. There was so much congestion in front of the table and a clear path behind the table, so I took the path of least resistance.

So here is the plan:

Punch in…  sport drink in, water over head, ice in suit, grab sponge, punch out.

Simple. Easy. Fast. No taking a break and stopping. Follow that same pattern every single aid station (your pattern, follow YOUR pattern).

If you can run through, run through. If you need to walk that’s fine. But walk with a purpose. No lollygagging strolling. Speed walking, get through there… let your competitor walk and slow down. You can gain valuable seconds here.

5. Don’t be desperate: If you arrive at an aid station absolutely dying for fuel, you made a fueling error much earlier. Have a nutrition plan, know your nutrition plan, and ace your nutrition plan. The aid stations are simply to top your fueling off.

No matter what level triathlete you are, make it count. Time is time regardless and working the aid stations like it’s your job….  the return on that investment can be well worth it.

Someone asked me the other day how I have the energy to do everything that I do. I smiled. The answer was really very simple: I only do what I love.

That’s the god’s honest truth. Last I checked we get one shot at this, therefore I won’t be doing anything that I don’t love. Period.

Admittedly….. I smile a sly smile when people tell me they “Don’t have time.” For things like I do. Just last week someone was venting to me that they never got to see their kids, that because they were a business owner they essentially carried the world on their back, they only had two hands…..

Again I smiled. Those are the choices we make in life, complaining about them solves nothing.

I once had an athlete sign up for Ironman and then continually wine to me that he had no time to put in the hours for it, he just didn’t have the time. I invited him to come to Rochester and shadow me for one day, and laid out my schedule for him. He never complained again.

Our lives are our choice. What we do for a living is really our choice. If our situation is bad it is up to us….. not anyone else….. to pick ourselves up and get the hell out of it. Notice that I didn’t say it was easy. If it were more people would do it. But anything in this world is possible if you want something bad enough. The brick walls in life are there to keep those who don’t want it bad enough….. out.

I never complain about having a busy life, in fact I won’t even lay out the schedule I keep. It’s mine. If people think I hang out of Facebook all day, I don’t care. I do nothing to change that. But essentially here are the stats, and these are in no particular order. I put Mom down on the list because I am hoping for an email that points it out. People crack me up.

I am an RN: Many people don’t know that I am still a nurse. I work 20 hours a week as a nurse. What do I do? It’s classified. Classified? Classified. That kind of classified? Yes. It’s a specialized classified job. The end. Aside from that you will never hear me talk about it again except for me to tell you that I love being a nurse and will always be a nurse in some way. Always.

I am a triathlon coach: I work about 30 hours a week coaching with QT2 Systems. I used to own my own coaching company, and sold it to join this group whom I have been an athlete with for several years. Most of my coaching day is spent reviewing workout files, creating new training blocks, communicating with my athletes via phone, text email and skywriting if necessary and a lot of time is spent on my own coaching education through QT2.

I am a Mom: and I am a Mom to a child with some special needs. Because my readership has increased so much I don’t write about him as much, because he’s our son. But he’s amazing. Awesome. I miss none of his activities. I get him on and off the bus. I put him to bed every single night. After school is his time. I pack a whole lot between the hours he is at school.

I am a wife: to the most magnificent man in the world for the past 12 years. Who has understood me from day one, and whom I understand completely. He’s an athlete too, in fact a 9:54 Ironman and a National Champ a few times over. He is my teammate in every way there is. I didn’t say marriage is easy, but I will tell you that it’s worth it.

I am an athlete: I have been in this sport since my early 20′s. I train 18-20 hours per week. I train at strange hours.

I am a homeowner. We mow our own lawn. We do our own laundry and we clean our own house. Our home is our sanctuary. It’s a place to come home to. It’s a safe place. It’s where our hearts are.

I am a yoga Teacher: I teach 2 yoga classes a week at Breathe Yoga. This is my church.

I have a dog: I have a chocolate lab named Cocoa. Her middle name is puff. She’s going to be 3 years old. She gets walked every day and swims as much as possible.

I volunteer for Teens Living With Cancer: You may have heard of it by now. I design fitness programs for Teens recovering from Cancer. I love these kids. We raised over $71,000 so far for them. In case you hadn’t heard.

That’s a lot of things to be, and I love every single one of those things. In addition I am also a friend, a daughter and a sister. So how do I travel though a day? I am creative and my life is a race fueling plan. I also never ever complain. But here are a few rules I live by:

My hours: 4am to 7am are my hours. The only thing that disturbs these hours are if my husband, son or dog is sick. This is when I train. I never do athlete meetings at this hour, I may shoot off a few emails. I don’t get much time to myself so I am extremely protective about  this. This is my saving grace. It gives me focused time to train. (I do train longer on Sundays). It gives me focused time to just be by myself. It’s really the reason why I can do everything I do.

My life is a fueling plan: I work with one of our dietitians 1:1 at The Core Diet. She helps me plan my day nutritionally because my schedule requires it.

I never let on how busy I am. No one wants to hear that. If you are too busy, make a change in your life. If you are not doing 100% everything you want to be doing…. make a change in your life. I am not rich, if I were rich maybe I would hang out on Facebook all day. Then again….. I wouldn’t. If you email or text me and are my family or one of my athletes, you get an immediate response. If you don’t get an immediate response you know I am tied up and you will get one within 4 hours most days.

I get enough sleep: I sleep 6-7 hours a night and I take a 20 minute nap during the day. I sleep like a rock. I never have trouble. I could sleep in the middle of a highway. My sleep quality ability is the greatest gift I have ever been given.

I live with a lot of love. That needs no explanation.

I live by simple rules. I found these years ago and wasn’t sure of who wrote them, I believe they are taken from Jim Rohn.

Productivity

If you don’t produce you won’t be happy.

Good friends

The greatest support system in the world is good friends. You can’t be careless here, you need good friends. Friends are those people who know all about you and still like you.

Spirituality

I’m not asking you to be a believer. I am a believer that humans are more than an advanced form of the animal kingdom. I’m a believer that we are a special creation. I don’t ask you to be a believer, but if you are a believer here is what you must do: Whatever is valuable to you, you must Study, Practice & Teach.

Don’t miss anything

Don’t miss the game, don’t miss the show, don’t miss the words. Even the small things, don’t miss them because these things make for a good life. Pay attention to the lyrics of songs that nourish the soul, you got to remember the words.

Do your research and don’t miss anything. “If you live well, you will earn well”. If you live well it will show up in the texture of your voice, if you live well it will show up in your face, if you live well it will show up in the magnetism of your personality. So don’t miss the nourishment of all the things around you that can help you live a good life.

The Inner Circle (Your Family)

Take care of them, they will take care of you, inspire them, they will inspire you. Nothing is more valuable than the inner circle. That’s where the power to conquer the world comes from. If a father walks out of his house and can still, all day long feel his daughters kiss on his face, he’s a powerful man. The greatest virtue and value is one person caring for another, it is LOVE.

It is better living in a tent on a beach with someone you love, than a mansion by yourself.

We have a chance as human beings to participate in the miracle process

You can do this any day and everyday. Changing somebody’s life, rescuing someone from oblivion, building an organization second to none so that your name will appear in many peoples testimonials.

These are the keys to Living A Good Life.

I am not someone who is complicated. These days we make ordering coffee complicated. That’s too crazy and time-consuming. I am simple. Per the advice of Steve Jobs I look in the mirror every single morning (usually at 3:45am) and I ask myself if I truly want to be doing everything that I get to do that day. The answer has been yes but I still ask it.

It’s not everything I have to do…. it’s everything I get to do. Work, play, everything. I want to do everything that I do in my life. I don’t live a balanced life, I live an exciting, insane integrated life of my choice. I know how to pick myself up by the bootstraps….. I have had to do that before. Do it once and it teaches you this: if you want something bad enough, you will move heaven and earth to make it happen.

“Kevin Royston is a husband, father and athlete.  Now he’s in a hospital bed, his leg broken in four places, so damaged that it likely cannot be saved.”

That is according to 13 Wham News. Click here for the article.

Let me tell you the cold harsh reality of how the process goes, from accident to even just getting to the hospital, I spent most of my nursing career in the trauma bay.

Mr. Royston was apparently hit from behind by a vehicle on a rarely traveled by motor vehicle country road. The car drove off.  According to the article:

“Investigators say another driver on his way to Wayland discovered the victim lying in the ditch next to a broken bicycle.  He had been riding up a small hill, when he was struck from behind.

The impact threw him into the ditch.  Kevin Royston did not see the vehicle.   “He doesn’t have much memory of what happened,” says his brother Bryan.”

How long transpired before he got help…. is unclear. Ambulances are not just there. Especially in a town like Rushville. It takes time to gather the EMS crew especially if they are volunteer. Mercy Flight doesn’t just arrive. They are called once the scene is assessed, then Kevin has to be taken to a place where the helicopter can land and help further stabilize him.

When your leg is broken in four places that could take longer than an hour. And all you were doing was riding your bike, on a quiet country road.

Meanwhile…. your kids are wondering where you are. Maybe your wife has been called, maybe she’s still waiting for you to come home. Either way they are now paralyzed in fear because….. they just don’t know.

You are transported by Mercy Flight to Strong. You are in good hands but that doesn’t take away from the broken state you are in. It doesn’t take away your pain. They might give you morphine but I have taken care of enough trauma victims to know that it doesn’t take away the pain. You are broken in four places, and that is all they are telling us. The pain and terror are unexplainable.

I know the orthopedic and trauma guys at Strong and you are in the best hands. But it doesn’t mean you don’t FEEL what is happening, and it doesn’t mean that your family isn’t going through hell right now. Your kids are the most frightened and there are no immediate answers for your wife or your kids. The physicians can’t talk to you while they are working on him. So a social worker sits with you in the family waiting room. It’s a small room off the waiting room of the main emergency dept. There is nothing in there except for chairs and hopefully that social worker and…… you.

Meanwhile there is a person….. who drove off and left you for dead.

We as cyclists understand that accidents happen. Most accidents involving you hitting us are because of driver inattention, alcohol, texting.

What none of us understand is how you hit a man on a bike, and leave the scene.

Who does that? Who does that? Who is so concerned about themselves that they can drive away?

Because we can’t even fathom that….. we assume that you are drunk or high. Because again what human being leaves another for dead.

Who the hell do you think you are?

Don’t think you can hide because you have an entire community looking for you, in addition to the police. You can run, but you can’t hide. Because at some point, somewhere we will find you. Police and even we lay people know exactly what to look for in terms of damage to a car. We know exactly who we need to be asking and exactly where we need to look.

Do yourself a favor and turn yourself in. You can run and you can hide but the truth will always come out. We will find out who you are and you will be brought to justice. It’s not going to save his leg, it’s not going to ease what he and his family are going through. But you will be brought to justice.

After Mr. Royston loses his leg if that’s in fact what happens…. and don’t count anything out just yet because he is in the hands of the best of the best. His life just took a course he did not sign up for. Recovery from this kid of surgery takes weeks. Then physical therapy, then learning life with one leg. Medical bills, the life his wife suddenly has to juggle…..

This is not an easy road.

I am calling on you cycling, triathlon, community in general. This is our time to come together. Dan Jareke of Nice Tri is going to be organizing a benefit ride for Mr. Royston. I am going to see if the Challenged Athlete Foundation can lend some guidance or help. We will be reaching far and wide to do what we can for our fellow cyclist. To help his family and him make the transition from where they were  last weekend….. to life of an amputee and accident victim.

Again I ask this of you….. keep your eyes open. Someone knows something and needs to come forward. I can’t comprehend what type of person leaves another for dead. Because that is so incomprehensible to me I come to the conclusion that you have to be drunk or stoned out of your mind to not be able to feel, to have your conscience turned off. And if you weren’t……. then may god have pity on your soul.

Every season we mourn the loss of a friend or we are watching another fellow athlete travel this unwanted road. As a car you are bigger. No matter what you are going to win the battle. Put the damn phone down. Pay attention to the road. Tell me, please tell me what’s more important than being safe out there?

The roads were MEANT to be shared. Share them.

Stay tuned for information on the benefit ride, and anything else that develops. This is not over. This is personal. This is a father and husband among many things, who took a hit he didn’t deserve.

Mr. Royston…… you can count on us to help you.