The BBMC Buzz ...

Most athletes know exactly what they need to do IN SEASON, but what do you do during the off season? Here are a few pieces of advice to help you: 1) Get a bike fit.  This is the time of year to adjust your position on the bike.  You don't have any sense of urgency here, so now is the time to play around with saddles, crank length, seat height and drop.  Your body will have plenty of time to adjust. 2) Reflect and LEARN on last season.  It's easy to just focus on what lays ahead.  While that is always a good thing to do, it's important to make sure that you learn from the season that just ended.  Ask yourself the following questions: - What parts of training were you strong in and what was a struggle? - What schedule set-up worked the best for your life and your body? - Did you find that you enjoyed or excelled at one race distance over another? - What went well during your races and what didn't?  How could the negatives be corrected? ...

"Season Wrap-Up"   This season was definitely a roller coaster of both performance and emotion.  I had some of my best races and some of my worst.  I overcame several obstacles, checked off a few boxes and learned a lot more about what I need to do in order to accomplish what I would like in this sport. The season started out with a great new coach (Cliff English) and race after only about 4 weeks of training. If I could run a 1:13 half at this point, I was very optimistic about what the rest of the season had in store. However, things didn't go as planned. I struggled with balance, fatigue and motivation...I had a number of terrible races, even though I visited some great parts of the country. After IMCDA, a switch flipped and I found myself in a familiar part of the year that I lived for... my IMWI build. I nailed a few local races, put out a few 280w 5hr efforts, as well as a 270w effort for 6hrs. I was running 75min sets at 5:00-5:20 per mile and felt...

2012 IRONMAN FLORIDA 22nd Professional Swim - 57:50  Bike - 4:27:11  Run - 4:03:24 Finish - 9:33:15 This race would be my 26th Ironman start and an opportunity to build on some momentum that I had coming out of this past season.  Consistency with my race results had come back, as well as balance in with my training, coaching and the rest of my life. Needless to say, I was excited.   Leading into the race I felt strong, confident and was clear minded as to what I would do.  My swimming was going extremely well and though I wan't hitting life best numbers on the bike and run, I was routinely clicking off days that could yield a very strong finish and perhaps a shot at the podium. Travel went off without a hitch on Wednesday and I had a great place to stay away from all the excitement with defending women's champion, Jessica Jacobs . Thursday went smoothly with the press conference, catching up with friends and the athlete meeting. Before I knew i...

2012 IRONMAN WISCONSIN  5th Overall  Swim 54:00 - Bike 4:56 - Run 2:58 Finish 8:56 Each season, Ironman Wisconsin is always the race that means the most to me. Though I train hard for every race that I start in, I have so much more vested in this event. I grew up in this city, I have so many who support me here and it really does feel like I have home field advantage. When I started racing Ironman events, 25 races ago, I told myself that one day I would win this race. THAT has been a major reason why I get up each morning and train as hard as I do. This year was my 11th time racing here at Ironman Wisconsin and everything had gone perfectly leading into the event. I was at life best fitness on the bike and run and thought that this could REALLY be MY year. The last build into the race had gone well. I knew that my numbers were up to par with some of the best in the world, thanks to my coach, Cliff English , who works with some of the best in the business. So conf...

This will be the 11th year that I have toed the line at Ironman Wisconsin.  Every year I put together my thoughts on how I believe the front of the race will play out, so here they are for 2012! THE COURSE: The 1 loop swim will be great for the PRO field and the back third of the Age Group field. It will be much easier to find and stay on feet, without having to navigating through a thousand other slower swimmers.  Those swimmers also won't have to deal with faster swimmers going over the top of them. The new bike course adds 5-6 short steep hills on each loop and a longer climb coming back into town.  While the new course SHOULD be closer to 112mi (last year was 114.5), it will be just as challenging. Throw in some weather variables and you better know where to distribute your energy. The run. Well it's a treadmill in my basement, packed with everyone I have ever known here in Madison; those involved in the sport, friends from the past, as well as family to prov...

"Lance is banned for life and stripped of his TDF titles."   At this point I do not believe it is a matter of guilty or innocent. Like VeloNews put it, it's a matter of "Does it really matter if he cheated?" With so many different opinions out there, I believe it's a matter of how you view the situation. I have grouped people's opinions into three categories. 1) Livestrong What the Livestrong has done for cancer research and awareness, trumps the debate over his guilt. This is the impressive part of what he has done with his iconic status and ascension to the top of a sport. This is what we truly need to look at in regards to whether or not his guilt really matters. Those who view the situation in this way will tell you that what he did off the bike is far more impressive that what he did on the bike. After all, this is what REALLY matters when looking at the broader spectrum in life. 2) Sport - Guilty Building a sporting empire and lega...

Below is an email I sent to Team BBMC... useful for all. +++ Good Morning, Everyone. Great job to all those who made it to practice this morning.  Patrick Brady lead the session and did a great job!  I am hope to see everyone tomorrow morning at 6am. It's early, but you'll be done before most being their day. I love the quote, "The grass is greener where we water it." This quote can be applied to everything in life, but I am applying it to our health.  By prioritizing nutrition, sleep and training, you will find that you are able to do most things in your life more effectively and BETTER.  Our bodies are our temples. We can't buy another one and we can't neglect it and expect it to perform on command. We all live busy lives and have a lots of adversity to deal with; that's a part of life.  But none of this is an excuse to let the care of ourselves take a backseat. I challenge each one of you to set a sleep goal, a nutritional goal, a traini...