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USA Triathlon

Articles and information geared to USAT!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs

Our experience at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this April 2010 was absolutely fantastic! We are very grateful for the opportunity and thrilled to return home and implement all that we learned.

We applied for USAT’s Elite Mentorship Program to satiate our desire to further immerse ourselves in the multisport culture and collaborate with the best coaches in the industry. Our passion to provide our athletes with the highest quality training, as well as garner support for our newest venture, Energy Fit Kids: www.energyfitkids.com, we knew this program would help us support our athletes even more. The Elite Mentorship Program was created to expand the pool of talented and experienced coaches who will identify and develop future Olympic triathlon champions. The program gives qualified USAT certified coaches the opportunity to learn directly from the USAT Resident coaching staff, other high performance coaches, Olympic Athletes and other Elite Athletes. Throughout the program, coaches gain practical coaching and management experience at the United States Olympic Training Center. We were graciously accepted into the program this winter and really looked forward to the experience. The Elite Mentorship Program and the knowledge attained was more than we could have hoped for. The trip to get there and the travel home was a bit of a different story. But, as all of you that our familiar with us know…everything is an adventure! For all travel details, click here: RV trip to CO Springs

So, we began our Elite Mentorship Program on Monday morning, April 5th. What a rush it was to begin our day with a walk through the Olympic Training Center campus. The sun was shining, flags blowing and the Olympic Rings towered powerfully above. Our stroll through the Olympic Training Center led us down a path lined with flags from different countries as we passed various buildings and numerous Olympic Athletes heading to their training sessions. Soon we discovered our classroom across from the Olympic Pool. We entered our first session eager to learn.

Coach Justin Trolle led our comprehensive and detailed training session. We had the pleasure of meeting and working with Justin last year at the OTC as he was involved in our Level II USAT Coaching Certification. Justin is a tremendous person and exceptional coach. He moved his wife and two little kids from New Zealand to CO Springs a couple of years ago. Justin is USA Triathlon’s Athlete Development Manager and primarily focuses on developing a world class athlete structure. Coach Justin specializes in the development of junior athletes. His work is to expand and produce a solid pipeline of athletes for London 2012 as well as the Olympic Games in 2016 and 2020. With Justin being the primary Elite Development Coach at the US Olympic Training Center, he was able to share his knowledge and experience of his successful coaching principles, practices and philosophies.

Upon arrival, we started with introductions. Along with Justin of USAT, Linda Cleveland also sat in on many of our sessions. Linda is the Coach Development Manager and heads up all of our continuing education opportunities. The mentorship program was intimate with only Rob, myself and 2 other Level II coaches, Coach Pete of Highlands Ranch, Colorado and Coach Ken of Colorado Springs. The group was friendly and we shared many experiences. The first day we gained new insight on Periodization Training and covered a much more in depth look at short-term and long-term planning. We discussed the major differences when planning and coaching youths, juniors and adults. Justin shared his long-term plan for one of his Elite Athletes and explained how he has progressed her from a junior athlete to an Elite adult going for the 2012 Olympic Team. Next, we learned the ins and outs of ITU racing. We were enlightened on the complex racing schedule across the US as well as International. We learned more details on racing tactics and discovered the motivation behind the Elite Athletes as they race for money, sponsors and points. One of our biggest key take-a-ways was how to help our juniors develop successfully, race strategically and go for their own Pro Cards.

Our break for lunch was delightful as well. We all walked across campus to the Athlete Center for an array of fresh food. Surrounded by various teams fueling up between workouts, we enjoyed a bright and open dining experience. Walking through the cafeteria, each station was filled with freshly made foods and all listed with ingredients and nutrition information. I made a delicious salad filled with spinach and romaine lettuce, tons of fresh veggies, black beans and even corn. I then added fresh fruit, steamed veggies and came back for a plate of pasta! And to top it off, I finished with a big cup of soft serve vanilla and chocolate ice cream! The delicious and nutritious lunch fueled us for an intense afternoon session of learning. The day drew to a close and we departed looking forward to Tuesday.

Tuesday was even more thrilling. We began our day at the pool with the Elite Triathlon squad and head USAT Swimming Coach, Mike Doane. Not only is Mike the head swimming coach at the OTC, but he also is the coach of Olympian and 70.3 World Champion Andy Potts. Needless to say, Mike is well known and well respected. We were fortunate to meet Mike last year at the OTC as he presented at our Level II certification, but this time we were able to learn from him on the actual pool deck. We listened and observed Coach Mike lead a full swim workout. Mike explained his focus for each athlete and we were able to learn Mike’s philosophies as well as interact with the Elite Athletes as they hammered out intervals in the pool. It was really neat to observe the diverse strokes, different strengths and unique personalities. We watched athletes like Hunter Kemper just cruise with ease! And our favorite part of the morning was when an athlete jumped out of the lane and said…”Kelly and Rob? What are you doing here?” Staring at a lean body, with swim cap on, at first we didn’t know who it was. Then, we realized it was Greg Kopecky, our Zipp Sponsorship partner. Greg works with Zipp and SRAM and recently moved to Colorado Springs. We were with Greg at Steelhead 70.3 last summer when he earned his pro card and ironically we connected at the pool at the OTC. It was so great to see Greg working toward a successful first season as a Pro. I was also really excited to show him my baby bump!

After the pool, we traveled across campus to the Sports Performance Lab. Sports Physiologist, Randy Wilber led us through an intense session on acclimatizing to the altitude, climatizing to the heat and humidity, various testing procedures and real life athlete experiences. My favorite part was when Rob got to change into his running gear and be our lab rabbit on the Alter-G treadmill! Randy explained this Anti-Gravity treadmill as being much more than an exercise and training machine. It is highly effective for weight loss, injury rehabilitation and more. This treadmill, priced around $65,000, allows an athlete to un-weight his or her body and run. Athletes can run with partial weight-bearing to pretty much weightless! For athletes recovering from injury, the Alter-G offers a revolutionary approach to rehabilitation. So, Rob slide on these rubber-like shorts with a big bell top completed with a zipper. He stepped into this “bubble” on the treadmill, zipped the bell top of shorts to the top of the bubble and began programming the machine. The “bubble” began filling with air and Rob was running! Rob ran at 10% percent lighter all the way down 80% lighter. It was quite entertaining as we watched. Rob looked as if he was floating from cloud to cloud the lighter he became. After a good run on this apparatus, it was time to move on. Randy loaded us up with about 20 research articles chalked full of great studies and data…I’m still reading!

From the lab, we jumped in the cars and headed to the track for a session with one of Justin’s Elite Athletes. We arrived at the track late morning and although sunny, the howling wind created a very cold feel. Athlete Kate was already there warming up on the track with her bike set alongside the fence. Coach Justin brought the trainer and set Kate’s bike up. We began by observing Kate’s workout. Coach Justin led Kate through various running drills that we implement at our run clinics. Justin has been working to help Kate increase her forward lean, improve her landing and enhance her push off and extension. After about 15 minutes of several drills, including the tire pull, it was time to hit the bike. Kate road strong and steady for 20 minutes as Coach Justin’s objective was to see how much the bike fatigued her mile repeats. Justin explained his goal for this session was to compare this same benchmark workout performed last week, but without the bike. This week, he would be able to discover how much the bike affects her run. So, Kate hopped off the bike and ripped out 4 x 1600 on the track while we videoed. After a solid performance, Kate stretched and we jumped back in the cars to hit a late lunch at the OTC.

Following lunch we analyzed the video of Kate’s workout. Justin led us in a comprehensive analysis and explained how to take video, break it down, assess what needs to be worked on and how to get the most out of the athlete from a biomechanical point of view in the shortest time possible. Our biggest key take-a-ways were the use of the Silicone Coach software that we already have to analyze angles and biomechanical form so our athletes can visually see what they are doing and what they should be doing. From the running drills to the mile repeats, we learned the power of the software to show angles and assess proper biomechanics. We clearly could see how the drills help put the athlete in the proper positions to enhance running form and in turn, improve running economy. We then were able to see a progression of Kate’s ability from past weeks workouts, to this week’s mile repeat benchmark workout and how the bike affected performance.

After much analysis, it was back to the pool again to work with Coach Mike and Athlete Andy Potts. As many of you may know, Andy is one of the best swimmers in the sport and quickly growing into one of the best triathletes. Andy is a stickler for form. He incorporates drills and technique work in every session. Watching Andy, you can really see an amazing body position as he glides almost on top of the water, holds the water upon entry and powerfully propels his body with a dominant pull. While Andy ripped out some intervals, Mike showed us some underwater video analysis and explained why Andy is so fast. He then went on to provide some background and insight to how he puts the total training plan together. Our favorite was to learn that Sunday is a day of rest for Andy. Both Mike and Andy really believe in the power of a rest day, plus they make sure Andy has time to be a good dad and husband too! After Andy’s swim session, he graciously spoke to us about his swim, bike, run and strength training and took the time to even pose for some pictures.

After the swim session, Rob and I did take 20 minutes to rip out some pull-ups at the pool. Wow was that hard at altitude. Too exhausted from the busy days, we skipped our run and went back to the Athlete Center for another yummy meal!

Wednesday was another knowledge filled day. We began discussing training zones and reviewed data on various elite athletes’ testing results from benchmark field testing to lactate threshold and VO2 max testing in the lab. We were able to break down lactate profiles to determine what focuses to implement into the training plan to achieve desired outcomes in races. We also reviewed various cycling power data and gained comparisons on various female and male power outputs based on age and racing distance. Through various abilities for functional threshold power to peak power, we learned specific workouts to put in place to help athletes improve their limiters and enable them to reach desired outcomes. Along with specific workouts to help athletes build upon power, turn limiters into strengths and enable successful racing results, we also learned numerous detailed benchmark field tests to implement. The benchmark workouts allow a coach to determine where an athlete is in his or her training cycle and how they would perform at a race at that time. The benchmark workouts also enable a coach to create the needed workouts to progress them in their training to enable them to reach their goals at various points in the season. We already use various field tests and appreciated learning new benchmark workouts to easily and effectively allow an athlete to measure progress and assess performance markers.

On Wednesday, we also dove into some sports psych with the OTC’s Sports Psychologist, Peter Haber. We were educated on the role of mindfulness as being a particular way of paying attention on a purpose, being present in the moment and not being judgmental. Peter was able to use real life examples of how athletes are able to control their mind like they control their training. Elite Athletes are so close on athletic ability; it often comes down to whom has the strongest mind. Athletes must learn that thoughts are not reality. So for example, if you are having a “rough day,” control your thinking and don’t judge performance until it’s over. If you believe that you are not on pace, not going fast enough, not going to make the time you are shooting for…it will happen…but you don’t have to let your mind control that outcome. When you understand thinking and judgment happens, but don’t buy into it, you can control the outcome one step and one thought at a time. As coaches, we learned how to help our athletes practice Mindfulness. We were taught ways to help an athlete recognize every time a thought occurs, to be aware of the thought and then bring his or her thinking back to the swim, bike, or run and to stay in the present, focusing on the positives and controllables. With our athletes, we must ask: Where was your mind? Was your mind into the workout or were you lost in thoughts? Did your mind wander while you were racing? Did you get lost in emotions? As coaches we must deal with emotional and mental “stuff” that happens with our athletes. To coach effectively and really help our athletes obtain their goals, we must get to know our athletes and utilize sports psych to understand how it will influence their performance and affect training and racing.

We ended the day with a detailed discussion on developing young athletes into juniors, budding juniors into elite athletes and balancing age group athletes’ busy schedule while helping them achieve athletic success. Another exhausting day, we opted to skip our evening workout and hit the Athlete Center for another delicious and nutritious dinner. This time we waved hello to Hunter and his son enjoying a nice dinner together.

Thursday morning we hit the cafeteria for breakfast and the gift shop. We wrapped up our session and this time jumped on our bikes for a ride and then out for a glorious run through a park. A quick shower at the OTC, back in the RV and a stop at our favorite New York Pizza place in town, we scarffed down a yummy pizza and started the trek back across the country. The long drive home allowed Rob and I to digest all that we learned. We are looking forward to enhancing our athletes’ training and racing and growing Energy Fitness Coaching with the new tools and tips acquired at the OTC.