Mont Tremblant
Today marks one week and one day since I made the eastern move to Mont Tremblant, Quebec (90minutes north of Montreal). For those of you that may not know, Montreal is my home town with Tremblant as a family weekend ski destination for over 20 years. Vancouver gave birth to so many incredible memories, opportunities, athlete interactions, racing, exploring, blossoming, career adventures and friendships. Thankfully, Brite Coaching was established and rooted in Vancouver with a global reach to athletes literally around the world. The timing for me to make a lifestyle change by relocating to a resort town with a bubbling endurance community, two incredible Ironman events and a strong Wifi signal allows for growth and newness to ensure. All Brite Athletes will be encouraged to come visit, race, train and enjoy this resort along with all the other locations we get to travel to for our endurance passion.
Brite coaches, Britni Bakk & Liz Cullen, keep the West Coast flares burning britely and offer our BC based athletes a physical presence and representation. Britni, Liz and myself will be seeing a host of you in Palm Desert at the Half Ironman on Dec 9th. This race is turning out to be very well scheduled for many of you not only from an early season trip to sunshine (Vitamin D) but also from a consistency and enjoyment perspective. Sometimes, goals matter and how we slide the timing of them does too.
If any of you have lingering questions about my move or can’t wait to come visit, let me know!
Training Logs
This is the time of year when athletes tend to forget how important training log comments are to yourself as the athlete and to your coach as the one seeking insights and guidance for your training. For newer athletes, you may not understand how to log comments outside of the obvious such as time, distance, pace and watts. We like to think a training files tells all but in reality it tells very little. It is your commentary that gives us the color, the view and the direction.
In reality, this time of year matters more than any other time of year in terms of commentary in the logs. Careful attention to your logs is likely one of the most important habits to adopt as an athletes seeking performance. Athletes that report accurately, honestly and with the mindset of being “coach-able” (open minded, welcoming of feedback, honest of pitfalls and successes) will always get more value, input, guidance and, frankly, attention, from the coach. Last year I wrote an article about Training Logs and what matters. Its worth another read over to refresh or to learn about how to get more from your coaching relationship and make use of the tools available to you grow as an endurance athlete.
http://brite.coach/new-blog/20162018/043/076/the-training-log-daily-reflections
Vision & Goals for 2019
For those of you that are still pondering your 2019, pondering the race schedules and wondering what’s next, take some time in November to write. Write out whatever comes up for you. Focus on what you would like to achieve in the next 30 days, 60 days and 90 days then extend it to next season. Be it a cycling stage race, ironman, mountain bike event, marathon, skate ski loppet or simply to keep in shape, contemplating what YOU WANT from the training journey will undoubtedly enhance your connection and your belief in your training. We must always oscillate between fitness, strength, health and skill development with careful attention to each at certain times of the year. One can rarely thrive without the other so if ever you feel like you don’t have the “skill” consider your fitness. If ever you feel you don’t have the fitness, consider your strength. And if ever you feel you don’t have any of it, consider your health.
Smart vs Dumb Training
More often than not, athletes are running into issues with their smart trainers. Pair mode, set up, mis-entry of target watts, software shut down…whatever the case may be. If that’s you, please communicate with your coach to prevent this from happening. These devices can be used in a few ways and certainly having them as a barriers to executing the planned session is undesirable. Whether it means taking time to learn their functions (on or off Zwift, Trainer Road or Tacx/Wahoo modes) or having someone that is adept at their capacities show you, is critical. Let your coach know if you are challenged by how to remove the barriers sometimes caused by these fancy devices and software systems, we will help you (and help us!). Old school has a place sometimes.
Real Food Recipes
Attached is a recent PDF I received with wonderful real food based recipes for endurance athletes.
In Kona, I lived on the “meal in a jar” recipe after finishing all my https://blendedforyousmoothies.com smoothies.
This recipe compares well with https://blendedforyousmoothies.com/products/the-athlete-blueberry