THE WOLFPACK
When I co-founded MAPSO Tri Club in NJ back in 2013, I took over the role of Communications as I wanted to let everyone know who was racing on a given weekend and drive home the acknowledgement of Personal Bests and Podiums because I wanted the Club members to know, while they are racing, that people were at home watching and cheering them on.
I knew that, as The Wife calls it, the "Power Boost" would push people just a little bit more to achieve the performances they sought and, pointedly, the rewards for the Training time that went in. There's really no magic on race day unless you train hard, taper and rest, then unload on the day. From that, I then saw collaboration amongst the Club members when Training grew and spread to other athletes in the area that made the workouts more challenging and funner -- Suffer Together. In 2013, I saw this first-hand in the IronMan World Championships in Kona as The Wife (Chris Kachinsky-Bye) was running down the Queen K with 2 miles left in the race. I saw the 5th place woman in her age group ("The Woman with the White Visor") pass by and thought, "well, that's that "... I then saw this speck of white, red, and black down the road about a quarter mile and realized that was Chris. I ran at her (as she described "the red-shirted blob flying down the road at me") and I told her that "You are in 6th place. The years and years of hard training has come down to this moment. Everything you've ever done in this sport needs to be applied to catch the Woman with the White Visor. You need to dig deep and go." Due to the fact she was 138 miles into an IronMan and running through 95+ degree temperatures in a lava field, I am sure my elegant, motivational speech was translated to "6th. Woman in White Visor. Go.". :) The years of hard training translated into a sub-6 minute final 2 miles to place 5th and almost ran herself into 4th place. She was on the podium at the IronMan World Championships. Personally, at the end of every run, I always queue up my Season Theme song, and picture all of my training partners lined up along the side of the road cheering me on to catch some pretend runner in front of me (and, sure enough, in 2019 IronMan Santa Rosa, this came true as, after 10+ hour of racing, I got my Kona Slot by 3 seconds over the 4th place guy).
The reason I share this story is that I am so happy to see the collaboration amongst the Wolfpack as everyone is either working out together or cheering each other on. This weekend was particularly fun as Beanstalk, Warhorse, Skeletor, Warrior Princess and I were all together riding on Zwift ( Well, I was there, until our power went out... :( ) and the East Coast pack haven't met the Rocky Mtn pack yet have gotten to be friends. Anthony Booth's post-ride note really captures the essence of the Wolfpack -- WARHORSE'S POST -- and it is not isolated as I constantly hear people sharing with me how they are interacting with each other or planning to reachout to other members of the pack.
HOWLS
Howl out to Bernard Delierre for his performance on the Saturday Zwift ride. That ride was fast and hard, yet Bernard, who has been out of triathlon and structured training for several years and is just getting back at it this year with the Wolfpack saw his FTP increase from 175 to 200. That is what it is all about.
WEEKLY VOLUME PODIUM Beanstalk -- 11:06 (Jack Colton back on top) Chris Karalis -- 9:22 (New Run Threshold set Sunday -- 6:58 -- BOOM! Yes, you all need to sync up with him on Zwift) Beaker -- 9:13 ( Dan Briner, who's been dealing with a sore achilles has taken 3rd place for the second week in a row! ) She-Wolf Prime -- 8:39 (Lisa Rosynski, you go-girl!) Jiffy -- 8:17 (Matt Lubiack, on which I have been all over about pool time, had the second most pool time of the entire pack!) SHARK WEEK GUIDANCE Here is the deal. Note, you all don't have to participate (Comment on that below). I am a big believer in swim frequency being the driver of overall swim capability with volume being the secondary driver. Swim Form is third for, unless you grew up as a swimmer or have some freako anatomical design that is built for swimming, it is really hard to get really fast; however, if you swim frequently, you can get to "your fastest pace" and through volume hold that pace longer. You don't win the race in the swim, but if you can get out of the water with better folks, the whole race dynamic changes. Shark Week is a swimming bolus intended to get you to feel more comfortable in the water which will result in, what is described as, "a feel of the water". Once you have that, you will definitely feel better about swimming which will carry forward from this point onward and you will look forward to going to the pool. How long does Shark Week Run?
-- Sunday, January 29 through Monday, February 6th
Can I opt out?
-- Yes, I have "Alternative" workouts everyday as an alternative to swimming.
How come I don't have any Shark Week stuff in Training Peaks?
-- You are either ramping up for IronMan 70.3 New Zealand or need to do a basis week.
Can I swim everyday?
-- No, you can only swim six of eight days. Working to avoid repetitive overuse injuries.
Can I swim multiple times per day?
-- Yes.
What are we measuring?
-- We are accumulating distance in yards and moving time in minutes.
Does Vasa count?
-- Yes, keep track of yardage and moving times.
Do Bands count?
-- Yes, but only for time spent doing the bands (no yardage)
Where does the information get collected?
-- As I don't want to have to look everything up, for recording your yardage (convert Meters to Yards) and your moving time in minutes (Strava has this information), please add in the - Wolfpack 2023 Schedule.xlsx - as I created a bunch of columns
How do you win?
-- Awards for most yardage and most moving time (Strava has this information). -- There will be MAJOR AWARDS for: 1) Most Volume 2) Most Time Spent Swimming 3) (Probably) Rank Order of Most Volume and Most Time Spent Swimming Finally, although, as stated, Shark Week isn't necessarily about getting faster per se, please, every session, after your warm-up, do one 100 yard/meter hard which you will do again after Shark Week is done just to see what the numbers are. THE BOOK OF ELI Training Peaks Training Stress Score Past commentary: -- What the heck is NP (Normalized Power)? -- LINK -- How do I use this Bike Trainer thing? -- LINK -- What is ERG mode? LINK When we are riding in a group on Zwift, I don't want you to "load the workout" and I don't want you to turn on "ERG mode" . Here's why. Zwift simulates real riding and allows you to replicate riding outside ( for the most part... ) and all the fun of pushing yourself to your limit. We turned the rubberband off this morning which led to an interesting ride as Van Wilder and Lethal Weapon "loaded" the workout and took off before we got to the hill which was at 12:30 into the ride instead of 10 minutes. Therefore, Conner and Eli were well ahead of Beanstalk and I before the hill started. Who knows where Robin Hood was... (Sorry Forrest) So, as we rode, Jack, Eli, and I were able to come together and have a bit of "fight club" interval fun, the other folks were too far away to catch-up. So, when we are riding in a group, picture we are outside riding as a group and ride as a group. Point being, afterwards, Beanstalk had his fastest ride up "Road to Sky" as he was fighting with me on those 2x(4x4 minute intervals). Tracking? If you execute these right, you will NOTICE the change outside. Races/Events -- Wolfpack 2023 Schedule.xlsx Catching Up -- If you need to talk, don't hesitate to reachout via text or just call or please use https://go.oncehub.com/JohnBye , so I can dedicate time and be at a location where I can take notes and/or start a video if necessary. Relentless Forward Motion
