CU Triathlon is proud to present the new Buffer Buffalo 5K seires. Put on your running shoes and gear up for the Bolder Boulder on this fast, flat course on the beautiful CU Research Park while helping the CU Triathlon Team win their 11th national title!
The course begins and ends in front of the CU Track (Potts Field) with two distinct clockwise loops around the research park.
Awards and refreshments will be provided afterwards. Parking is available in the gravel lot by 33rd St. and Colorado Ave.

BUFFERBUFFALO.COM

Overall	School					Male	Female	Combined
1	UC Berkeley				28	53	81
2	University of Colorado Boulder		65	51	116
3	United States Military Academy		61	79	140
4	University of Florida			86	103	189
5	United States Naval Academy		87	124	211
6	University of California Santa Barabara	165	55	220

  2.    51  University of Colorado, Boulder               (02:18:16  06:54:47)
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  1      2    246 Leah Larson         02:08:30
  2      9    265 Kristen Peterson    02:18:30
  3     40    480 Heidi Spees         02:27:47
  4   ( 66)   922 Leanne Miller       02:32:28
  5   ( 77)   653 Allie Duba          02:34:00
  6   ( 79)   423 Kathryn Easley      02:34:23
  7   (106)   712 Jennie Thorne       02:39:09

  4.    65  University of Colorado, Boulder               (02:01:38  06:04:54)
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  1     20    178 Cedric Wane         02:01:29
  2     22    125 Matthew Daugherty   02:01:42
  3     23    117 David Clarke        02:01:43
  4   ( 28)   339 Daniel McIntosh     02:02:42
  5   ( 73)   597 Adam Steigerwald    02:09:35
  6   ( 95)   342 David Morse         02:11:55
  7   (105)   530 Joe Britton         02:13:04

Nate finished the Boston Marathon today in 2:59:24. Congrats!

With Regionals and nationals coming up soon, it's time to figure out exactly what you will be taking for your pre-race and race nutrition at Regs and Nats.

Here are some guidelines to help you develop your plan. These same guidelines can also be applied to training, esp for big/key training sessions.

• Practice your Nutrition plan during your workouts, esp key/big workouts, TTs, and practice Races!!!!
• If you are expecting hot/humid race conditions, consider upping your electrolyte intake beginning 7 days prior to the race. This will help prevent cramping race day. Be very careful with your salt intake and don't overdo it, esp if you consume processed foods high in Sodium on a regular basis.
• FINISH your pre-race meal 3 hours prior to Race start time.
• Avoid a meal containing a lot of saturated fat and high in fiber prior to racing.
• Aim for complex carbs, protein, unsaturated or monosaturated fats (citrus fruits and a small amount of fiber is ok if you are use to it)
• Stick with what you are use to — if you eat oatmeal and eggs on a regular basis and it sits fine with you, then stick with oatmeal and eggs.
• When trying something New, Try it out BEFORE race day!
• Never try anything new on Big Race day! That's what training, TTs, and practice races are for!
• Inside of 3 hours prior to race start, feel free to consume easily digestable things like water, sport drink, gels, bars, etc. But don't overconsume! It's better to be a little bit hungry rather than feeling stuffed and bloated at the start line!
• consume a gel + water, or 4-6 oz. sport drink 5-15 minutes prior to race start — it will give you a few calories that you will burn in the swim
• For Olympic Distance, try to consume AT LEAST one 20oz. bottle of water or sport drink during the bike. Try for 200-500 Cal during the bike leg. For the run, continue to drink at the aid stations as your body tells you to. Liquids are generally better for the run — sport drink and water. Get your calories from easily digestable sources like gels, liquids, clif bloks, etc. Avoid bars, sandwiches, burritos, pancakes, meat loaf, etc. unless you practice before hand and are certain you can handle them!
• For Sprint distance try for AT LEAST 8 oz. of fluid and 100-300 Cal during the bike leg. you may or may not need to drink during the run — listen to your body!
• IMMEDIATELY following the race/workout, get in plenty of quality lean protein, a mixture of simple and complex carbs, a little fat is ok, and plenty of fluids — water and/or sport drink!

At the most recent CU Triathlon Team meeting we had the honor of hosting two great triathletes. Chris McCormack is the World Ironman Champion and one of the best triathletes ever. Cameron Widoff took time off this year due to injury but is one of the most successful American triathletes. We appreciate both guys taking the time to talk and answer questions. Keep up the good work.

Week #4 TOW.

Topic is forefoot/Newton running.

"Forefoot" in the term forefoot running, describes the part of the foot that first strikes the ground when running. Other foot strike options include toe-strike and heel-strike. Forefoot can be used synonymously with midfoot striking for our purposes.

Footstrike in running has been a hotly debated topic in the triathlon and running arenas as of late. Depending on where you look, you will find every different opinion possible on the topic. Together, my personal experience, coaching, and cumulative research experience points to the method of forefoot/newton running to be the best all-around choice for triathletes.

Without going into great detail, here are the reasons you should consider changing into a forefoot/midfoot runner if you are currently a toe-striker or heel-striker.

• Heel striking is inefficient — it causes you to de-accelerate and re-accelerate with every single stride
• Heel striking offers very little natural shock absorption. Just try running with a heelstrike with barefeet on pavement and you'll see what I mean.
• Toe-Striking is very hard on the achilles tendon and places much stress on the foot and calf muscles
• midfoot/forefoot striking offers the benefits of toe-striking mechanical efficiency, toe-striking natural shock absorption of the calf muscles, with the relative relaxed feel of heel-striking.
• heel-striking causes the quadriceps to fatigue prematurely because of the shock-absorption role they play in this techniqe of running. Add in the quad-heavy discipline of biking prior to the run in a triathlon, and this effect is compounded. Heel-strikers can expect muscle cramping and severe quad fatigue in the running portion of a triathlon.
• midfoot/forefoot striking spreads the running workload to several large and powerful muscle groups — hamstrings, glutes, quads, hip flexors, and calves.
• forefoot/midfoot running offers the best combo of injury avoidance, running efficiency, endurance potential, running speed, and versatility (uphill, downhill, trail, flat)

Check out the following webpage to see a great motion diagram of what forefoot running looks like and how it compares with heel-striking.
http://www.newtonrunning.com/run_better.php

While running with a midfoot/forefoot strike, your entire foot (heel included) will EVENTUALLY touch the ground. Forefoot/midfoot strikes first, slight and subtle rock back to where the heel just LIGHTLY touches the ground before lifting back off the ground with the forefoot/toe area being the last to contact the ground.

DO NOT push off with the toes when finishing each stride. Rather, think about picking each foot straight up off the ground toward your buttocks immediately after the foot strikes the ground. This mindset will teach you to become a "quiet" runner — the benefits of which are reduced impact, reduced fatigue, increased stride rate, increased speed. Put this together with a slightly forward-leaned and relaxed upper body, compact arm carriage, and you are on your way to running with the Kenyans!

At next weeks meeting, all of the the teams sweet schwag will be available and for sale!!

And there will be special deals on stuff from last season!!

2007, 2006 Team Race Uniforms: Were $110 Now ONLY $75

2007 Team Long Sleeve Dry Fit: Were $20 NOW ONLY $15

Click the Apparel tab to the left, and take a look at all of the other stuff we will be selling.

Post Workout Recovery.
As triathletes, we have 3 disciplines to master and doing so requires working out more than the average athlete. Recovering from a hard or long session is very important. How well you recover from these key sessions greatly affects the quality of your next long or hard session. Recovery poorly and chances are you'll be left fatiagued and suffering in your next key session. Recover well and your body will be thanking you the next time the you try to pick up the intensity in a sprint finish with Dave Morse into Hygeine.

How does one recover well?
IMMEDIATE REFUELING.
Immediate nutrition following a long or hard session. Immediate means IMMEDIATE. Get in 200-500 Cal immediately following a key session. Be sure to include protein (whey or animal is better than soy for recovery), carbs (simple is better than complex for faster absorption), a balanced electrolyte profile (key to re-hydration), and plenty of fluids (esp when training in hot conditions). If you know you will be away from your kitchen or restaurant following a session, bring something with to hold you over until you can get some real food in your system.

R & R. Rest and REM (sleep)
Training moderately hard all the time will prepare you to race moderately hard, and nothing more. Long or hard session require taking it easy for a period of time. Easy means bike-riding-with-grandma EASY. It may even mean taking the next day off if you are severly fatigued/sore. If you are severly fatigued, consider taking a nap in place of your next workout. Your body will tell you when it needs rest.......listen to it.

Recovery can be summed up as R, R & R:
Refueling, Rest, REM (sleep)

You liked what you learned at the meeting, you liked the people there, and you want to be a part of the best club team at CU. Now what? Go to the club sports office, located next to the equipment checkout window in the recreation center. Fill out a club sports waiver (both sides). Put both the completed waiver and a check made out to “CU Triathlon Team” for $100 into the manila folder labeled "completed waivers and checks." The manila folder is inside the triathlon team cubby hole, if you’re not sure, you can ask one of the people who work in the office to help you. We look forward to having another exceptional team and want everyone to be a part of it.

Welcome to the CU Triathlon Team. My name is Kirk Nelson and I am the head coach for the 2007-08 season. I have 5 years of triathlon racing and training experience as well as 3 years of coaching experience. I am looking forward to helping you learn the sport of triathlon and all aspects associated with the sport — nutrition, equipment, scheduling, training, racing, and others. I think you will find that this team is like no other you have been a part of — great sponsors, great athletes, great leadership, great friendships, great people, great workouts all make for great times!

Below you will find an introduction to our team’s training philosophy. Please take the time to read the background and everything else prior to making your training schedule. Feel free to email me or any of the team’s “experienced” members with questions you may have. I am looking forward to a very fun-filled and exciting season with this year’s team.

A few notes on workouts and the training:

Training Zones:

• Zone 1 = Easy/Recovery, very light intensity, easy conversation
• Zone 2 = Base pace, aerobic endurance, conversational, start of slightly heavy breathing
• Zone 3 = Tempo, Muscular Endurance (ME), (what you could hold for ~30 minutes swimming, ~60 minutes running, ~120 minutes cycling)
• Zone 4 = Lactate Threshold (what you could hold for 15 minutes swimming, 30 minutes running, 60 minutes cycling)
• Zone 5 = VO2 Max, All out Sprint/FAST, Jumps on the bike.

Keep in mind, that an Olympic distance race is typically raced at zones 3-4 for the average athlete. Fitter athletes can maintain a higher intensity longer (more zone 4). Less fit athletes will be more in zone 3.

Swims: Becoming a good swimmer requires learning proper freestyle technique. The focus right now is developing flawless technique. We are lucky to have some seriously skilled swim coaches — KP, Piers, Lauren.

Bikes: Again, technique and base fitness development are the focus. We’ll incorporate drills to improve pedal stroke and you will learn pack riding skills and etiquette. Mountain bikes and road bikes are all welcome. Small groups of 2-8 riders is preferred; this allows for safer riding, allows more riding at the front, and keeps individuals riding at the proper intensity. Use of the “buddy system” will keep anyone from being stranded alone with a flat tire. Helmets are REQUIRED. I highly suggest bringing a spare tube, tire lever, patch kit, CO2 or pump, mini multi-tool. All of these can be purchased at any decent bike shop.

Bike nutrition: You MUST bring water bottles filled with water, sports drink, electrolytes, etc. You must bring adequate calories for the ride: gels, Sport Beans , candy bars, energy bars, granola bars, sandwiches, bagels, etc in addition to hydrational needs.

Runs: Again……… technique and base fitness are the focus. Small groups of 2-5 is preferred to keep us in the proper training zone and to keep from blocking trails.

Missing workouts: Missing workouts is OK! We are students FIRST! If you have a choice of which workout(s) to miss, the following priority should be placed on which workouts to attend/accomplish. These will be regarded as the “key” weekly workouts.

Finally, the actual workouts to kick off the first week of training are available on the website. I will do my best to explain the lingo or format used in the writing of these workouts at meetings and during the workouts themselves. I trust that you will all have a good handle on interpreting the workouts within the first month of training.

Remember, the first couple of workouts will be available to everyone, but but will be available only to dues paying members starting in October.

Here is an update on which races count towards the regional championship. Mark your calendars!

Harvest Moon Long Course Triathlon – Aurora, Colorado
September 16th, 2007
http://www.racingunderground.com/harvestmoon.html
This is a great race, it's a half-iron distance not too far from boulder (about 56 miles away) and registration is still open.

Kokopelli Triathlon – St. George, Utah
September 22, 2007
http://www.bbscendurancesports.com/kokopelli.html

Lake Havasu Triathlon – Lake Havasu, Arizona
March 2008
http://www.tucsonracing.com/LHTinf.htm

Bartlett Lake Olympic & Sprint Triathlon - Bartlett Lake, Arizona
March 30, 2008
http://trifamilyracing.com/

Tri the Rim Triathlon – Durango, Colorado
April 2008
http://www.fortlewis.edu/community_culture/tri_the_rim/default.asp


There is also a fun race in Mexico...

The 2nd Annual Rocky Point Sandy Beach Olympic Triathlon - Puerto Penasco,
Mexico
April 5, 2008
http://trifamilyracing.com/