I flew out to Salt Lake City, Utah this week with Ashley to do a presentation for TYR at the Salt Lake Running Company. The owners of the Salt Lake Running Co, Guy and Debbie Perry, host packet pick-up for the Rocky Mountain Regional Olympic Distance Championships at one of their three store locations. I was slated to speak at 7:30 PM and before my presentation I went out to dinner with Guy, Debbie, Ryan Dolan, Ashley, and Weston (an athlete who Debbie coaches). We ate dinner at a funky little restaurant, Citris. The talk at dinner surrounded athletics and triathlon performance; it was a nice preparation piece for the talk I would soon give at the shop.

My presentation was about moving up in distance, training for an Ironman after racing Olympic distance and half Ironman distance events. The talk was specifically about how the run training differs when training for Ironman. Here were the highlights of what I talked about:

1. Train at least two (2) quality run workouts each week
2. Train some speed work each week to help your running economy and form
3. When you train hard, go hard, when you train easy, run easy
4. Train your body to run while tired, this can mean doing a brick workout, running hard after an intense day of training the previous day, or simply running after you swim and bike (either in a race or a race simulation)

No matter how good of a presentation I think I give, I always find the best part of any presentation to be the question and answer session after the presentation. The interaction with other athletes and the ability to address specific areas of interests always seems to have more of an impact. While a good portion of the audience was relatively new to the sport of triathlon, a lot of questions surrounded how to mentally prepare for a first race, how to have smooth transitions, and even how to avoid bonking (if you read the September issue of Inside Tri, you would notice a feature article titled “Bonk Man”). I always enjoy providing insight and knowledge to athletes eager for improvement. After all, I am an athlete searching for insight and knowledge eager for improvement. Sometimes the best way to learn is by teaching others.

While in Salt Lake City, Ashley and I stayed at Jeremy Dolan’s house (brother of Ryan Dolan from TYR). Jeremy lives in a fabulous home atop a massive hill/mountain which proved to be quite the challenge when returning from a ride up Immigration Canyon with Ryan. Ashley, Ryan, and I all went for a trail run on Pipeline Trail near Mill Creek (which was a great creek for an ice bath after the run). We also went for a swim at Steiner swimming pool; a beautiful outdoor 50m pool part of the Salt Lake City Sports Commission. On Wednesday afternoon I did the master’s swim workout with my friend, Kelsey Kooreman, who now lives in Park City. I think I gave everyone in the pool a good fashion scare when I sported my new red, 4” nylon trainer with Ashley’s pink pirate swim cap. I looked like “Happy Valentine’s Day” ready to pop out of a cake and do a little dance. Oh well, that’s what happens when you forget your own swim cap.

After the swim we went to catch the finish of Stage 2 of the Tour of Utah cycling race and say hello to a few friends racing. For our last night in Utah, Ashley and I drove to Park City to have dinner with Kelsey and her husband, Mike at the Wasatch Brewery on the top of Old Main St. We enjoyed some good food and even better laughs. After driving to see the Kooreman house, and playing with their dogs, we both fell in love with Park City and vowed to return soon (hopefully during ski season, and maybe even during the Sundance Film Festival).

While this was my first visit to Utah in the summer and Ashley’s first visit ever, we both left noting how clean, modern and wonderfully accommodating Utah was for athletes. It is definitely worth a visit and even makes the short list of places I would consider living. For now it is on to Boston where I will visit my cousin, Eric, for a couple of days before I race this weekend at Timberman 70.3 in New Hampshire, (time to add a few sprinkles to the donut!)

Work Hard,

TJ