Alicia Kaye & Jarrod Shoemaker

Congrats to Cheryl Stine of Bloomington, IN for answering BUD LIGHT!
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You hear from everybody that nobody is perfect, or that person is smart but, or s/he is a dumb jock. Well this couple defies those rules, not only are they ridiculously fast, but they are the nicest and, possibly, the smartest couple in the sport.  The first time I really met Alicia, I actually kept just hearing her voice, I was racing an ITU race and leaping across from one pack to the other and this female pro, who had just raced was just cheering hardcore.  Jarrod I got to know through racing, during the race, he is completely different from out of the race.  It is the out of the race Jarrod that the world will love as they get to know him better and better.  Let's hear from one of the fastest couples in the sport...Alicia Kaye and Jarrod Shoemaker.

Andrew - There is a lot of dating within the triathlon community at all levels.  From the local triathlon clubs to the pro's.  Talk about the evolution of your relationship.  Where did you meet?

Jarrod - Alicia and I met at the baggage carousel in the San Juan Airport in Puerto Rico going to the Rincon Continental Cup. We chatted a bit and then went our separate ways until we talked again after the race (we both finished 5th). My sister and I were at the race together and we ended up sharing a room the night after the race with Alicia and her friend (we got 2 nights free room and had to pay for the 3rd night, typical triathlete style we quadrupled up to save money). Anyways we then talked a lot and saw each other in Corner Brook, New York City and then she came down to New Jersey to my families beach house.

Alicia - Jarrod and I met at a baggage carrousel in Puerto Rico.  We were both racing a continental cup in Rincon in 2005 and happened  to arrive on the same flight!  We were engaged 6 months later. 

What are your thoughts on maintaining a relationship while being a professional triathlete?  Do you think it's better to have someone competing in triathlon too or would you rather be with someone who didn't do tri's at all?

Andrew - Wow, okay, hmmm.  I have dated from extreme to extreme over the years and I realize one thing, relationships are tough and they require work whether you are a professional or not.  Yet, as a professional endurance athlete are training and hormones are always all over the place and it really puts a little additional strain on the relationship.  I do think that dating somebody that is active in endurance sports is important.  It allows them to understand at a small level what training is all about and what is going on in your body and the strains you go through.  I cannot imagine dating another pro, I do not know how you all do it.  I have a great girlfriend right now who loves just getting out there and having fun, and our relationship has it's challenges as any do, but just like any workout or race, a little extra focus and a positive mindset go a long ways.

Both of you have spent most of your career with the ITU.  You both have done HyVee as a draft legal and nondrafting race.  What What is the biggest difference you saw?  Which do you like more and why?

Alicia - I preferred the downtown site for Hy Vee rather than at Racoon River Park.  I wish they had allowed to swim to be 1500m, even though the current was insane.  Other than the swim being cut short I thought the course was a nice marriage of non draft and draft legal strengths.   The bike had some tough hills and technical corners and the hill on the run course was tough! I feel like the downtown course really favored the strong all-around triathlete.  

Jarrod - The original HyVee course was awesome, it was tough, we had attacks on the bike and the run was killer. Then once they moved it out of downtown it changed a lot, in 2008 it was fine as the course was still tough, but 2009 and 2010 were just bad. The course made draft legal look bad since nobody could do anything on the swim or bike since we were packed so tight together. Then in 2011 the course got tough again, a killer swim, tough bike and killer run. It would have been an epic draft legal race, but instead there were only 30 people in the race. HyVee has made a great investment in the sport, but personally draft legal on courses that don't have lots of 180 turn arounds but instead are hilly and wide open is much more fun. Draft legal might be all about the swim and run, but non-draft is only about the bike.

What is the highest wattage you have ever pushed?

Andrew - The number keeps going down as my run improves.  Five years ago I was around the mid 14's repeatable, the highest ever was 1545W.  I could have 5 second averages in the 12's.  Now I hardly do max's, I think the highest I have seen in the last year is right around 1300W.

Next week we will hear about how life is around taper time and how Alicia was about to retire from the sport when Jarrod stole her heart.

All the best,

Andrew

Question of the Week

This weeks question is brought to you by:

 

Orbea!

The FIRST correct answer to StarkysQuestion@gmail.com with the subject WEEK 4 will receive a Replica team cycling jersey in your size.

What beverage company was the title sponsor of the US Triathlon Series through most of the 1980's?

Good Luck,

Andrew

Believe in it?

Every year you learn of different tales and theories about training, working out, and life. The other day this gentleman told me that working out as hard as I do is only shortening my life span. I asked him how he figured. He explained to me that our heart is only designed for so many heart beats. We went on to have a conversation about a whole bunch of his other theories, some of them quite interesting, and then I continued to kill myself in my workout and he headed to the sauna to "dry the mold, bacteria, and toxins out of his body."

Over the weekend I was updating my training log when I began to think about this guys theory of a set number of heart beats. I did a lot of searching and it turns out that this theory came from England. There was no scientific evidence to back it up, but in the early 20th century working out hard was shunned in England, since it just shortened your life. This attitude showed in their Olympic performances... Beyond the wives tale, I started to do some math.

If a "normal" human has a resting heart rate of 60 bpm and their heart rate is elevated by 66% during "normal" daily activities how many times does their heart beat a day. Let's assume, 9 hrs of rest and 15 hours of daily activity.
9 hrs X 60 bpm X 60 min/hr = 32,400 beats during resting
15 hrs X 100 bpm X 60 min/hr = 90,000 beats during activity
So this "normal" person's heart beats 122,400 times a day.

Now let's take a "super" athlete whose resting heart rate is 30 bpm. Let's say they train 4 hrs a day at an average heart rate of 150 bpm. We will keep the rest at 9 hrs and assume that the rest of the day they are doing "normal" daily activity which elevates the heart rate 66% above resting.
9 hrs X 30 bpm X 60 min/ hr = 16,200 beats during rest
4 hrs X 150 bpm X 60 min/hr = 36,000 beats during training
11 hrs X 50 bpm X 60 min/hr = 33,000 beats during daily activity
So the "super" athlete's heart beats 85,200 times per day.

Ya baby. I hope that wives tale is true, because longevity is on my side if cars, motorcycles, and freak accidents stay out of my way. Funny how when you break it down how it is the opposite of what one would think. So I will stick to my favorite tale...Placing shoes on a table is bad luck.

Train Hard,
(you'll live longer)

Andrew

Amy & Brandon Marsh pt2

 Congrats to Ben Stengel with the correct answer of Great Britain.  He will no longer be walking around sock less.

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If you miss part 1...check it out...

Andrew - 2011 was a tough year for both of you.  Are you making any major changes in the off-season to training?  Trying anything new?  Or was 2011 just a compilation of bad luck, injuries, and circumstances?

Amy - Yes, 2011 was a compilation of bad luck, illness and too much travel.  The main change we are making this year is that we will not be racing as part of TeamTBB.  We have raced with TeamTBB the last 2 years (2010 and 2011) and it was an amazing experience.  However, for the next couple of years we have decided to train and race here in the States before we figure out what we want to do when we grow up.

Brandon - That's a question that deserves a full interview of its own! Yeah we've made some changes, and this may be the first announcement of them.  We are not going to be affiliated with TeamTBB   moving forward. It was a great experience, but we just felt like we needed to focus a little more on the two of us, so we'll be staying in the States and racing almost exclusively in the States.  There are a couple of other changes in the works with sponsorships and such, and if they come through we'll announce those on our Team-Marsh.com website.  I do think though, that 2011 was a compilation of mostly bad luck...and probably some stressors from the training and travel.  As for off season training, I'm working a bit on a little running and top end bike speed focus right now...but still balanced.

Amy - Do you have a significant other that you train and travel to races with?

Andrew – Over the years my mom is my biggest fan.  She comes to two or three races a year, and some times she plays nervous spectator, but most of the time she races.  We always try to get a few mother-son races in, I think the announcers love it as much as we do!

My girlfriend Jill also travels to a lot of the races with me.  If there is a race on Saturday and one on Sunday, or the age group race in the morning and the pro race later in the day, she will share in the fun.

I swim and lift with Jill and/or mom, but once we get out on the trail or roads.  We have tried to train together, but it really doesn’t work. 

Both of you have made your home in the iron distance category.  This means a lot of long days of training, how often are you able to get out there and train together?  During the heavier volume periods, how much do you actually get to see each other?

Brandon - We train together pretty often, mainly swimming and riding.  Riding inside or out.  Outside it usually ends up with me trying (usually in vain) to ride Amy off of my wheel.  Running, we might start together and finish together, but our workouts are generally separate.  This year, I'll make a decision after Ironman Texas if I am going to continue to work towards Kona in 2012.  Either way, I do think that we'll both be seeing a fair bit of training together.

Amy - We do the majority of our training together.  I couldn't ask for a better training partner.  It's great waking up every morning knowing that we have each other to train with and keep each other accountable.  We are pretty compatible in the swim (although he is better in open water), we ride together which means I usually end up drafting off of him, and we start our runs together but our paces are quite different so we end up running on our own.  Basically I try to keep up in all disciplines and he tries to drop me in every workout!

Brandon - In 2011, you were NOT expecting the Rev3 series to be your key set of races.  Will you focus on Rev3 in 2012?

Andrew – Yes, I will have a lot of the Rev3 races in my cross-hairs.  I mean after you win a series you need to at least try to repeat, three peat, four peat…eight peat.

I wish you guys the best of luck in the 2012 season.  It sounds like you guys are taking the necessary steps to have a victorious New Year.

All the best,

Andrew

Question of the Week

Now in order to win, you need to follow directions!

 

This weeks question is brought to you by:

 
The FIRST correct answer to StarkysQuestion@gmail.com with the subject WEEK 3 will receive 2 pairs of Champion System Socks in your size.

Which European country has had the most #1 ranked athletes in the world (ITU) that has yet to earn an Olympic Medal?



Good Luck,

Andrew
Posted @ 12:15CST

Planning...

For those of you who still have your Inside Triathlon for November/December 2011, I recently learned that I have a great leg shot opposite the table of contents...pg7!

What a difference a week makes!  Last week it was in the 50s and sunny.  Since then we have had snow, wind, rain, and average temperatures.  I spent 4.5 hours over the course of 2 rides on my Orbea Terra in 6 inches of snow on the trails.  I never thought that a 9 minute mile would be 325W on a bike.  So to say the least, I have done a lot of grinding the last few days.  They are great power workouts and terrific core and bike handling workouts, I don't know if the single digit windchill's will help me in Abu Dhabi, but I will let you know in March.

On to my soap box for the week:  Each Sunday night I sit down and plan the training for the week on a marker board.  I try to get most of the volume in during the week, so I can enjoy the weekends and not spend my weekends training.  It is like a game of cards, long workout here, hard workout here, recovery day here, date night here.  Sometimes it takes 15 minutes other nights it is an hour.

This week I thought I had a great week planned out.  I looked at the weather and boom, had a great plan.  I forgot that Monday was Martin Luther King day, so no swim practice.  I planned my long ride for Thursday, the projected high has dropped from 32 to 17.  The weekend looks good, but like I said, I prefer to get the volume in during the week.

I once got told that the best way to see God laugh is tell him your plans...I think God is laughing hard this week.

All the best,

Andrew

Brandon & Amy Marsh pt1

Congrats to Chris Wiatr, for being the first person to follow directions, winning this weeks case of Zico with the correct answer of 1974.
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In the heart of Texas there is a couple that in years past have had a lot of success in the iron distance of triathlon.  In 2011, they almost seemed to disappear from the leader board marred with the misfortunes that triathlon can deal.  In 2012 Brandon and Amy Marsh are back with a new look and out with vengeance.

Andrew - The Marsh family seems to race on the same weekend rather often.  How much does it motivate you to see your significant other out there during the race?  Does it motivate or distract you from your race if they are having a great or poor race?

Amy - I actually get more nervous for Brandon's race than my own.  We really enjoy traveling and racing the same races.  I'm usually able to focus on my own race when Brandon is having a good or poor race so I don't really think it has too much effect me.  Of course, the trip is much more pleasant when we both have good races!

Brandon - Actually the last couple of years we have not raced together as much as before.  It is certainly more 'fun' to do the same races, but at the same time there's probably a little bit more 'nervous' energy between us when we are both at the same race.  For me, I think that I am pretty able to focus on my race even when Amy is having a less than great race, and it's nice when we both have good races.

Andrew - Racing together also means that your training cycles likely match up, which also means that you are over training at the same time and tapering at the same time.  How do you as a couple cope with the exhaustion and the edginess that come with training at the professional level?

Brandon - You know, in the couple of interviews that we have done, this question usually comes up. We seem to have worked out a pretty good 'system' at home, but I don't quite know what it is.  We can kind of tell when the other is a bit on 'edge', and as much as we can in a 1250 sq ft house, we try to give each other a bit of space!
 

Amy - We seem to have a pretty good system worked out at home between training, working, chores, racing, etc.  If one of us has more training, coaching, etc... on one particular day then the other picks up the majority of the chores, cooking and any errands that need to be made.  We both understand each others schedules, when we're tired.  You know if B's getting cranky or I'm getting cranky, then one of us probably needs to ease up and try to get a bit more sleep, etc.  It's definitely a Team effort.   

Brandon - You are an enginerd like I am, though I believe you are a mechanical engineer whereas I am a chemical engineer.  Do you see yourself trying to find an 'after triathlon' position in the Tri-Industry, back in more traditional engineering, or neither!?

Andrew - I still very much think, calculate, and manage the sport of triathlon like an engineer.  Everything in my mind should be in a pace range or some pace based off of race pace, as a percentage, of course.  Yet, as I have learned the events of sponsorship and sports marketing, there is a whole world out there that I am discovering.  Where I go after triathlon, I do not know.  I love engineering, I love innovation and design, but I do not see myself cramped behind a desk.  So the long of the short is we will see where the wind blows.  Whether or not it is in the Tri-Industry, I couldn't even begin to guess.

Next week the Marsh's talk about the blunders of 2011, changes for 2012, and a little about training "together."

Have a great week!
Let it snow,

Andrew