Clermont Sprint Nationals

Kaleb runs his way to third in his first Pro national champs!

Jake Rhyner, also on Team IE, wins the draft legal  AG race and gets his pro card!

Kaleb VanOrt- 3rd overall, 2nd American

Lauren Goss-8th overall, 5th American

Jake Rhyner- 1st AG draft legal
Kyle Lee- 2nd AG draft legal

Greg Mueller- 9th AG draft legal 

More to come....holiday now :) cheers!

Team IE Mountain Holla

As I sit here on the foam roller, unable to apply any pressure to my quads, I am thinking about what a great trip we had last week. It was simply awesome to have 10 Team IE members in the mountains together training for a week. The real focus of the camp was to get everyone together in a warm location and get some base miles in our legs. Over four days we did almost 16000 feet of climbing! There were some profound moments for coach over that week! Seeing Nicole and Lauren ride down a 15% graded dirt road, everyone out for a run and seeing peoples breath as we march through an all but desolate city in the cold of the morning, watching my wife descend a 14 mile mountain at 11 % grade in her aerobars, pushing each other hard over steep climbs to prepare for the onslaught of Nationals in 2 weeks. Right then and there, at that moment, we are winning races. We are doing things that no one else sees or judges, the World is totally unaware and yet we are making strides toward being the best in the World. On that trip I saw determination in Laurens heart to bridge a gap, I saw power in Kaleb's legs to drop the pack and I saw pure strength in Nicole's body. In the end all these body parts are working together for one goal,but in retrospect I learned one thing again by suffering and watching and that is that the mind is the most powerful tool we take into battle. There was a moment, a long moment where we were in a pace line for upwards of 3 min and well above 400 watts and you could hear nothing but deep breathing and grunting and see nothing but white knuckles and pain. It is in that moment that I am deeply happy that I can pass on something I love to someone that wants it more than me. In that moment, even though we are still a team we are battling for position and hanging on to pride and ego and suffering for no other reason than that we are alive in that moment and that tire in front of you is your whole awareness. Total focus as they try to take whats mine, something I offer freely in words but they know they can only really have by suffering. 1 mile later you are totally unaware of what you passed or who was watching and you don't care. Its those moments I wont ever forget,but winning is the only thing the World will get to see, these experiences are ours!

G

Training hard and seeing results is nothing compared to training hard, seeing results, and being a part of something. The sport of triathlon tends to attract athletes who are individualistic and are really concerned only about themselves. Often times it is easy to get lost in training and complete every workout on "auto pilot". The training camp this weekend opened my eyes to how beneficial training with a TEAM can be. The group was very diverse; we had people who went to olympic trials for cycling and we had people who ride once a week. Regardless, everyone finished every ride with determination and a smile. I love training with positive people because it takes the focus off of "what were my average watts, what was my time, how far did I go" to noticing the unthinkable things members of the team are doing. This week I was able to push myself above and beyond because I was motivated by the great efforts of my teammates. I did things I never thought was possible and I saw my teammates excel in ways they never thought they could. It is clear now how important it is to simply live and preform in the moment in order to be successful. Thank you so much to Hammer nutrition for helping me survive the insane climbs and aggressive attacks from coach G! Recoverite does wonders...so do great people ;)

LG

After a week of training hard with the team, I am tired but have a new sense of what my body is capable of.  I am used to hard, week long, training camps from collegiate running, but nothing can compare to this last week.  With four days straight of riding hard in the mountains my body was worn out each day as we started but I was able to make it up each climb with good power and energy.  This may be because of the numerous naps I took or the help from Hammer Nutrition every step of the way, with the gels and HEED while riding and Recoverite and whey protein post.  Or the combination of both!  A big thanks also goes out to Cobb Cycling for my SHC 170 saddle and Rudy Project for our helmets and glasses.  I was comfortable all day!  There is a lot that can be said about how the body can rise to the occasion when called, but I think what makes Greg such a great coach is his knowledge of how the body will respond after hard efforts.  In college, after a hard week, it was back to the same old schedule.  I would always come out of the week stronger but would seem to get sick a few days later or injured.  I never realized what caused this, until now.  Coming off the week Greg is taking it easy on us and letting our bodies absorb the training.  I think this will be very important not only for Clermont, but for the rest of the season as a whole.  What a great experience it was to be able to ride in the mountains with some of my best friends. 
~ Kaleb

How was the camp...AMAZING!!  I have forgotten how awesome it is to do nothing but eat, sleep and train with people you love to hang out.  I do a lot of my training on my own in cville and I felt so so thankful to have Greg, Lauren and Kaleb to drill me for the week...crazy fun!  I love greg's blog here- because it really captures something special that happens when other people are driving you to explore your physical and mental limits as an athlete.  There are very unique bonds created in those moments and snippets of memories that you will come to fall back on in future races and training when the task gets tough and you have to make a decision about which way to go...these moments in time help you know more instinctively that you can make the right decision and fight back when it comes to that.  I have one memory I will revist a lot in the future of kaleb dropping the hammer on the bike in a massive surge and greg yelling at me (in a nice way =) ) because he knew I was about to give up.  He could sense it, he knew I was bowing out.  I didnt think I could go but he knew I could- so he yelled- and I went. No way you can do that on your own.  It was also incredible to see Lauren become a cycling rockstar on the trip, I realized she has made a huge jump from last year when she was hammering me up hill..dang- amazing what happens in a few months. I also second Kaleb's appreciation of Rudy Project and Cobb cycling- the Rudy Project line helmets are incredible this year and I highly recommended checking them out if you havent yet.  It really does make a big difference in training when you have the best quality gear and the best quality people to train with.  Thanks to everyeone!! Cant wait to go back!!
-NCK

Next up: Sprint nationals in Clermont, FL! Coach is racing....should be FUN!

Baby Steps for Years

The last month has been an outstanding build toward our 2011 campaign. The whole team has been pouring themselves into training and recovery. Every week someone or everyone does something that shows our progress. Whats amazing is how much energy it all takes. In this case its a village for sure! between sponsors,clothing design,workouts,jobs,marketing, racing,life,fun, you name it and working our way towards our long term goals takes a lot of energy. I love the analogy of marbles on the table. Every goal, every relationship, every workout,every trip is a marble and keeping them in place is no less than a challenge! I do believe though that with the team we have in place we are creating great development that will lead to success. When I say team, I mean family, sponsors, friends, and coaches. This week I brought in Sheila Taormina to do a 2 day workshop with our pros and work with Team IE amateurs as well. Sheila has the most profound energy! Its like Red Bull but alive. I feel so motivated by her no bullshit approach. She challenges each one of us to set a goal and be honest about stepping up and grabbing a hold of it. Whats important is that we own our own goal, success and failure. No excuses...NONE! NO not ONE! Sheila excelled on so many levels and over came so much adversity,hearing her speaking and watching her passion was energizing.I highly recommend her book "Call the Suit". One thing that we discuss and she hit on was baby steps. We all need to focus in on success and then start moving in that direction. For me its unlikely that most of us truly take "big" steps. I find that at any level, consistency of small steps results in success. Sure 2012,2016, and 2020 are a long way off, but if we are closer today then yesterday because of our hard work then we made ground. What I see in these athletes day in and day out is a deep commitment to do things that will result in success. What I see accepted in society is an inability to commit and justification that discomfort or sacrifice is somehow unnecessary. Whats incredible is that driving hard right behind these athletes are layers of amateur and Pro IE athletes working to dominate the 2011 season. Team IE has at least 10 other athletes that could win any race at any give time. Look out for them at races near you. At Team IE we are striving to develop every level of athlete to the best of their ability. This is done patiently and slowly but I assure you that it will happen. Thank you for honoring us with your time and please feel free to leave comments and make the site more interactive.

Slow down.

Training properly is a mystery. What defines overtraining? How fast is “too fast?" Lately I have found myself looking at other athletes’ twitter accounts to read detailed descriptions about their hard sessions and even times they are dropping in practice. I suppose it is just the nature of the sport. Everyone wants to one up each other and let everyone else know how fast they are in the off season. Yes, I am guilty for reading these things for entertainment; however, since moving to South Bend and training with Greg and Kaleb I have learned quite a bit about this mystery. When I talk and train with others I sometimes get the vibe that every workout is a race regardless if it is a track session or an easy spin. Before being coached by Greg I would get caught up in the “lets go as hard as I can every session” mentality. Yeah, I was happy at the end of workouts because I went fast, but at the end of the day I was not getting much faster. So many triathletes get injured midseason or start slowing down and they cannot figure out why it keeps happening season to season. It is simple, train smart. Patience is hard to come by in triathlon, everyone wants to see results now. Trust your coach, listen to your body, and nose breathe on runs!

Happy training,

Lauren

Mountains In The Carribean Sea

TRAVEL/DAY 1

Lauren and I got to Chicago around 5 and decided to get some food before we headed to the hotel to catch a nap.  We booked a park and fly at a hotel near the airport so we could offset the high cost of parking at O’Hare.  We went to a little Greek restaurant called Squabs.  We got some really good Gyros that hit the spot.  After dinner we checked into the hotel and caught a nap until 11:30 and then headed to the airport.  Our flight out of Chicago was at 2:10.

I was in and out of sleep until we got to San Salvador, El Salvador.  When we arrived there, they had wifi in the airport so I was able to give my mom and Greg an update on our travel.  After a one hour layover, we boarded the plane for Roatan.  Greg had told us that the Roatan airport was one of the most dangerous airports in the world to fly in to.  I did not mention this to my mom before the travel because I did not want her to worry!!  Upon approach and landing I was scoping the area for something that would indicate a dangerous airport.  I did not see anything.  It actually looked like a nice airport for a Caribbean Island.  Once we landed, customs was not very difficult to get through.  All we had to do was present our passports. 

Lauren and I with our waters!

After we got our bikes we got in touch with Leslie, the race director, and sorted out where we were going to be staying.  We were signed up for a home stay so we were excited to see what it entailed.  Once we had that squared away, we found some water!  Leslie’s husband and Jessica, one of Leslie’s helpers, picked us up from the airport and dropped us off at our homestay.  It was in Sandy Bay and had all the amenities of a small cabin in a third world country.  Valerie was a very nice host but very upfront with everything.  She runs a shelter for women and children with AIDS and she has her likes and dislikes of the Roatan/Honduras culture and let us know her thoughts.  She is originally from Canada but has called Roatan home for 9 years.  She plans on staying here when she retires.  She got us a few groceries to start us off and then took us to a grocery store to allow us to buy food we liked.  She also allowed us to use her shower since there was no shower or hot water in our cabin.  It was not what I had in mind leading up to a race, but it got the job done.

The neighbors

Once Lauren and I were settled, Harry, an athlete from Great Britain, arrived at the homestay.  Valerie took us all to the market to get food and then we stopped in to a little Honduran restaurant for some ethnic food.  I enjoyed it, but it was a little on the shady side.  The best restaurants are basically a family’s kitchen that you go into and eat.  There is no menu, only what they have prepared for the day.  After food, we jumped in the car and drove the bike course.  HOLY CRAP!  The “flat” part is not flat at all and “The Wall” made me think twice about the race, and I enjoy climbing!!  I figured while driving the course that it was going to be a tough race so I had to mentally prepare myself for “battle.”   Once back at the cabin we all put our bikes together and headed out for a short spin to loosen our legs from traveling.  Lauren and I rode for about 25 min and then went for a 20 min swim in the ocean.  I am not sure how long Harry rode but he found out firsthand how quickly it gets dark once the sun starts to go down

Lauren and I share a room with bunk beds

DAY 2

After going to bed early the night before we were up and at ‘em early.  I went for a 30 min run while Lauren and Harry went to explore “The Wall.” Lauren was a little nervous about descending so she wanted to check it out.  After my run I did some run drills to help loosen up my legs and then rode with Lauren while she ran for 20 min.  I felt a little weird running solo down these roads so I did not feel right sending Lauren out alone.  Two days before a race Greg and I like to back down my training and let my body fully recover for the race, so my day was full of eating and relaxing.  About midday we went for a swim.  Once again we headed to the ocean out back of our homestay but this time we went a little farther out into the coral reef.  Roatan has the second largest reef in the world.  Second to only the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The water gets very shallow over some spots of the reef so we had to be careful not to touch it, but I did catch my foot on a bit of it.

Jasmine, Nicholas, and I

After the swim, we showered up and went to a little brick oven pizza place.  The food here is surprisingly good, but I think the sausage on the pizza was closer to a hot dog then actual sausage.  For the remainder of the day we chilled outside in the shade since it is cooler outside in the tropical breeze than inside.  We hung out with Valerie’s kids and they kept us quite entertained.  It was fun watching them play sports and just be children.  Valerie made us dinner, which was a delicious mix of chicken, coconut shrimp, rice with black beans, and fried plantains.  I was a bit weary of the fried plantains until Valerie said they were good with ketchup.  I love ketchup so when someone says something is good with ketchup I never miss an opportunity!!  I am starting to get the feeling that green vegetables are not a normal menu item.  After dinner we sat on the deck and chilled until bed time.



Sausage Pizza

DAY 3

Lauren, Harry and I woke up around 6:15 and were riding by 7.  The roads were a bit more crowded than we were expecting for a Saturday morning, but the ride went well.  I did some openers to get the body ready to race including riding up “The Wall.”  The mood after the ride was pretty much what I was expecting after driving it.  I was thinking this race will not be about who is the fastest or best triathlete, it will come down to who is the best cyclist in the mountains.  After the ride we checked our bikes in with Leslie and she locked them in a closet so we could get them on race morning.  When we arrived at the water the ocean was angry!  The description on the website stated very little waves and minimal current.  On Thursday that was true, but not on this particular day.  There were some decent swells and the current would push you if you let it.  We swan for about 30 min total in which I inserted some openers and worked on water entrances and exits.  My body was doing whatever I told it, so I was hoping the same thing would occur on race day!   We taxied back to the homestay and had some lunch.

After lunch we relaxed and napped before our run.  Valerie took us to the race site to go for a run and attend the prerace briefing.  We decided to run one lap of the course, since it is a 2 lap race.  WOW!  The run course does not lack hills, or hill in this case, one bit!  It is an out and back 2 laps and in the middle is a giant hill that you have to run up and down going each way.  Just when I thought I had this race figured out, another mountain is thrown into the mix.  I started thinking that this race really was going to be more about survival than racing.  The only way I could think of to describe this race as I prepared myself the night before would be a heavy weight boxing match.  I knew I was going to have to take some heavy blows and I was going to have to hit hard when I needed to in order to conquer this!  It sounds crazy but it is what I train/live for!!

Valerie’s daughter, Jane, made us pizza as a prerace meal!  It was amazing!  The host family had friends over and it turned into a real pizza party.  I got carbo loaded and had a good mix of protein, so I knew I would be ready to go the next day.  As we were getting ready for bed, music was blaring and we learned it was an all night party!!  Not what I was looking forward to on the night before the race, but oh well, stuff happens and you have to deal with it.  It was like a dorm party next door the night before a race in college. 

RACE DAY

Prerace – I woke up 3 hours before the race start to eat as I normally do.  I did not sleep well due to the party but I hardly ever sleep well the night before a race.  Valerie dropped us off at the race site and then drove back home to watch, since her house was on the bike course.  Transition opened at 6 and we got there before it opened but no one said anything to us as we started to get our bikes around.  I wanted to check the air in the tires and get the chain lubed up.  The numbers for our racks were put up around 6:15 so we set up our transitions after that.  I went for a short jog at 6:45 and got ready for a swim warm-up around 7:05.  Introductions were supposed to be done at 7:15, but they did not have the buoys in the water at 7:20.  The race was delayed!  I am not sure what time we ended up starting, but it seemed like we were stuck on the beach forever.  The swim was supposed to be one lap, but problems arose and they decided to make it two laps as the buoys were being put out.  They had a debate on how the swim would work, but finally settled on two straight laps, no beach run in the middle.  They also decided to make it a water start so the guys that got to pick first chose to stand in waist deep water, while the guys at the end, I included, had to tread water for about 3 min before we could start.  Oh well, I was ready to race so let’s just get this thing going!!

Lauren's Bike with Rudy Helmet and Hammer Gel

Swim – The horn sounded and we were off!  I got out well, but for some reason I always find myself on the outside next to someone who also wants to be outside.  The water is cleaner outside so for a strong swimmer, that is where they like to be.  But I am not a strong swimmer yet, so I like to be inside on some feet so I can get pulled along.  So I was stuck outside this guy while we repeatedly smashed our arms together.  Finally it calmed down, and I was able get on feet!  We were all strung out in a line for the first lap.  The ocean was calm, but it still had a lot more waves and current then I am used swimming in.  As we rounded the buoy for the second lap, someone got spit out of the pack.  As he was coming back through the pack to me, I lost contact with the feet ahead of me and was not able to close the gap.  So there I was, pulling myself through the ocean.  I kept trying to go faster to close the gap, but they just slowly pulled away from me.  This was not what I was looking for in the race, but my swim has gotten faster so I just stayed positive and swam hard for the last 750m.

Bike – I came out of the water with Chris Foster.  He was the guy that got spit out of the pack and took me with him and he swam on my feet for the second lap.  I had talked to Greg before the race and that is where I wanted to be.  I knew he was a very strong biker so if I could grab his wheel I would have a shot at getting in a solid bike pack.  I beat him out of T1 and was ready to move with him up the hill.  Then I found out how strong of a biker he really is!  Going up “The Wall” he rode away from me and could do nothing to stay on his wheel.  I was trying to close the gap down but I did not have the legs for it.  I was riding solo!  Not a good place to be in a draft legal race!!  After about 8-10km I caught Lukas Siska.  He is coached by Barb Lindquist, head of the Collegiate Recruitment Program, so I knew his name but had never met him before.  We were going to get to know each other well on for the next 50 min.  I was still trying to ride hard, but I don’t think we were gaining any ground.  The ride was an out and back 2 loop course so I got to see how far down we were three times.  It was great to see Valerie and her kids out on the road while biking.  It is easier to go fast when someone is cheering.  The course was taking its toll on my legs and I was having trouble riding a solid tempo while breaking the wind, and we still had to get up the back side of “The Wall!!” The last time I could see the only large pack on the road riding away from Lukas and I, Chris had bridged the gap to the front pack.  Chacon and Fleischmann had broken away, but Chris had made it into a great position.  If only I could have held his wheel!!  Oh well, it gives me something to work on for next time!  This is a learning experience and sometimes the hard lessons are the best!  At the bottom of the back side of “The Wall” Lukas starting riding hard and put some time into me.  My legs did not have the pop so I rode a steady tempo and made it up as quickly as I could.  I ended up getting into T2 ahead of Lukas and took off running as he was getting in.

Run – I headed out of T2 and wanted to run hard to finish off the day, but it did not feel like my legs wanted to cooperate.  I stayed calm and just tried to keep moving forward.  I could not see anyone ahead of me, so it was all up to me to set a respectable pace.  The first time up the hill on the run it was hard but I did not think about it too much.  Coming down I did not want to get too far ahead of myself and fall because the hill was somewhat steep when running fast.  I finally got a look at someone while they were going back and I was still heading to the turn around.  I had a large gap to make up, but I kept going.  It was hard to stay focused running solo so far behind, but I did not want to give up in this race.  The second time up the hill hurt a lot!!  And going down my legs started going a little too fast and I thought I was going to bite it!  Finally the hills were over and I gave it one last push to the finish.  I could finally see people as I ran down the beach to the finish line but they were too far ahead for me to catch.  I finally hit the finish line and the pain was over!!  At least until the next day when I could hardly walk!

Post race we went to an American restaurant down the road and had burgers and beverages.  I thought it was a good burger!  Then we went back to the homestay and hung out with the family for the rest of the night.

DAY 5

We slept in after a late night and made our way to the airport to drop off Harry.  Jane took us and we had to run some errands along the way.  We stopped by a little café in West Bay that had great sandwiches and a nice little market.  We took a little took long and we had to rush Harry to the airport.  Harry thought his flight was at 11:40 but when we got there we found out his flight was at 11:20.  He was lucky to get his bike on the plane, but he did make his flight.  It was a good thing it was a little island airport that only had 2 gates.

After we dropped off Harry we went to the mall!  It was the only mall in Roatan, and it was nice, but it was more like a strip mall in America.  There was a Honduran department store, a store called Malibu which offered American clothing such as Abercrombie and American Eagle and a lot of cell phone stores.  They had an Apple Bees and a Wendy’s, and we went to a Super Jugos, a little smoothie bar.  I went with strawberries and banana in a milk base.  It was delicious!!

Once we got back to the house it was time for Lauren and I to enjoy our one day of vacation.  We suited up, by that I mean put on as little as possible, and went to the beach!  In Honduras they have sand flies so we did not want to lie in the sand.  No one is allowed to own a dock in Honduras, so we just found a dock on the beach to lie out on.  We relaxed on the dock for about 2 hours and we both took a little nap.  It felt great to lay out in the sun and just be warm after coming from a South Bend winter.  After that we did a little recovery swim in the ocean and headed back to the house.  We had dinner and packed and got ready to leave the next day.

TRAVEL/DAY 6

We woke up early due to the roosters and dogs in the area and packed the car to head to the airport.  On our way to the airport we stopped for baleadas, they are a local dish that is commonly eaten in the morning.  It is smashed beans on a handmade flour tortilla.  Chicken or pork can be added to it and island cheese adds great flavor as well.  Once we were finished with breakfast it was off to the airport. 

Roatan as we were flying away

We had no problems getting through security and we made out flight with plenty of time.  Our flight was a little late but we did not mind sitting in the airport waiting to leave.  Once we arrived in San Salvador we found out our flight to Chicago was delayed.  We were going to have to spend 5 hours in the airport!  It was a long time to spend in the airport but they had free wifi and we had a few movies to watch so it was bearable.  We passed the time and had an interesting adventure at Subway before we boarded the plane. When we got to Chicago we had little trouble getting through customs at 11:30 pm.  Once through customs I called the hotel to get a shuttle to my car.  It was a frustrating situation that took a little over an hour but it finally showed up and we made our way home.  We finally got home at 3:30 am and fell into bed exhausted.  It was a great trip and I am very happy I attempted the race.  I am excited for future races and ready to get back to a normal training schedule.

 “Take calculated risks.  That is quite different from being rash.” ~George S. Patton

Kaleb

VanOrt named 2010 USAT Triathlete of the Year

We have one race down in 2011 and great things are still coming out of 2010. Lauren and Kaleb are currently traveling back from their first race and while I have had a lot of requests for race updates, I will leave that to the athletes. I will say that they gave all they had on a very tough course in Honduras and ended with World rankings of 105 for Lauren and 306 for Kaleb. Meanwhile Kaleb was named Triathlete of the year! I will simply say that great things happen to great people. I think back to our first ever conversation 16 months ago and I can still hear him say " I don't know what I am getting into but I want to make a run at this and see what I can do". The truth be told, the World has not seen what he can do yet. We feel very honored to receive this award and hope that 2011 will be even better. Thanks to all of our sponsors and people that have helped us get to where we are.

Race Time Already!!

It is hard to believe it but the race season is already here for some of us. Lauren and Kaleb are making the trek down to Central America this weekend and I am so incredibly excited for them!!  I know they have been training so incredibly hard and are in serious shape right now.  I cannot wait to hear the reports!  It is truely inspiring the dedication they have shown in developing themselves as athletes in the sport. Lauren is down in south bend training full time and kaleb is pushing her (and himself!) everyday.  A few weeks ago Lauren wrote on her facebook, "If you want something you have never had, you have to do something you have never done."  I think that is a great foreshadowing of how this season is going to develop for our team.

I believe all three of us have taken new steps this year to committ to the sport on a professional level and I am excited for the outcomes of those committments.  With great coaching and great sponsors on board (I know "The Wall" in the race this weekend is no match for Lauren and Kaleb's computrainer training!!)  we have all the resources necessary for breakthrough performances this season.  Make sure to track Lauren and Kaleb as they will be starting us off this weekend!!!

-Nicole