Hammer Endurolytes Product Review

I did the Memphis in may triathlon last weekend in incredibly hot conditions.  The pros start 3 hours after the age groupers.  The gun did not go off until 10am and the average temperature on my Garmin for the time I was racing reported 97.5 degrees.  Luckily, I had Hammer Endurolytes for the race.  I took four Endurolytes on the 40k bike ride and carried more Endurlytes out of T2 with me so I would have them on the run in the event of cramping.  I ended the day 3^rd overall and had the fastest run of the day by a minute.  I was able to perform under extreme heat because I had Hammer Endurolytes to prevent cramping and keep me hydrated to finish strong.  Thanks Hammer!

Long Time Coming

Wow, it has been a long time since my last update.  It is amazing how time flies!!  Over the past few months I have been working really hard in the pool and on the bike.  At least I am starting to see gains on the bike!  I have been on the start list for 4 races but I had to take the first DNS of my career in Mooloolaba, Australia.  


Mooloolaba
  I got some sort of stomach bug 2 days before the race that required frequent trips to the rest room.  The night before the race I still wanted to make it to the starting line but when I woke up in the morning I had very little energy and still had a hard time keeping calories in my body.  It was a miserable trip, but helped me realize how much I rely on my family and friends when I am sick.  Without a result at this race, my dream of making the 2012 Olympics Games was dead.  It is a tough pill to swallow, but Greg and I have been looking at 2016 since we paired up, so that dream is still alive.


Nautica South Beach Triathlon
  This race was the weekend after Mooloolaba.  I got home after 26 hours of traveling on Monday night.  I then left for Miami on Friday morning.  It was a crazy turn around but I wanted to get a race in before St. Anthony's a month later.  Greg was a little weary about me racing not only a week after getting sick, but also less than a week after traveling 26 hours from a place that is 14 time zones ahead.  I told him not too worry, I was not going to kill it, I just wanted to race, to remind myself how it feels to do a 40k individual time trial on the bike after swimming 1500m and before running a 10k!!  I did not have the greatest swim, but I never really do in rough water.  This swim was a point to point swim in the ocean.  The surf was not too bad, but still a lot rougher than what I have been swimming in - a 4 lane pool at the health club!  My bike went surprisingly well.  As I was saying earlier, my work on the bike is starting to show up in races!  Once off the bike I tried to stay relaxed and have a good run from start to finish. The field was very strong for an early season race!  I passed a lot of people on the run and ended up 6th.  I had the second fastest run, 18 seconds slower than Javier Gomez.  For those of you that don't know, Gomez is one of the fastest runners in the sport.  I will take that after all the stuff I went though in the previous week and a half.


Now the one thing I hated about the race:  the prize purse associated with lifetime fitness!!  I was 6th place in a strong field and I walked away with $400.  This barely covered my hotel in "beautiful" South Beach, Miami!  I am not sure what keeps pulling be back to lifetime races, but I am not sure if I will do any more this year.  They pay appearance fees for the top guys to come in, and they win the majority of the money.  The top 2, sometimes 3 make a good amount while everyone else struggles to pay for their hotel, let alone their airline costs, between the ticket and bike fees!


Now the good from the race: my girlfriend and her family were at the race cheering me on and then I got to spend a week with them in Ft. Lauderdale.  Thanks Melissa, her parents, her brother Zach, and her Aunt Katie and Uncle Ryan, who I believe set the wheels in motion for us to get together almost 2 years ago, it was great having you all at the race and it was a fun way to recover from the first non-draft race of the season.


St. Anthony's Triathlon
 Once again I was up against a strong field!  Almost anyone who is anyone in non-draft racing showed up for the race.  The swim went well for the first 500 while we were in the sheltered area of the swim.  Once the pack got out into the rough waters of Tampa Bay, I was not able to hang with the pack and ended up losing a good bit of time again during the swim.  Once on the bike I let it go.  I was not going to wait for the run, I wanted to try and make up time on the bike. I had a great bike split, but I paid for it on the run.  I got off the bike with Chris Foster and I had a hard time keeping pace with him for the first 2 miles.  He ran at Penn State so I knew I had good company, but my legs were not listening to me. My legs did not want to turn over so I just let them do their thing and waited for them to come around.  When they finally did I just tried to catch as many people as I could over the last 4 miles.  I ended up 8th overall and still had the fastest run split of the day, after handing out some high fives right before the finish line.   I was very happy with the result, but a little frustrated in my swim.  I think I had the fastest bike-run combo on the day.  If I can sort my swim out I might actually be able to win a race in the near future.
 A big thanks goes out to my mom for driving me around all weekend and putting up with me prerace.  And thank you to one of my sponsors, Bill Hohler of Bralin Laser for cheering me on at the race. It was also great having his wife, Mary, and mutual friends of ours Mike and Joyce Boswell there.  Post race they had a cookout at their place so it was nice to relax and enjoy the evening with some friends.


Rev3 Knoxville
  This was the first time in my life racing triathlons on back to back weekends.  I was a little nervous because I could remember having a hard time racing 2 weeks apart in past years.  With the help of Hammer Nutrition, I was able to not only get ready for Knoxville, I was able to have a good result.  I took Recoverite immediately following the race at St Anthony's and after every workout during the week, as I usually do.  I also used Hammer Nutrition's whey protein every night before bed, to safely raise my hGH levels to allow me to recover and boost my immune system to keep me healthy.  This allowed me to finish 4th at my first Rev3 race of the season.
  The swim was a wetsuit swim in the river.  I have not had a good swim yet this year so I was hoping the wetsuit would bring me a little luck.  Last year I had my best swims in my wetsuit.  My swim was ok, but still not where it needs to be.  Once I got out of the water I was off on the bike, and once again trying to make up as much time as I could.  Chris Foster and I were  together again, this time it was on the bike though.  We were never really close to one another though.  He would put about 5-10 seconds on me and then I would end up passing him and getting a little lead.  It was like this for most of the ride until we started catching people.  This got a little chaotic, trying to navigate through 7 guys while climbing and descending small mountains on the back roads of Tennessee, all while trying to ride within the rules.  With about 3 miles to go Chris was going to pass me over some rail road tracks and dropped his chain.  I felt bad and initially slowed up as if I was back home riding a training ride with Greg, but then I snapped back into race mode and hit it hard back in to transition.  I came off the bike in 6th place and passed two guys within the first mile.  I was in 4th and feeling good enough about how the race was going to not notice how bad my legs were feeling.  At the turn around on the run I got to see how far behind 3rd place I was and how close 5th place was to me.  I made up my mind that 5th would be just fine but did not want to settle for it.  I was able to keep a fast enough pace to stay ahead and finish in 4th, my best finish as a pro in a non-draft race. It was a hard 2 weekends of racing but I proved to myself that I could do it, I just don't know how many times I will!
  A big thank you goes out to my Grandpa for driving me all the way to and from Knoxville.  He made the trip quick and it was great to hang out with him for the weekend.
  I am excited to race in the Rev3 series.  They do an amazing job of putting the races together and they have all the triathletes in mind throughout the weekend.  The expos are very family friendly and very welcoming to athletes who travel with kids.  I think Rev3 is the best race series currently going on in the US and I wish other series could learn something from the way Rev3 takes care of all the athletes.


Thank you to Greg and all of Team IE for getting me to where I am, and N.B. Properties, Bralin Laser, Profile Design, Scott Shoes, Hammer Nutrition, Rudy Project, Champion System, Cobb Cycling, Computrainer, Express Press, Enzyme Research, and ProForm Bike for being great sponsors and allowing me to compete to the best of my ability.  I would not be putting up the results I am without their support.


"Follow your dreams, work hard, practice and persevere. Make sure you eat a variety of foods, get plenty of exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle." ~Sasha Cohen

Kaleb

Thanks to Hammer!

As some of you know, this season is my first season racing as a professional.  However, I’ve had to forgo my first three races due to an injury.  Six weeks ago, I had a little spill on my bike that resulted in a small fracture of my wrist and some soft tissue damage.  I have been in a cast for about 2.5 weeks…only five more days to go though!  Since the fall, I have not been able to swim.  However, this hiatus from the pool has allowed me to focus on my bike and run…a lot!  I am not able to ride outside, but have been putting in a lot of time on the Computrainer and using my new Quark for my workouts…sometimes twice a day!  I am worried about getting back into the pool, but I know the time I’ve put in on the bike and the miles on the run will pay off!

With this injury, I have looked to Hammer Nutrition for a lot of help!  I have been using Tissue Rejuvenator three times a day and Vanilla Whey Protein powder in my smoothies and at night before bed.  Both products have helped me recover from my injury and accelerated the healing process.  I truly believe they have made a difference.  I also continue to enjoy Strawberry Recoverite following my hard workouts.

Back in the pool 24/7J in a less than a week and hopefully back to racing in a few short weeks!

Lisa

Secrets to Success

Everyone wants to know what the secret to another athlete’s success is. It seems to be a common question, “what are they doing different than me that makes them better?” Many times we are looking for that perfect practice, set, or drill that will help us qualify for nationals, a world championship, or just give us a personal record.  I learned something about this back in 2001. I discovered what champion’s do that makes them great.         

                I was a counselor at the Longhorn swim camp for kids 18 and under. If you are not familiar with the University of Texas swimming, well simply put, they are the best. They routinely have one of the top teams at the NCAA’s and on the men’s side it seems as if half the Olympic swimming team is made of Texas swimmers.  Being a swimmer this was a thrill for me to be at the camp as a counselor and learning from Eddie Reese (the head coach of the Men’s team). I was not alone. All of the counselors wanted to know what drills they are doing that make them so good. What practices they are doing that make them so much faster than everyone else?  After the first week of helping and coaching at the camp we, the counselors, were disappointed. I remember all of us sitting around and talking about how these are the same drills we do or give to our swimmers when we swim or coach. Many of us thought we were not getting the secrets to their success. But in reality, we were. It was right in front of us.

                I learned the secret when I was able to observe several practices of the Texas swim team. It was a thrill to see what Olympic and World Record Holders were doing. After attending several practices I came to a realization. These Olympic swimmers were doing the same drills that the coaches were giving out to the 10 and 12 year olds. The drills consistently reinforced good habits and proper technique so that when the swimmers did go fast they did it right. What they did better than everyone else was the basics, the fundamentals. There was not some top secret formula that no one knew about. The Men’s Texas swim team just reinforced what skills the swimmers needed to do to be fast.

                I feel this is the same for all athletes in all sports. If you are constantly looking for a short cut, some secret, then you will never realize your top potential. The secret to success is right in front of us. Do the right things right and be willing to put in the time. If you do that, then you will find success and you can obtain your goals. 

Nick

REV 3 COSTA RICA

REV 3 COSTA RICA

This race was one of the toughest, hottest, most fun races I have done yet.  It was about 12 minutes long for an Olympic, 97 degrees for the day, 10+ extreme UV index, high humidity, super steep hilliacious climbing for the first 2 miles in and out of transition and fairly hilly run- a quarter or which was on sand!

Race morning I was a little nervous about my gearing on my bike- this course definitely requires a 28 cassette and I only brought a 23.  This was my major learning point of the trip. Always always make sure you know the course in case your gearing is off.  With the grade of hills out of transition, I was imagining myself walking my bike up the road ( “please let there not be a Slowtwitch gallery picture of me WALKING my bike on the course, God!”).  Blaaahhh!...

Swim

This was one of the first swims that I was actually able to draft the whole time- wow, what a difference! The effort felt quite a bit easier than usual but I didn’t feel I had the power to get around and make it on my own so I sat in and let my super speedy Profile Design Macho speed suit do its thing.  I knew it was going to be a long, hot, death-march type day so I was happy to be a little conservative in the swim.  I came out with 2 other girls and we were about 1:20 down from the leader (kind of a lot of time but I felt great out of T1 so I think this was the right choice- I am rarely under a minute down anyways…)

What is a speedsuit you say?:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGgdxXnlto0

Bike

Straight out of T1 we rode on a gravel dirt road for about 200 meters.  Pretty awesome- just have to cross your fingers with your tires and hold on tight…..but made it out the other side ok…

Then we started climbing…grades were really high in some places- like probably 15+%... I said earlier that I had a 23 cassette (EVERYONE else has a 27/28) and it was a total standing, grind-fest for the first 2 miles up and down these crazy climbs.  I got caught at the top of the last hill, which didn’t surprise me at all but then really pushed hard on the downhill and got away again.  One of the things that is really awesome about my Quintana Roo CD0.1 bike is that it is soooo super aero. Riding downhill I am able to stay with people much heavier than me- which rocks going downhill in races. Thank sooo much to Skip at Nytro for helping me with my bike..Nytro does so much for the triathlon world- they rock!!  http://www.nytro.com/

http://www.quintanarootri.com/_duraace.asp?content=CD0.1-Dura-Ace-2012

 I had the new Altair profile design wheels on and they rode super fast too- very happy with them and an AMAZING value if anyone is in the market. Also had the new Profile Design Volna Aero bars for the first time- which literally have taken 1.5 pounds off my bike- amazing how much aerobars matter!! I had no idea!!

http://www.profile-design.com/profile-design/products/aerobars/carbon-aerobars

                                            

http://www.profile-design.com/profile-design/wheels/wheel-category/carbon-wheels

….Anyways, I got to the front of the bike race by the middle of the first loop, but it took me quite a while to catch Bree Wee- who was in first most of the bike. Super strong cyclist and super fun person…and awesome picture of her racing a cow on the rev3tri.com site:  http://rev3tri.com/live-posts/pro-bike-action-photos/ganadores-2/  With about 8 miles to go, I started to get really really hot. This is when I learned my second lesson of the day.  Remove the vent block in my Rudy Project Wingspan aero helmet when it is 97 degrees out…you think I would have figured this out by now.  The Wingspan has this great design where you can interchange the vent space pieces depending on the weather:

    Check out all the massive vent area if you freaking remove the cover!!

But obviously there is user error if you don’t actually use this great function =)  So my head was getting very hot –  I decided to start singing to myself. I figured this might take my mind off the fire burning under my helmet…so what better song to sing than “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmZJUfcxrvc

I came into T1 first off the bike with about 30 seconds- so figured I had some time to put on some socks...and Yes, I am the only pro I know who wears socks in an Olympic distance race….

Run

I was fairly confident that I was one of the faster runners in the field but you never want to be too confident of anything so I definitely tried to get into a comfortable cruise rhythm pretty quickly- not too fast, not too slow.  The one issue I was having was the heat but three things saved me:

1-      Lots of salt the night before. This is a trick that a lot of pro use…I literally drowned my food in salt the night before a hot race and have not had a cramp since doing this..(but no guarantees!)

2-      Hammer Endurolytes and Hammer Heed- such great products and such a great product company!!  Being a biochemistry major and a med student, I have researched nutrition products a lot and I am absolutely convinced that Hammer has the best stuff- which is why Team IE only uses Hammer.    There are several specific reasons for the superiority of these products…I am doing a full write up on hammer products this week so check out the TEAM IE blog this week for more details on this if you are interested:  http://teamieelite.blogspot.com/

3-      CARRY  YOUR WATER WHEN IT IS HOT!!  Big deal.  Mark Lorenzoni and Dana Thiele of Ragged mountain racing have repeatedly pointed out to me how Ryan hall carries his water bottle with him away from the bottle station for miles after pickup- while all of his competitors take a few sips and drop the bottle.  This is a big deal when it is hot and water can be a major unrecognized resource on the run.  Water on your head – also very important to keep core temps down in hot weather- use water however you can on the run to stay cool. Once core temps rise, trouble ensues so you have to prevent against this.

The run was super hot, hilly and a significant portion was in the sand so it was epic.  After the first loop of the two loop course I could tell I was pulling away pretty comfortably so I tried as much as I could to back it down. No need to burn any more matches than you have to in March.  However, I was getting super hot and just wanted to stop running so I think my mind and body were battling with what pace they wanted to run…

Mind:  “Slow down, chill out, don’t be stupid, do what you do best- chiiiilllll”

Body: “Just hurry up and finish, this kind of sucks, hot, painful, don’t slow down – I just want to lay down- get there so we can lay down and eat”

Funny- because usually the mind and body have the opposite conversation; I think they met in the middle this time.

Crossing the finish line for my first pro win was huge- I was so happy that it was at a Rev3 event too.  The race director and event directors are such warm, nice, caring people. I had a blast with them.  Thanks so incredibly much to my genius genius coach Greg Mueller (sooo thankful for him!!) and my husband, Wes Radetsky. 

Thanks to Champion Systems for making the best suits in the world! Cant wait for the new pink one I just got!

Lastly, here are some cool interviews and videos  on me at the race:

http://vimeo.com/38733413

http://vimeo.com/38713432

Thanks for all your cheers!! Go Team IE!

Nicole

Team IE in 2012

It is my pleasure to introduce to the World, the Team IE Professional Triathlon team for 2012. This year we have decided to expand the blog to pull in the whole elite team. This will give the World some great insight into our team and the wonderful people that compose the team. I feel very lucky to be surrounded by such hard working wonderful people, and we have some dam good athletes too. The race season is already under way and the camps and testing suggest that we will have a World impact! Over the next year team members will be blogging about life, training and racing. I hope that this is a nice balance of entertainment ,motivation and education for athletes and coaches. The next 3 weeks have our athletes racing in Costa Rica, Australia and Brazil. These athletes have deeply committed themselves to the process and are all ready to race. With seven athletes blogging this year, we will cover a wide variety of topics but if you have a request, please send us your questions. Good luck in racing and be safe in training.

Team Roster

Kaleb Vanort
Nicole Kelleher
William Huffman
Kyle Lee
Lisa Mueller
Jason Smith
Nick Early

Season Opener

This past weekend was my first race of the season, an ITU race in Clermont, FL.  I did this race last season and had great success at it, it was my first podium finish as a professional.  I had high expectations this year and I was feeling great pre-race.  The weather forecasts leading up to the race were telling me it was going to be sunny and hot.  Although the winter has been mild in South Bend this year, I knew it was going to be a tough challenge racing in 90 degree heat.  I did my usual sauna "workouts" leading up to the race to try and get ready for the heat.  Despite the heat, I was ready to get the season under way!!


Swim - The swim at Clermont is one of the reasons I like this race.  The water is shallow and requires a lot of dolphin diving and running in the water.  Last year had about 300m of actual swimming, but this year the course was changed slightly.  This year we started in the water, about knee deep on me, and had about 550m of actual swimming.  My swim has been getting better but I was a little nervous about the longer swim this year, I really wanted to make the front bike pack.  When the horn sounded we were off and dolphin diving.  As we were dolphin diving I noticed someone about 10 ft ahead of everyone at the front.  I am not sure how this guy got such a fast start, but I figured it was now going to be a fast swim.  I felt great in the water and got in a good rhythm to hang with the swimmers around me.  The buoys were a normal battle, but I expect it now so I just stay calm and get around them as fast as possible.  Once we got to shallow water again everyone started dolphin diving and eventually running in the water.  Once I hit the beach Greg let me know I was in good position, but a break away was forming at the front.  I raced up the beach and in to and out of transition.


Bike - The chase was on. I was in a group of 10-15 trying to catch a group of 8.  We were riding stronger, so it was just a matter of time before we caught them.  We caught them before the first turn around and the attacks started shortly after that.  I am a lot stronger on the bike this year, but I need to learn to stay calm now.  When 1 or 2 people would attack and no one from the group would respond, I would.  I really wanted to win the race, so I was not going to let any good runners get away.  Looking back on this, it was not my best idea.  Closing a gap is one thing, but closing it quickly at the cost of high watts, is not the best route.  I may be one of the middle aged athletes but this is still a relatively new sport for me.  I never stop learning, I just wish the lessons were a little more forgiving.  I felt great on the bike the entire time though and I thought the run was going to go well. I was excited to get off the bike.


Run - I got in my running shoes and tried to start running fast; Jarrod took off and set a fast pace early.  My legs were not responding!  The last time I can remember my legs feeling this flat in a race, I got lapped in a 10k on Oregon's track. I took water at the first water stop but I realized nothing was going to help this.  I was going to have to get tough and just keep pushing.  Jarrod was out in front, but I was still in the hunt for 2nd. On the second lap I tried to get my legs going, but they were having none of it. With 1k to go 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th moved and I had no response. It was a lonely, hot last 1000m.  It was the first time in a triathlon that my run had let me down.  


It is weird how disappointing a 6th place finish feels this year, but I learned a lot and there were some bright spots from the race...I had a great swim and bike!  And if I can feel that bad on the run and still get 6th place, I cannot wait until I have a good run-off.  I had a great cheering section at the race and I think that helped me get through the run.  Also it is great having teammates in the race.  It is nice to have Will and Kyle in the bike pack with me, knowing I am not alone on the road.


I would like to thank my mom and sister, Greg and Lisa, my grandparents, and my girlfriend and her two friends for coming down to the race.  Also it was great to have Will's family and Robbie and his dad out on the course as well.  Thank you everyone for your good words!!  Sorry, I may have been a little grouchy post race! :) 


Always desire to learn something useful. ~Sophacles


Kaleb


PS - Happy Birthday Dad!!