Welcome to Paradise: Team Rev3 Summit

2013 Team Rev3 and Staff

Well, now it's official: I am a member of Team Rev3 for 2013!

One of the great things about this team is the dynamic of the individuals involved. There's such a wide variety of personalities that it's impossible to feel disconnected. Just a crazy bunch of people!

This year, Rev3 had nearly 500 applicants for the age-group team, of which 13 new members were selected to join the 40 of us from last year and beyond. Over the next few weeks, you'll see their blogs appear on the right-hand side of this page, along with our sponsors for 2013.

Without further adieu, a running commentary of Team Summit:

Thursday: Travel Bingo!
A trip to the western part of the country wouldn't be complete without filling out a Travel Bingo card. Some spaces that got filled in include: Delayed Flight, Guy Snoring in the Chairs In Front of You, Screaming Baby...you get the idea. Everyone wins. And everyone loses.

My flight path took me from Portland to JFK before flying into Denver. Luckily, I had some time to kill:

Thank you, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Made my flight to Denver, and had the welcoming crew of team members Jordan, Maggie, and Tonia. Drove out to Boulder, and promptly crashed.

Friday: Let Summit Begin!
We headed on over to the Hotel Boulderado, the site of Team Summit. We started meeting up with all of the members, and then began with an engineering project: had to build a protective method to make sure an egg dropped would survive. All eggs made it.

We then started learning from our sponsors for 2013:

• SBR Sports: makers of TriSwim, TriSlide, and Foggle
• NormaTec: compression boots
• Compex: Electrostimulation systems
• Quintana Roo bikes
• Reynolds Cycling wheels
• PowerBar
• Pearl Izumi
• blueseventy
• Biotta beet juice

Pretty awesome!

We drove on out over to Pearl Izumi HQ to learn about their products for this year. It's crazy seeing this massive building, and just how small the brand is overall from the number of people working. I think there might've been a total of 50 people in the building. Nuts!

That said, it was awesome to tour around; meet the person behind the Project: EMotion running line; get fit for our 2013 kits; meet up with Tim DeBoom; talk about how the custom line works; how the pros have completely custom items done up, and usually have two uniforms made: early-season and late-season (aka "Now I'm actually at race weight"); and more that I'm missing.

We then headed to dinner, which is where we really started to bond as a team. I think we were at the restaurant for four hours, just having a blast.

Saturday
I may or may not have had a couple of drinks on Friday. I may or may not have had a killer headache Saturday morning.

We rolled on over to Summit to do some more education from our sponsors. My favorite presentation on Saturday was from Reynolds wheels. Not just because I'm in the market for a new set of race wheels, but because there's been a lot of questions about the direction of cycling wheels in general. Most designs are moving from a v-notch or hybrid toroidal shape to a fully bulbous, wide profile. Reynolds, on the other hand, still has a sharper rim shape, but with other technologies they can make the wheel stable and reduce drag. In fact, it stays in its' aero "sweet spot" longer than any other wheel, and worth some pretty solid time savings, including against the almighty brand that starts with a Z.

In the interest of "in God we trust, all others bring data," the white paper for Reynolds appears here.

We also got to test out some of the beet juice from Biotta. I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed it! There's also some recent study suggesting that pre-loading with beet juice during the course of a race week can improve performance on race day.  That being said, be prepared for the first time you head to the bathroom following taking it. You will think you're having internal bleeding. Don't worry. You're not.

We also learned a little bit more about the Ulman Cancer Fund and the ties that we have to it. I've decided that for one race this season, I'll be fundraising for Ulman.

Part of the reason I'm in this sport is because Hannah's father passed away from sarcoma so damn quickly. I decided that life was too short to let dreams stay in the distance, and rather just pursue them relentlessly. It has lead me to some fantastic places, including being a part of this fantastic team.

Well, I figured it's time to help put some of those efforts to give back, to try and help those who are my age who are battling cancer. To help those families who need support now.

I'm still debating which event I will be racing for Team Fight with. But I'll figure it out soon enough.

Saturday also brought us to Team Dinner in Denver, which was fantastic. Really felt like we've bonded as a group this year, beyond the e-mail connections.

Sunday: Skiing!
Oh, come on, you didn't think I'd go to Colorado without skiing, did you?

Jordan, Maggie, myself, Lauren, and Jeff. Rocking the R with Rev3!

We went to Winter Park. It was fantastic.

Of course, this wouldn't be complete without me eating sh*t at least once.

Whoops. Note to self: Keep the tip up.

I did say at least once.

Chopping down this tree...with...A HERRING!

Well, at least I looked good when I was upright.

In all, an amazing trip. Really looking forward to all that 2013 brings.

What's My Prediction? PAIN.

Welcome back to bike training, I suppose.

After much deliberation, financial wrangling, and headaches that would rival the best (worst?) of my hangovers, I finally got the bike situation figured out. Went and had my initial fitting on Wednesday, and brought it on home.

Please, allow me to introduce you to Oddjob:

Allow me to get the Slowtwitch joke out of the way: seat's too high.

What's with the name? As like all of my bikes, this one's named after a favorite character of my late father-in-law. Considering we'd already gone through the Muppets and Wallace and Gromit, we went to the Bond franchise with this one. 

So why Oddjob? Oddjob was known for throwing hats. You know, off his head? What's the most noticeable feature of this bike? The size of the head-tube foil. See what I did there?

So anyways, Wednesday was the initial fitting, which we'll be tinkering with (play with saddle height, eliminate spacers, etc.) Thursday was the shake-out ride. 

Friday...well, Friday was my re-introduction to Friday Night Fights. It's an 8-week CompuTrainer competition, earning points towards a series title. I missed the first week due to not having a bike, and I will probably miss a week somewhere else. So I had to ride this Friday to get into the series standings.

Alright, not a problem. What's the course?

3.1 mile time trial, starting flat and maxing out at 7.5% grade. No downhill. All uphill.

Oh. This'll suck.

There's a fellow athlete in the area who talks trash with me a fair bit. So, naturally, he was my target for the week. I saw what his time was and just had to beat him. Put my game face on and got ready to rock.

I was paired up with a couple of other strong athletes in my wave. So I figured I'd have to fight pretty hard to even make the podium within my wave. Good thing I'm pretty light overall.

Managed to finish 3rd in my wave and demolished my nemesis. Only wound up 8th or 9th for the placing in the GC. Going to need to step up my game! Although, to put in perspective, my effort there was the off of my first three rides in three months. Not bad to get back on the horse.

Starts and Stops

Seems like once I get going on one front, another comes crashing on backwards.

The only worthy analogy for my geekdom would be the game of Risk, whereby you attempt to conquer the world. The problem, of course, is that at some point your defense in one area becomes weak as you try to conquer another part of the globe.

So, without further adieu, we'll break this one down into separate components on the training front: Swim, Bike, and Run:

Swim: Hey, there's this thing called improvement!
Well, whaddya know: this seems to be working. Big time. One of the Sustainable Athlete coaches, Kelsey Abbott, has been doing some work with me on improving my swim. Not just from a time perspective, but also from an injury one: we're trying to eliminate the possibility of that left shoulder becoming inflamed again.

The main change to my stroke is in hip drive; as in, the entire stroke is originating from the hip itself. No more stroke counts per length, or distance per stroke exercises. Instead, the entire focus is on streamlining and hip drive. By working with that hip drive, it quiets my shoulder down a lot, and also creates less lag time in the water. Before, I would stall a little bit as my left hand entered the water. That's getting eliminated.

I knew things were starting to work a bit better when, after contracting what I'm calling The Airborne Zombie Virus Vaccination Flu, I was able to hop back in the water on consecutive days and lock in on 1:32/100meters for sets. Now, yes, I know that's still painfully slow. But it's a vast improvement over my previous mess.

The next key, for me, is trying to find some people to follow around who are better than I am. I find it far easier to push when in a group dynamic than when alone in the pool; it's tough to try and find an extra gear when, with that previous slow-as-hell pace, you're the fastest person in the water by a mile.

Bike: Still nothing.
On the horizon is a new member of the Heisler household. Just a matter of finishing up the procuring of said bike. More to come on this in the following weeks. And hopefully soon, as Friday Night Fights is about to kick off...

Run: Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
Hey, this is a family space.

I've been cooking along at a pretty good pace, well, ever since the end of triathlon season. I've had some pretty good runs, some PRs at the 5K/10K distance, and been looking forward to crushing some dreams on the run this year.

Well, hold the phone. Someone else has some plans.

Went out yesterday to preview the Mid-winter Classic 10-mile course. It's a pretty hilly course, but the weather was as great as it could possibly have been.

Now, let's keep in mind a couple of things as I headed out for this 10-mile run:

• My last "long" run was 8 miles on December 23rd.
• I started getting sick with the Airborne Zombie Virus Vaccination Flu on Christmas Eve.
• I went to the clinic on Boxing Day with the AZVVF, an ear infection, and a sinus infection.
• I didn't start running until this past Tuesday, when I went out for all of 20 minutes, and followed that up with a 30 minute run on Saturday.

Translation: nobody has ever accused me of being all that smart.

Went out at a pretty comfortable pace, felt pretty good. Tried to toss a couple of intervals in, and my lungs laughed at me. OK, not a problem. I know it's a little ambitious to expect things to be all there with how little running I'd done. But I figure the body will hold up...

...and I thought wrong.

My right knee decided that screaming out in pain at about 9 miles was going to be a great idea. At first, I chalked it up to my tights being more like a screen-door at this point, and the patella capture device that they have on them moving all around. But as I sit here today with my knee still pretty well pissed off, I'm starting to think it's a little more substantial than that.

The pain's on the lateral side, basically in the space below the patella itself, and outward towards the tibia/fibula region. It's basically where ITB pain would be, except moved down 3-4 centimeters, if that makes sense.

We'll see how today's off-day will go. And then pick up tomorrow to see how things feel.

Really, I need to keep reminding myself that the goal is to kick some ass come race season and to go into Rev3 Cedar Point healthy. There's going to be setbacks, and the better I do getting things settled now the better off I will be come race season. Just need to settle, and remember: it's only January. If we're in the middle of April and things are like this...then we can get worried. But now's not the time for panic.

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Beyond that, we've got lots of trips! Off to Colorado for the Rev3 Team Summit towards the end of the month, and then we're going back to Colorado a week and a half later to do a footwear vendor training. Just a traveling fool these days!

Don't Know the Man That's Living In My Head...

It's been a stressful time around here, which is why you've seen so little updating around these parts. I've been, to use lack of a better term, right straight out with work. Just been working so hard with everything that I'm doing and that with the workouts on top of it, I really haven't had any time to update anything else.

As it stands, with that amount of stress I've had a pretty good amount of time to reflect on where I am, who I am, and what I stand for. It's where the title of this post comes from: it's a really odd place to be, seeing just how confused and lost that I've been a lot of the time. Who is this person, who knows what it is he's looking for, who's confident, who's sure of what it is he wants to do with his life, etc. When did he show up?

It's been a process, for sure. I've learned an awful lot about myself through my work and life experiences. Of course, I look back on certain things (e.g., some of the relationships I had with people in college) and wish that I had been a better person then. But without the hurt that came from them, I highly doubt that I'd be the person who I am today. Sometimes, I suppose, you need the hard lesson in order to understand. And in my case, it's taken a few times to figure it out.

Now, with all the rambling psycho-babble out of the way...

Some updates to share!

• Bike Front: Looks like I'll be riding again at some point around the first of 2013. (So long as the world doesn't end between now and then.) Just in time for Friday Night Fights to begin again. That'll be a perfect re-introduction to cycling, right? All out efforts trying to hold myself in from vomiting will be a great way back in.
• The Running Event: If you work at all in the specialty running channel, this is a MUST DO event. Such a great time in Austin, Texas getting to see new product, get great ideas, etc. Just a phenomenal learning experience. Any event that includes people saying, "we provide alcohol for free because, as we all know, a drunk buyer is a happy buyer" is usually going to be a good time.
• Revolution3 Update: Still looks like the 2013 schedule is going to happen as planned. Team summit to meet our phenomenal sponsors in January, and then races in May, June, August, September, and November to cap it all off.
• Swimming Update: Completely changing my swim stroke. If it's broke, you might as well scrap it all and start from scratch. The good news? My shoulder feels great. The bad news? I'm still slower than a sloth.
• Ski Season Update: Looks like it'll be kicking off on Monday!

Still have product reviews forthcoming: some Pearl Izumi gear, etc.

Now to start blogging with frequency...

It's All Part of the Plan...

Now that we've gotten the Batman-geekness out of the way...

This physical therapy break has been really good from a mental reset standpoint. Although it was good doing some hard work in the early part of the transition phase, I was also running myself into the ground. Mental, emotional, and physical lapses were coming up quickly. I was losing sight of the goals that I have in plan for the 2013 season.

I'm starting to really come around. My body has responded extremely well to the core strength exercises and work done over at Raymond Chiropractic & Sports Injury Center. If you're an athlete in southern Maine and are having issues that don't start with the terms "torn," "stress fracture," "fracture," et. al., it's worth your time to get in and see Dr. Raymond.

My left shoulder continues to be the source of issue. As I said in the last update, a lot of it was related to my left hip. Well, now the hip stuff is cleared up, but the shoulder itself is still a steaming pile of garbage. Part of the problem: that lat was shut off for so long that the other shoulder muscles are overdeveloped and rolling the shoulder forward. So even though the lat is "turned on," I don't have an established neuromuscular connection to be able to get it to fire.

We're currently working on some exercises to improve that. It's frustrating to only be allowed to do the first two inches of a pull-up motion (only until the elbow wants to start to bend). I want to swim, but I don't want to hop into the water until I can get the shoulder under control on dry land. And even then, I'm going to need to re-learn the stroke to be able to get the shoulder in the correct position so I don't go and screw it up again.

But, it's all part of the plan. You can only make improvements when your body is healthy enough to accept them. And that has me hungry to get back at it.

As I announced previously, we're talking about a pretty hefty 2013 schedule:

• Rev3 Knoxville Olympic: May 5, 2013
• Rev3 Quassy Half: June 2, 2013
• Rev3 Maine Half: August 25, 2013
• Rev3 Cedar Point Full: September 8, 2013
• *potentially* Rev3 Florida Half: November 3, 2013

And. while we're at it, here are the goals for 2013:

• Break 5:00 for the half. I know with another season under the belt it'll happen. There's no doubt in my mind. The "reach:" sub-4:45.
• Swim under 33 minutes. This is going to take a fair amount of work, especially with the shoulder stuff. But I feel like going back into the pool, almost losing where I was before, will only benefit me from a "re-learning how to swim so that it doesn't look like an attempted drowning" standpoint. This will earn my time on my competition, but also lessen the energy expenditure, which means better biking and running.
• Run under 1:40 off the bike: the fitness has probably been there, with the main culprit (IMO) being a poor nutrition plan (only have myself to blame there) and, in one dramatic case, overbiking the first hour (Rev3 Maine). I held back by 9 minutes on the bike at Cedar Point and ran almost 20 minutes faster despite me vomiting everything I had in me during the middle miles. 
• The full: go to race, not just "complete the distance:" this is a tough one for me to explain. I know that there are, for a lot of people, who push to complete a 140.6 as their entire goal. That their goal is to be able to have someone say that they're an Ironman, or that they've done a full, etc. My goal is to go there to race. I don't want to do 140.6 miles for the sake of being out there for 140.6 miles. My goal is to go swim, bike, and run as fast as I can on that day in September. I have an idea in mind what I'm capable of right now. I think that based on how much I improved this year, despite leaving a lot on the table, gives me a good margin.

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This weekend is the Maine Running Company Turkey Trot; it's my first 5K ever.

No, stop laughing, I'm serious.

I've never raced a 5K. I'm interested to see what the hell happens, considering how little I've been allowed to do over the past month or so. Still no biking, as Wallace sits in Norcross, GA awaiting his fate.

Want to also point out the work that both PowerBar and Revolution3 have done in the wake of Hurricane Sandy: PowerBar donated all the products from the cancelled NYC Marathon as well as took donations from Team Elite members; Revolution3 loaded up a truck full of goods and bags and dropped them off this week. It's incredibly heart-warming to see the work that these folks do for others, even when it may not be the prudent business decision. Part of the reason why I'm so excited to be a part of Team Rev3 is because of how much they care beyond the athletic component, but also family, friends, and life in general.

Get What You Need...

Well, first appointment down with Raymond Chiropractic and Sports Injury Center...

I went for a run on Sunday and just had an absolutely abysmal time. Generally, I've been clipping off some great runs: right around 7:45 pace with a nice, low heart rate. Well, roll into Sunday and I couldn't do crap in terms of that: breathing was way off, heart-rate sky-high, stomach hating me. Couple that with my IT bands starting to get really angry with me, a little bit of knee pain, etc. So to add it all up:

• No swim due to the shoulder and neck.
• No bike because it's on the way to Georgia to get checked out with the manufacturer.
• Now, my run's falling apart? What the hell?

I had already booked out this appointment with Dr. Jamie Raymond about a week ago, with the primary focus being on that left shoulder of mine. Guess it was convenient that my entire body decided to shut on down all at the same time.

Now, some people see the word "chiropractor" and they immediately get nervous: am I going to need to see him continuously to get re-adjusted? Could this be the wrong course of action for me?

The answer, of course, is it depends; however, Dr. Raymond is much more than just a chiropractor. Sure, he provides that service, but he also couples that with Active Release Therapy, massage, Graston technique, and exercises to help you hold onto the adjustments. Basically: trying to identify what the underlying root issue is, find exercises to help correct it and strengthen (if possible), and adjustment/release as necessary.

The initial consultation is a little longer: you talk about injury history, you talk about what you've done in general to try and correct the issue, what brought you to the office then, and then the work begins of trying to build you back up the correct way.

We started getting into some exercises, and immediately we found some fun stuff:

• My left lat was shut off. Not weak. Not tight. No, we mean: would not fire. At all. That wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with my shoulder issue.
• My gluteus medius wasn't firing, either. This was forcing strain elsewhere, which leads essentially to the IT band getting to do all of the work.
• The underlying issue: we got completely locked up in the hip region: psoas, adductors were just a big hot ball of tightness. The thing is, it was causing problems in both directions: got the rib cage completely out of alignment, which turned the lat off, which then got my supraspinatus to do all of the work, resulting in impingement. Hooray!

So, now with a whole bunch of exercises to do at home, we're hopefully on the road to getting better. I'm going to run as I feel like it, but more importantly just pay attention to my body. It's been good to have this mental and physical break; it's letting me get some projects done and get myself focused for 2013.

Beautifully Broken Things

Stars shine down from the black and
we're picking through this broken glass
How could we know that our lives 
would be full of beautifully broken things...

It's been a really major up-and-down stretch around the Crashing the Boards offices as of late. Crazy how high and low life can take you in such a short period of time.

At any rate, here's what's going on:

Rev3 Florida
I had the distinct pleasure of getting to fly on down to Florida to help the Revolution3 crew out with Rev3 Florida in Venice.

The seeds of this were planted back in August at Rev3 Maine. I wanted to help set-up the expo, as I could volunteer a little bit of my time beforehand. Why not? Naturally, they needed help in retail. So I got down to setting up the bike gear at the expo. If you couldn't find any spare tubes, tires, or multitools, you now know who to blame.

Well, now we roll into September at Rev3 Cedar Point, when I walked into the retail tent to merely pick up a spare tubular and some other small extras. As I was getting ready to walk on out, somebody was there asking a question about a bottle mount (the Profile Design cross mount to put a standard bottle between your aerobars). They then weren't going to use it on race day, because they didn't want to have to set it up. I offered to go out, mount it for them in transition, and have them ready to go. I got done helping him out, and by the time I got back it was "you need to work with us once..."

Well, sure! What the hell? So on down to Florida we went.

If I may make a recommendation: if you have the opportunity to volunteer or work a Rev3 event, do so. You will have more fun than you would ever think possible while working. The crew is very, very much a family. If you've raced a Rev3 event, you've probably noticed that to some extent. I know that when I first raced Rev3 Quassy in 2011, it was noticeable throughout. Well, take that, multiply it by approximately 100 times, and you get the vibe of working with Rev3.

We set up the store, got things ready to rock, had an awesome restaurant providing food for us all weekend long (and, I might add, some awesome margaritas). Then we got down to work: athlete time!

Sold a lot of shoes, set up an X-Lab Torpedo Mount for somebody (side note: these take WAY longer than the Profile Design one), chatted with who I thought was the Quintana Roo rep and actually turned out to be the head of American Bicycle Group (and hey, we share connections to Cape Cod. Small world). I'm pretty positive the picture of my face when Charlie told me when that the "QR rep" was the head of things would have been priceless...

As it turns out, things went really well. That athlete who I put the X-Lab Mount on came back after the race to thank me for helping her out, as it turns out she won her age group with it! Lots of super positive energy, despite the fact that a little storm named Sandy helped to derail a few things. Swim was cancelled due to severe riptides and surf; the wind was absolutely fierce on the bike; and our flights really got all screwed up. I had to come home earlier than expected or risk being marooned in south Florida for a few extra days. I know, the horror...but somebody needs an income! Got the last flight home to Portland Sunday night.

So, what goes up most certainly must come down...

The Beautifully Broken Things: My Shoulder

I came back from Florida having managed to get in a whole whopping one run in while I was down there with Tim and Tony. And not only that, but to use a phrase from Jordan, I had a pretty healthy case of the #pOops. Stopping twice while trying to maintain around 7:00 pace isn't an effective way to make it back. Not only that, but my shoulder was sore as hell. Great, whatever.

Well, head off to the pool on Thursday morning, get in, and my left shoulder (the one that's been giving me issue for a while now) has finally decided to shut itself down really well. The lat is simply shut off. I can't get it to fire. At all. Pull ups? Nope. Nothing in the water. I tried every trick I've got in the book. Nothing. Just all on the top side.

Shut it down.

So I guess I'm a runner for a little while. Going to see a sports injury/chiropractic/ART provider for my shoulder here in the next couple of days. Also going to have some nagging stuff opened up (my hamstrings being about as tight as the head of a snare drum, getting my hip flexors opened up, etc.) Just incredibly frustrating.

Just got to keep rolling on, I s'pose...