begin

Last night I had a great meeting with Jesse, my new coach (I swear he's worth double his going rate already). I have been so fortunate to work with Doug Bush of Endurance Factor, Trevor Syverson of TMS Multisports and now Jesse Of QT2 Systems. I don't think in all my life I have ever had a bad coach. There was one swim coach who was questionable...... but if you cut through his ego he was a great coach.

But then again my father has always said, and so have my coaches, that I am a coachable athlete.

Jesse is certainly no exception. He's freaking passionate about triathlon. But we all are, aren't we? It's why we read each other's blogs, cheer one another on, check in and make friends all over the world. Meeting and talking with Jesse just confirms everything I love about this sport.

As each coach does.... Jessee has spent a lot of time and several years developing his systems, his protocols and his methods. To get details on those you will have to ask him, or click here. If I tell you ...... well unless you work with him it means nothing to you. Just like unless you work with Mark Allen, or Gordo, or anyone....... I think you have to work under someone to really get their philosophy and their system so to speak.

I have been trained strictly in heart rate, and specifically in power and pacing. I would say that QT2 uses a combination, and quite appropriately it seems. There are times to monitor heart rates and there are times to monitor pacing.

I like Jesse's philosophy on strength training, it's kind of the view I have, but he articulates it much much better. It won't make you fast, we all know that strength work can slow you down. To swim bike and run faster you have to swim bike and run. Strength training will give you soft tissue durability. The person who it might help to become faster is someone with a strength limiter. As we looked at my body composition, my power to weight ratio it is pretty clear that I am strong (let me beat my chest!). Strength is my attribute.

I like Jesse's ... what he calls..... histogram. I like how it is laid out, I understand the meaning behind the break down of the megacycle and the mesocycle. I am so used to training and or coaching a certain way that this is a breath of fresh air. Much like Coach T was when I was training with him.

There are protocols to follow for every workout during the next four weeks. Which are base weeks. Here we are monotonous, he said boring.... I said relaxing..... and just coming back to the basics. As we spoke last night I was able to see the progression. Clearwater is going to be a good day for me, but I am seeing how this will set me up for the come 2010.

And beyond.

Jesse's passion for this sport leaks through the phone lines. I am delighted to hear him talk.....if you have ever read his articles you should try to attend a seminar from him. He makes talking about cells and the ATP and Krebs cycles interesting (why wasn't he my chemistry teacher in college?).

The biggest thing I am so grateful for is that he believes in my ability as an athlete. I know this is a guy who is not hurting for athletes. The man coaches Cait Snow.... it's not like he was looking for Mary Eggers. I didn't expect the opportunity to work with him, I was hoping for anyone who would be willing to help a struggling athlete. But he took me on.

I have a lot of respect for a lot of people in this sport. As I have seen all of this unveiled he asks me what questions I have. I say none. It's self explanatory. It's simple. It makes sense to me. When you are a good presenter and you keep you ego out of it....... then the audience will absorb.

There's so much more to it than this as well. The nutrition component..... that will take several posts as I digest it (get it.... ha ha) myself. But I love it. It's me. The goals are right in front of me in terms of body composition and performance. They are attainable.

The one thing Jesse mentioned to me (and I am paraphrasing here) that really rings true for all of us, is in regards to our work ethic:

We all work hard. That's not the issue. We can all go out and pop off X intervals in zone Y and beat out chest. It's the nature of our sport. How many times have you heard your friends talk about the mile repeats they ripped off last night and how hard they went......

when is the last time you heard someone say this..... "Man you should have seen me last night. I was in BED by 8pm and got 10 hours of sleep. THEN I got up and had blueberries for breakfast and really warmed up before I began my 60 minute easy ride......"

Uh...... I might be president of the winning the workouts in training club.

So remember, it's the whole package. The Qt2 System, just like many other systems, has a few basic concepts. This I will share (and these aren't groundbreaking, every coach has them):

Training

Nutrition / Rest

Race Fuel

Pacing.

Those are concepts I can trust in!