My Weekend with Joe
Joe's company, Performance Associates, offers a "weekend with Joe". It ain't cheap but I wanted to meet the man that wrote the book that helped me achieve a tri-breakthrough.
SaturdayJoe picked me up on Saturday morning at Denver airport. My first impression was that he was a lot younger in person than he appeared on his book (I waited until a little later to tell him this). We grabbed my bags, hopped into Joe's car and headed north to Fort Collins. I can't remember exactly what we talked about but it was an assortment of topics ranging from my background, race history, recent divorce, IM racing to Joe's coaching history and athletes. All very interesting stuff and a refreshing break after three days in Las Vegas (that is a whole other story). Once at Joe's place, I changed, had a snack and we headed out for a run. Joe proceeded to explain his recent injury history to me and this left me thinking things like, "Oh well, better take it easy on the guy, don't want to blow him out." and "I wonder if I will get a decent workout?" I should have been a little suspicious when he casually mentioned that one of his training buddies won his AG at IMH. Less than a ten minute drive from Joe's place the trails start. Joe explained the run plan, out up the valley, climb up to the reservoir, back along the road at the top. It looked like a fair way but I figured I could handle it. This was my first decent running workout since IMOz and I was a little nervous, but hey, my partner was injured and giving me about fifteen years (more about that later). We head out and it is a great run. The air is clean, it is overcast (no sunscreen required) and a little on the cool side. Absolutely perfect. For the first bit of the run, Joe asked me a few questions about my training and I explained how I lay out my typical week, something that Coach Troy had taught me. That seemed to meet with his approval. He also asked about my non-training obligations in a normal week, just working and sleeping for me! We chatted about some local races and general run stuff. A few times, I started to feel a bit tired but Joe was hanging in so I figured that I better keep on pushing. I relinquished the lead after a while figuring that it was easier to follow than to lead. Joe is a bit like me and tends to speed up when out front. I was getting a very solid aerobic workout. Joe let me know that we were around 5,000 feet so perhaps it was the altitude, yeah right! We circled back around and ran a bit long. Arriving back at the car at 1:40 into the run. Joe got his video camera out and shot a little bit of me running. Joe didn't seem too injured to me and, seeing as we were now officially running buddies, I asked how old he was. 57! I was giving 26 years away to him and he was making me work! I told him that he was now added to my list of "masters heroes", the people that give me faith that I can continue to speed up until I am forty. He didn't say anything about a biking injury and now I was a little concerned that I was going to get my butt kicked tomorrow. Back home, another snack and off to the pool for a short video session. Headed home again, cleaned up and sat down for beers and a video review of my running and swimming. I was OK on both counts. Joe gave me a few pointers and things to work on. We talked in detail about running technique. This is the part of his book that I understood the least. Joe brought out a video that explained the techniques in detail. I started to take notes. Great dinner and off to bed.
SundayThe run must have taken more out of me that I realised, I slept nine hours. Joe was up when I surfaced. A light snack and we were off. I didn't have my bike and Joe offered me a choice of his TT bike or his road bike. I took the road bike and we were off. We headed North and found ourselves riding on a slight uphill into the wind. I didn't realise how strong the wind was and was depressed to see that I was only holding 30 kpm on what looked like a flat road. According to Joe's powertap, I was putting out 250 watts and that was respectable so I consoled myself with that thought. I was working pretty hard but it felt like we were going nowhere. Joe looked so completely at ease that I figured that I better buckle down and crank out a few decent miles. Along the way, I see a sign that says, Wyoming 20 Miles, and I think that it would be real cool to wake up one morning and announce that I was "riding to Wyoming today". We get about one hour out of town and decide that it is time to turn around. BOOM! I am holding 43-45 kph. Hmmm, maybe that wind was a little stronger than we thought. We back the pace off a bit, Joe flats and we get back to a little conversation (not a lot of chatting was happening into that headwind). We ride back to town at a "gentlemanly pace" and check out the Budweiser Clydesdales (neat). Joe says that the ride is better a little earlier in the day when there is not so much traffic. Coming from Hong Kong, I tell him that I think I have died and arrived in roadie heaven, I know that I am coming back to Colorado some time soon. We roll in and I head out for a short run. I get back and Joe has a recovery shake read for me. Monster feed, shower, clean clothes and an afternoon of tri-talk. Most of the topics were fairly specific to me but I wrote my notes up in case any of you find something that might be useful. We also talked through my training plan for IMC. Another fine dinner, I check my e-mail and pack. Then it is off to the airport. At the airport, I grab a bit more food and smile knowing that its not long until I get to come back and this time it's for a while. For me, the weekend was both fun and good value. gordo - 29 April 2000 |