New England Triathlon Summit

On Saturday, I attended the 1st annual N.E. Triathlon Summit in Salem Mass put on by B&S Fitness out of Salem State College.  This was a one day event with presentations on Tri 101, stregnth training, open water swimming, run methods, bike methods, injury prevention, and nutrition.  The key note, held at the end of the day, was by Karen Smeyers.

For me, the highlights of the summit were the nutritionist and the talk  by Karen.  If you ever think you can’t finish a race or even a training swim, bike or run, read about what Karen has overcome and your “issue of the day” will become very trivial!  I plan to use this strategy a lot this summer

The nutritionist,  Jenna Bell-Wilson, was phenomenal.  She felt that she wanted to do an IM so she could fully understand what an IM athlete goes through.  In addition to being very well educated (she even has a PHD), she was very funny and knew exactly what concerns we would have and addressed them all with her discussion.  Being a neurotic when it comes to nutrition (I know, I’m shocking you with this statement), I found her information very helpful.  She dispelled a lot of the myths Triathletes often “swear” by but her main message was “everyone is different” and “practice in training what you are going to do in the race.  You don’t want to find out during the race that the nutrition bar you had planned on eating melts when it is too hot and you can’t really eat it on the bike”.  Additionally, she has quite a sense of humor.   She told a funny story about how she was on her bike and rather than eat while she was riding, she pulled over and ate her PB sandwich on the side of the road.  She said, “I don’t know why I did that, but I felt like it, so I did”.   There were some slides that will be very helpful to me on fluid intake, carb loading, etc.. .that I will use for my own training.  Call me if you want some more details.  I think we are going to be emailed the presos from the event.  If not, I have hard copies.  Also, she doesn’t train individuals on-line (she is from New Mexico) – or maybe she just didn’t want to train me but, she gave me the name of another nutritionist she recommends if anyone is interested.

One thing that REALLY got me going though, was the guy that spoke about running.   To summarize, he was advocating that triathletes run EVERY day!   I won’t get on my soap box here, but how many people do you know that could run EVERY day (even if for 10-20min on the short side) and fit in all other aspects of training for a triathlon and still have a life?  Not to mention the very real issue of injuries occurring from running every day.  Enough said, but my comments back got the room discussing the issue.  The problem is, I bet 2/3 of the people in the room that day will try to do this.  UGH…………………………..

Another unexpected surprise and highlight of the day was seeing Duffy and his new wife, Maggie.  If you don’t know, I met Duffy and Chris at IM FL this year while we were all there to volunteer at the race.  We all became fast friends and we all live in Massachusetts so we will become training partners too (although I am quite sure that Duffy and Chris are MUCH faster than me- but oh well- how fast can they really do those century rides (he he he – no, this is NOT a challenge)).  Anyways, Duffy decided to drop quite a bit of his muscle mass and has trimmed down quite a bit (Chris, you won’t recognize him) to maximize his IM training and racing.  I’m sure this will bode very well for him.  Good to see you guys.

That’s it for now.  PLEASE BLOG WITH ME