I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Boulder right now with Courtenay Brown, Rory Seiter, and Mojdeh Hamidi. We’ve been spending the last couple of hours interrupting each other and getting stuff sort of done while at The Laughing Goat on Pearl Street. “Getting stuff done” consists of Rory interviewing me for the Checkmate Triathlon Team website (my side project that will be awesome once Rory and I figure out all the logistics of starting a team from scratch without start-up capital), Courtenay writing a blog, figuring out which graduate school she’ll go to and providing input to Rory and me (she started a women’s pro cycling team a few years back and has some great perspective), and Mojdeh generally being pleasant company.

What’s interesting is how we all got here. I met Rory when I was designing underwater robots in Honolulu and he was finishing up his degree in Environmental Management. I met Courtenay online through her ex-boyfriend, and Mojdeh and Rory met when he made an unexpected pit-stop in Boulder during a 2008 world tour. Last year Courtenay gave up her independent lifestyle in Lake Tahoe and moved in with me at my parents’ house in Seattle after dating me long distance for two months. Rory and Mojdeh had only been dating a couple months when they left Boulder to travel around New Zealand together for four months, and the trip went so well that they ended up spending all of 2009 living out of a van and dragging a trailer of triathlon swag to races for the USA Triathlon Endurance Mobile Tour. Sitting in a coffee shop figuring out what we’ll do next is much more exciting with this particular group than it might be with your average coffee shop dweller.

BURRRRRRR!!!!! Ben Collins getting ready to bike in the snow

A few weeks ago Courtenay got into a graduate program at CU-Boulder. This week they flew here out here to visit, so naturally I drove up from Colorado Springs to spend the weekend with her. I haven’t spent much time in Boulder before this weekend, but I’ve certainly heard plenty about it (more pro triathletes live here than anywhere else in the US). On Thursday I jumped in the water with Dave Scott’s group at Flatiron Athletic Club. The club is pretty cool. Plenty of cardio equipment, frequent yoga classes, open pool time and a well stocked weight room. The swim practice itself was a pretty typical master’s practice. Don’t get me wrong, it was cool to be in the same lane as Matt Reed and next to several other pro athletes (you’ll have to forgive me for not recognizing a lot of ironman athletes), but it wasn’t some mind blowing experience that made me rethink the way I’ve been swimming the past 20 years. Otherwise it was a well organized master’s workout (full range of abilities) with a famous person dishing out the sets to six outdoor lanes (sound cold? it was.) packed with 40 people. Still, I enjoyed myself because it’s swimming (which I love) and it was with cool people in a new place, which makes things interesting.

I also went for a bike ride outside - my first since leaving Honolulu - which was really fun. I did a flat loop to the east, hoping to stay away from the clouds that were hugging the mountains in the west. It didn’t work, I hit snow flurries within the first 10 minutes of the ride. I was stubborn, however, and a by 30 minutes into the ride I was under partly cloudy skies (they say that if you don’t like the weather in Colorado then you should wait an hour for it to change). I got in a great interval session, but on my last effort, as I was rounding the boulder reservoir, I found myself getting dumped on with thick cold flakes of snow. By the time I got back to Rory’s apartment (where I’m staying) my helmet was caked in snow, my bike was drenched and dirty, and my hands were numb. It was totally awesome.

Courtenay finished her recruiting trip today and is spending the evening hanging out with the two ex-boyfriends she has in Boulder while I relax and prepare for a hard weekend of training. Hopefully she’ll make it back here tonight

This isn’t the first time I’ve been to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, but it always seems to surprise me how awesome it is here! And now that I’m taking up residency at the Training Center, there’s way more cool stuff that’s open to me.

I got here Saturday after a long three days in Seattle of packing, family time, and a trip to Chris Tremonte’s Thursday Night Dinner (which deserves a catchier name). My flight out of Seattle was mid-morning, but I had stayed up late the night before stressing out that I had forgotten something important that would be the difference between a successful season and failing as an athlete (obviously a realistic paranoia). So when I arrived in Denver, and then waited two hours for a shuttle to Colorado Springs (there’s a good story about how the Southwest Airlines helped me out several times that day, but I’ll save it for another time) I was already exhausted. I arrived at 4pm to the center, and - despite how much I wanted to curl up and sleep for a few hours - I only an hour to get in a quick run before heading off to the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame Dinner (2nd annual, another great story for another time).

Needless to say, by Sunday I was in need of a good recovery workout to flush out all the stress and tension of a week of hustling my way from Honolulu to Seattle to Colorado Springs. I needed a great big exhale (unfortunately, the thin air up here is not great for giant sighs of relief), and on Monday I finally got it in the form of the NormaTech MVP . They have four on campus for athlete’s to use, and when you’re legs ache from a hard workout (or from standing around) a few minutes of dynamic compression with Norma is to muscular soreness what cuddling up by the fireplace with a cup of coco is for a stressful work week (And I do appreciate a good cup of hot chocolate and indoor fires).

Once all the athlete services were open (not sure why they all close on the weekends) I was able to schedule the 90 minutes of massage that I am now qualified to receive as an official resident athlete (Robbie, the massage therapist I’m seeing is incredible, and deserves his own post - another time). Additionally, I started frequenting the Sports Medicine clinic (which was available to me on my previous trips as well) for some help with continued hip rehab from my injury last summer. I can’t begin to convey how much of an advantage it is to have qualified medical staff available 10 hours a day (during the week). I certainly miss Inewmed and Spencer Chiropractic, but being a few hundred meters away from the med-staff with plenty of drop-in times is priceless.

On Thursday I went to a weekly class on meditation. We worked on “mindful thinking” and how to maintain focus and be aware of your thoughts while you try to direct them away from the outside world and into the current moment. It was hard. Really really hard. At first we were guided, and I could focus on the Sport Psychologist’s words to keep my head inline, but after a short time I started thinking about the Olympics (there was a TV on outside the room playing hockey) and how well I had done in my workouts that day, and what was for dinner…

Speaking of dinner. How could I possibly go this long without mentioning the centerpiece of life at the Olympic Training Center? The athlete cafeteria literally sits right in the middle of campus, and offers a plethora of food options for every palate and dietary requirement possible (within athletics - there’s no deep fried Oreo cookies or cheese wizz). We have protein pounding wrestlers (majority of residents are wrestlers), carb-consuming triathletes, salad-selecting gymnasts… Or you can order a lean ground beef burger and baked fries (I prefer the sweat potato fries). Everything is delicious.

Some things I plan to take advantage of that I wasn’t able to get to this week are: individual Sports Psychology, Sports Nutritionists, tuition grants for continued education (I’m trying to decide what Master’s I should work toward, or if I should keep doing medical-related classes), the campus rec-room (with a Nintendo Wii and a big TV and couches and a pool table), and off-campus extracurricular events like Bowling and movie nights. All of this, of course, is provided for me by the US Olympic Committee - and their sponsors* - in hopes that the support will allow me to focus on my training so that I can reach my potential. So the first priority is to train hard, and put everything else second. I’m just so excited to be here!

*The USOC is the only national governing body in the world that receives no government funding. So when you see a brand that says, “proud sponsor of the US Olympic Team” - they’re the ones providing me this opportunity - it means a lot.

It’s been a week now since I started the sneak peek  of my OpenSky Store. This week I’m still waiting for a bunch of my favorite recovery equipment to be sourced, so in the meantime I’m participating in an Opensky promotion with what I have – a jump rope! This week for Opensky’s Olympic promotion: “train like an Olympian” there are a bunch of training and recovery products that are on sale for 15% off, including the jump rope on my site.

I have heard of people jumping rope to cross train for running, but I recommend it for improving your swim. (And what triathlete doesn’t need to improve their swim?)

I started using a jump rope for cross training in 2002 with the Columbia Men’s Swim Team. We would do some brutal jump-rope and boxing workouts in the pre-season and it was amazing how much it improved our core strength, agility, and coordination. After college I stopped using my jump rope until I did a swim clinic with Milt Nelms (if you don’t feel like clicking on the link, basically he’s a stoke genius who travels the world teaching the best swimmers and their coaches how to be even faster) in 2006 and learned the importance of creating strong connections between the segments of your body (basically core stability and coordination). Long story short, when you jump rope, it forces you to align and connect your upper and lower body correctly – something that you must be able to do in order to swim fast.

I’ve been known, while giving swim lessons, to say things like, “you look like a rope of breakfast sausage links” or “you’re swimming like a plastic bag”. Doing a few jump rope drills before getting in the water can train your body to hold itself the right way, which will let you slide through the water like a kayak, rather than wiggling like a wet bumble bee.

Here’s one quick (10 minute) jump rope program that I recommend before swimming:

1’ warmup, just jump rope normally – a single bounce per rope rotation, getting used to the feeling of jumping rope.

2x{ 30” scissor kicks – one leg forward one leg back, alternate on each bounce

30” normal

30” split leg – alternating wide legs and close legs on each bounce

30” normal

30” building amplitude – increase the size of your jump until you’re bounding

30” rest

1’ “jogging” – do a running motion while you jump

1’ regular jumping increasing frequency – jump faster and faster until you fail, then start it again until the minute is up

1’ regular.

Whenever you mess up, just start take a moment and get right back into it. You don’t need to restart the clock, it’s all part of building coordination. If you only have 5 minutes, or if this is just too hard for you to get through at first (it was for me) just cut everything in half. You’ll still reap benefits from just 5 minutes of jumping with good form.

Another benefit to warming up with a routine like this: the water won’t feel nearly as cold!

I moved into the Olympic Training Center today as a resident athlete. Unfortunately, the resident dorms were flooded a few months back and repairs are not yet finished, so I have been relegated to the barracks. These three cinder block buildings – relics left from when the campus was an air force base – are normally for short term athletes, and are located away from the main athlete center. After two short-term stays out here, the barracks are old hat for me, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t hopeful for a private bathroom, larger-than-twin bed and a cold-weather-free walk to the cafeteria.

This week I’m giving a sneak peak* of my new Opensky store. The Open Sky Project is a community of bloggers who share their favorite products with readers. Opensky sources, ships, and accepts payments for all the good that are sold through the community, and then shares the profits with the bloggers. In the sport of triathlon there is an endless supply of products that claim to make you faster, so on my Opensky store, I’m promoting the ones that I have tried and had success with.

What else sets Opensky apart from other online retailers?

Buying from experts (bloggers, “shopkeepers”, real people) means you can ask questions. I’m always willing to respond to questions about a product (whether or not you buy it from my shop), and share some tips about how to use it. Want to know the best frozen fruit combinations to put in the Vita-Mix? Want to know what my favorite jump rope drills are, or how I use my balance trainer? Or maybe you have a problem getting your Garmin Edge 705 to upload to Garmin Connect. I can help! Just use the contact form on this site, or contact me through the Opensky shop.

Opensky offers periodic promotional deals (which I will tweet or mention in a blogs in the least annoying way possible), but one that really caught my eye was a few weeks ago when Opensky was donating 100% of their profits to the Haiti earthquake relief efforts. With altruism like that, The Open Sky Project is definitely a community I’m willing to support. I’m planning to put a link to the shop on this site, but will otherwise keep links and other distractions to a minimum so I can focus on the fun stuff – like writing about how much my legs hurt from trying to race mopeds on the highway. I don’t want to be a salesman, or try to convince people to buy from me. This shop is no-bullshit. Just products I use, and stories (often humorous, sometimes insightful) about how and why I like them. Like I said, the main purpose of this shop is to help you find the products that actually make a difference.

*Remember it’s just a sneak peak. Right now I have a few products that were already available in the Opensky directory (that’s why they seem a little random). I’ve requested a bunch of new products to be added, and when they are the shop will be a far more valuable tool for athletes looking for quality products.

Monday morning I said Aloha to my Canadian friends after a relaxing dip in the ocean and a muddy last jaunt through the cane fields of Paia. I came back to Oahu and decided that I would basically repeat the workouts from the week because I felt strong and ready to handle 7 more days of hard work. Also, I’m flying to Seattle on Tuesday, and to Colorado Springs on Saturday, and with all the travel plus the time it takes to acclimate to altitude, I figured this week was my last chance to really train hard for a while.

[Hawaii dirt is tenacious! I’ve worn these shoes every other day for the past 8 weeks and they are DIRTY!!] 

The week was a success, but I will be glad Monday night when I finish my last hard training day. It was a lot harder to train without a big group to push me, but spending time with Courtenay and my friends while I wasn’t training made the week fly by. I trained with other people for most of my key workouts this week, but it seemed like I just couldn’t keep up with anyone. I swam with the UH varsity team each day – much harder when I’m just as fatigued as they are – rode my bike with Tim Marr and John Flanagan a few times (John destroyed me with a sub-19 minute climb up Tantalus), and ran at the track with Tim and John, though we just cheered each other on while we each did different workouts.

Here’s the scoop on training location. Maui’s venues are better. There are more cycling options, fewer cars, wider shoulders, cleaner streets, and less road rage. The cane fields of Paia are wonderful for running (until it rains and you get 2 inches of mud caked to your feet), and the pools are free and pretty nice, and the open water swimming is second to none. Oahu, however, wins on convenience. It has a better track (at University of Hawaii or in Hawaii Kai) and better swim programs (UH Masters Swimming, Oahu Club Masters swimming, or any of the training groups like Team Jet or Boca Hawaii). And unless you’re traveling with a group, there are more people to train with on Oahu. What I like most about Oahu, however, is that everything is close. I haven’t needed a car here for my eight week stay. I can walk to the UH pool and track, I can run almost entirely on grass or dirt to a big grassy park, there’s a grocery store a block away, and all of the good cycling rendezvous are within 10 minutes of here. That, combined with the fact that I have three cousins, an aunt and uncle, and lots of friends on Oahu, make it my choice for a base camp over Maui. I can deal with repetitive cycling routes and lees-than-ideal running routes (It’s still 90% on dirt) if it means I don’t have to spend an hour (or even half an hour) in the car each day commuting to workouts.

Two more training days!