Thank God it's College Football Season!

It's been awhile since the last post, and there are a number of reasons...

1. Training! Lots of it, makes for little time.
2. Coaching! Lots of it, makes for little time.
3. Olympics - Watched a bunch of it, including and the triathlons, live, screaming and jumping up and down on my couch when Simon came back!
4. Traveled to Boulder for a week for some TrainingBible business, and training. Hot and dry in Boulder...nice place to visit, but San Diego still gets the nod as the best place to train, (no comparison if the question is asked in the winter!)

It doesn't look like I'll be getting much time back, at least for the weekends, since college football season kicks off this weekend!!! Nebraska, (my alma mater), opens with Western Michigan! Will be watching that game, you can bet! I love college football!

Training is actually going well, as I just completed a big week with a 4-mile race here yesterday in 21:02. Not terribly fast, but believe it or not that's 35 seconds faster than I ran in this same race in 2006, in my Florida prep. So that's a good sign.

Also had one of my better rides last week, and I'm clearly strong as a whole. Weight is good, but not great, should get better in the coming weeks. Excited about things moving forward.

We shall see!

Vance

Time for a post

So I haven't been good about blogging here, sorry.

Been busy with training, of course, but the volume and time commitment has really increased. The weekend was especially big and busy...

Friday - Big swim workout in the AM, with lots of fast 200's, 100's and 50's. It was my best swim of the year, which is great considering how much work I've been doing in the weight room and with core conditioning. I know I was tired, but was still going fast.

Later it was a 9 mile run easy, with a 2 hour ride to finish the day. On the bike was when the bees struck again. Right to the right temple, a bee stung me as it got stuck between my glasses, helmet and head. OUCH! Hurt like hell. For the entire weekend I looked like a cabbage-patch kid, but just on one half of my face. It was so bad, I refused to get a photo of it.

Saturday - Kevin McCarey's workout, where I got WORKED! His son, Eamon, put a hurting on me. The intervals were tough, and thru the trails around UCSD. After the 10 miles of running total, with nearly 6 miles of it HARD, it was onto the bike with a fellow Nebraska boy, Nolan. We rode the Swami's loop with attacking on the hills. Come the last hour of this 3.5 hour ride, I was struggling.

Sunday - Got up in the AM and it was off to Cardiff, to meet the local running group for a 2 hour plus run. It was a good group, and my fitness has clearly improved through the 3 runs with this group I've done. On this run, I was dropped with about 2 miles to go, and had to do what I could to hold on. Afterwards, it was an easy ride to the Cove for a clinic with some swimmers for the Gatorman, and a swim.

This week's focus is recovery for the first three days, then tests on Thursday and Friday. The weekend will be back to some high volume work, with a trip to Boulder planned next week.

Vance

Inside Triathlon Magazine

In case you haven't seen the cool photo spread, here it is in the July Issue...


Never had a picture this big and cool in magazine. I really like this one, especially since it's clear I didn't have to get off the bike like the guys behind me! Hahaha...

Training is going well, motivation continues to be high. Been kicking my ass with core conditioning like never before, and in the weight room. Even added Yoga and Pilates classes. My commitment level has jumped. Believe it or not, I've already lost 4 lbs in a week, and believe me when I tell you it wasn't water weight!!!

Trying to balance all my other responsibilities is the challenge now, but I may be cutting some of the fat from my life soon, in order to keep my focus.

Just became an uncle for the 2nd time yesterday. Heading up to Nor Cal to see the little gal, and attend a wedding. Not taking my bike, so heading up to hopefully do plenty of running and maybe a swim, while staying in Marin at Orlanda's parents' house.

Thursday night is the big "biathlon" here in Mission Beach. What is a biathlon? Well, I thought biathlons had guns and skiing, but apparently this one is just a run and swim, with a beer stop in the middle of the run. I did the race last year, and set the course record. This year I expect bigger challenges, so we will see how it goes.

More info can be found at: http://tugs-t-shirt.com/

Hope to see many of you out there!

Vance

Back to Basics

With apologies to the late Biggie Smalls...

"I'm going-going, back-back to"...BASICS!

Last Sunday I did the Tri Club race, and it was the first club race I'd done in about 3 years. It felt good to get back to it. I've done tons of Aquathlons, (I'll be back out there tonight), but not any triathlons. It's funny to reflect back on that little Glorietta Bay park, and remember that was where I got my start in the sport. I couldn't swim worth a damn, couldn't even put my face in the water. I borrowed a wetsuit, a bike, and somehow after coming out nearly last from the water, ended up 5th. Wow..I've come a long ways since that May 2003 race.

Since IMCDA, I've done a lot of reflection and trying to make some decisions. Some of the things I've realized is that I've gotten away from some things which I enjoyed, and sometimes looked at the big picture too much. It's time for me to go back to the things which made me successful. I've got enough base training, and I'm strong. Now it's time to step it up. It's all about balance, and I think in some ways I was too far to one extreme.

My motivation and attitude are at a new high, and I'm excited to get fit and love training. I'm actually at the exact opposite point I was last year at this time after IMCDA. I was tired, burned out, ready for a break. Now I'm motivated, excited and looking forward to kicking some ass in November! (Or even sooner!)

I'm racing XTERRA Nationals in Tahoe, October 5th. That's a warning shot for some of you out there...I'm going to toe the line, and I hope you're ready for me! Ironman training be damned, I'm going to be strong and ready for a great race there. I love XTERRA, and I'm excited to get back to the line. I've got an amazing mountain bike, Look 986, and my butt is yearning to rub in that saddle! It should be a good time. (BTW, check out the new Inside Tri issue, big photo spread of me on the 986 at XTERRA West!)

I'm getting back into the weight room, attacking! I'm eating up the core strengthening like a desperate whore! My new weight goal is sub 160! I'll be riding the razor, but I'll be dangerous come race day.

My volume is a little high this week, but I'm enjoying it. I'm anxious to get the running back to what it was in 2006. When I came off the bike at Florida and ran 1:20 for the first half-marathon, I was so confident I could race with anyone in the world. My goal is to get back to that point. I'll be introducing more intensity into my running, (Kevin McCarey workouts on Saturday mornings, Sunday Cardiff long runs with the boys), and even hitting the track again.

My swimming right now is as good as it's ever been, and I think will soon be at a new level. Cycling still needs work, but I'm not afraid of putting in the time and work.

There's a large contingent of San Diego Tri Club members going to IMAZ in November, (literally in the hundreds), and I'd love nothing better than to be in the hunt for the win there with their support.

I turned 32 a few days before CDA. I don't know how many years I have left in the sport at this level, but I do know I'm not taking it for granted. So if I seem to be in a selfish state, please understand.

Vance

Awesome

Before I retire, I really want to race in Germany. If not Roth, then IM Germany. And this is why...





Vance

More Coeur d'Alene Photos

Well, as much as I thought I was being smart about not doing San Diego International, it became clear on Sunday that the decision would have been made for me. My hamstring was pretty messed up and I couldn't jog more than a mile. No way I would have been able to race. Now just focusing on getting back into things and working toward IMAZ.

Here are some photos from IMCDA, for you to enjoy. If you happen to have any which you could email me, I'd appreciate it. jvance at trainingbible dot com.

Pro start at 6:25 AM

End of lap one, (Victor 1st, green cap, me checking for gap to Rhodes and Evans, then Lovato)

Me, Lovato and Curry, with Victor just out of the picture, turning the wrong way.

After Victor's wrong turn, I found myself in the lead, Lovato just behind me.

A very ungraceful re-entry!

Continuing with the lack of gracefulness.

End of lap one in the swim.

Lovato is such a pimp, he can't escape the paparazzi!

Out on the bike course.

The finishing straight.

Thanks for checking in.

Vance

The Case of Floyd

Today, Floyd Landis lost his final appeal to Court of Arbitration for Sport, (CAS), the highest court in all the land, when it comes to sport and doping offenses. He now goes down as a convicted cheater, forever linked with the likes of Ben Johnson, Bjarne Riis, Nina Kraft, and many others.

I am often asked what I thought of Floyd, and if he cheated. My answer has been, and always will be, "It doesn't matter." Why? Because Floyd's rights were violated, and as long as the system has to cheat to catch the cheaters, the system will never work, and will always leave us questioning who is really guilty, allowing more scandal and corruption than already exists.

Today's article by the Associated Press, quotes the CAS panel's 58-page decision, which admits the lab used, "less than ideal lab practices". No where did it even mention that his name was released to the press before he was even notified of his A sample being positive. Never mind his right to protection until the B sample has been tested. Never mind the fact the sample showed degradation levels which, by lab policies and procedures, were deemed too high to get acceptable results.

Talk with someone who works in a lab, and ask them what would happen if they used the practices and acted as these labs did. Guess what the response would be. You can bet it would be, "I'd be fired." The lone exception apparently being if you work in anti-doping lab. Ask a criminal attorney how viable this evidence would be in criminal court.

When I look at USADA, (US Anti-Doping Agency), and WADA, (World Anti-Doping Agency), and their handling of Floyd's case, I see a governing body who gets to choose who is guilty and who is not. They violate rights of athletes without repercussions, and before Floyd, no one had the resources to fight it. The costs involved for the attorneys and court fees, have always been far too great to give a professional athlete in Olympic sports a fair opportunity to fight the charges they face.

"That's always been part of the system, that they've always had more resources than the athlete. This is the first time it's even been close," Landis' attorney, Maurice Suh, said in an interview last year.

Bankrolled through several private sources, including a fundraising campaign he launched on his own, Landis forced a case that cost more than $2 million -- a burden on him, but also a strain on the bottom lines of both USADA and WADA, which shared the cost of prosecuting the case.

After his unprecedented public hearing at his first arbitration case last May, the arbitrators upheld his doping ban but scolded USADA and the labs it uses for practices that were less than airtight. (source - AP, June 30th, 2008)

The biggest fear I have is testing positive, especially since I don't cheat. If I were to test positive, I could never afford to fight it, even though my innocence would be obvious, (at least to my family and me.) If you think it's unlikely, look at how many athletes claim to be innocent, it's hard to believe they are all lying. And then I see Floyd's case, where clearly there is enough reasonable doubt, and he makes the financial investment to fight it, and still loses.

What consequences would I face? What would happen to my reputation? I couldn't fight it. I would just have to accept the label of cheater, no matter the truth. My family forever shamed, my dreams shattered, and future career aspirations related to the sport most likely over. And this would be an innocent person.

Why did the CAS uphold the ban? I haven't read the entire 58 pages, but I can guess as to why, which wouldn't be written. There is no contingency plan if something were to happen to USADA or WADA. If they are overly critical or overrule these agencies, what would happen? You can bet chaos, until the agencies were restructured and reinstated with these issues resolved. I'm guessing they didn't have the courage to make the right decision, and open the flood gates.

Is Floyd innocent? I don't know. But I do know that USADA and WADA are running the show. Athlete rights, testing policies and protocols, and repercussions be damned. All athletes lost today, not just Floyd.

Vance