Kevin's Blog

kevin_masters Every now and then, when I'm not busy working with athletes or taking care of business, I find time to write an article or two about things that are motivating, inspiring, and educating.

I hope you enjoy my blog -- feel free to drop me a note if you have something you'd like me to cover in an upcoming article!

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Kevin's Blog

Running Glory

Written by Kevin Masters Monday, July 19, 2010 10:35 PM

Endorphine Daze athletes covered the majority of the IM run course on Friday, last day of camp and about the 18th to 20th hour of training for the week. Best success story goes to Erin. How many times have you wanted to pack it in, for some reason get talked into a few more minutes and then voila, somehow someone, maybe your coach got you to finish the whole darn thing. This is Erin's first year of triathlon, and her first IM, and while we are at it, her first camp. So by Friday she was getting a little tired. Erin ran into Ok Falls our 1/3 to 1/2 way point for runners. Her legs were cooked and she declared enough was finally enough. I told her climbing out of OK Falls is one of the worst parts of the IM Run so i said she had to do that and i would pick her up in the support truck at the top. As we got to the top i kept going until the road flattended out a little bit, my co pilot thought i was being a little mean, but i needed to let her feel the relief of the flats after the climb, WHY? Because when she reached us in the truck on the flat stretch, she asked surprisngly if that was the climb back there. Erin was starting to get a head of steam on the flats and possibly the worst is behind her??? So at the end of the day Erin finished the run to our predetermined finish line and therefore ran ~ 17 miles instead of 8.5. Congrats to the whole gang of Aerobic Power athletes and the Calgary contingent at the camp who were tons of fun and as tough as nails.

Campers Test their Legs for a Second Day in a Row

Written by Kevin Masters Friday, July 16, 2010 12:18 AM

Following a swim session, Endorphine Daze athletes set out on the bikes to take in a challenging but still one of the most beautiful Penticton rides. The first half of the 80 km ride included climbing green mountain road, then descending down the other side, before having to take on Yellow Lakes, the steepest climb of the Ironman Canada bike course, for the second time in two days. After Yellow Lakes, the only section of todays ride on the main highway, riders got back onto the some of the most beautiful and vehicleless roads around. Through training, testing and lectures riders are learnring a lot about "overreaching", the effects and appropriate use of training volumes and intensities and markers for warning signals of poor physical states that would affect training quality. I think this year campers are going to leave camp stronger and smarter about their training approaches.

Penticton Bike Course NO Match for Aerobic Power Athletes

Written by Kevin Masters Wednesday, July 14, 2010 07:20 PM

Endorphin Daze team of Aerobic Power and TCR supported the camp's athletes through the full Iornman bike course today in 36 degree heat. It is the first year not a single person dropped out into the support wagon. Aerobic Power athlete's Erin, Terry, Chris, Dave and Brian all had spectacular days and will now be going into race day with another level of confidence.

EndorphineDaze Camp Kicks Off Like a Tornado

Written by Kevin Masters Tuesday, July 13, 2010 12:04 AM

Aerobic Power and TCR kick off their 4th Annual Andorphine Daze IM Prep Camp.

Campers began in our beautiful outdoor lab for some C-Prit testing which will take place again on Friday at the end of camp and then the 3 following weeks. ( i will get pictures on, promise)Campers get to learn about the affects the training volume by the end of camp and then the positive adaptations for the weeks following camp as they let their bodies recover. From this campers will also gain insight into their ideal taper lengths, as i think we are all discovering 1 size does not fit all. There is a super team of coaches and excited grad students bringin campers experience and cutting edge science.

Following testing which kicked off the day campers worekd through some very handy open swim skills in ragin white caps. Fortuntely not long before the finish winds turned into serious gusts literally throwing sand and bags off the beach across the street. Fortunately they dies down enough later in the day for a super bike skills session and a spin to Naramata beofre the serious IM work begins tommorrow in the water.

Painful Reminders

Written by Kevin Masters Monday, June 21, 2010 04:23 PM

It seems like athletes like to hear about their coach in tough times as well from time to time. I had a painful reminder on Saturday at the 5 Peaks Trail Race. Currently now one of the most difficult/painful races i have done in recent memory. Kamren of 5 Peaks certainly out did himeself this time. Anyway, race was fun competitive and in the end very satisfying. Post race i got focused on the eating and for some reason did not hit the water station. We spent the next 2 hours post, a hard 1 hour race sitting out in the sun. To shortern the story, finally got home, from there, the kids bike riding and soccer etc quickly takes the mind of post recovery or next days pre worokout prep. Sunday morning came and outside of cute smiles and special gifts it was a very long miserable Fathers Day, not needing to go to the bathroom while drinking water over the day and being cooled off from the heat with cold chills made the problem very obvious, as pointed out numerous times by my lovely wife. Major dehydration, maybe a touch of heat stroke, eliminated any big plans for sunday. So take care of yourself pre and post races. Whether its to have a play day at home or harder yet, get prepared for another IM workout, carelessness can quickly take its toll on the body.

Still Learning.......

Written by Kevin Masters Thursday, June 03, 2010 01:08 PM

I had such great intentions to be writing every night from Phoenix where I was attending a Mentorship Program through the Athlete’s Performance Center, one of the most famous and highly regarded training facilities and programs in North America and Europe. It was their Rehabilittion Program not their Performance Program so I was at times out of my comfort zone during our clinic sessions sitting in the middle of many athletic therapists, and physiotherapists. I ventured out into unknown territory again continuing my self development in the technical and injury preventative area for endurance sports. As part of the rehab program though we also took in some performance sessions, run development, plyometrics, strength training and active isolated stretching to name a few. This was fun and content I have already stated to incorporate with the Aerobic Power athletes.