Conquer Fool’s Spring with fresh tips for your bike training from Karen Smyers  While some reading this may belong to the small group of intrepid New Englanders who cycle outdoors year round, most of us have been living the indoor trainer life for months by now. And let’s be honest: March can be tough. It feels like spring is just around the corner, but then you see 30 degrees and snow on the forecast and you question all of your life choices that have led you to live in not California. New year’s resolutions and excitement about this year’s races might start to wane; the outdoor season feels as far away as ever, and the monotony of riding your bike without going anywhere can start to wear. It sounds like the perfect time for a bike refresh! And who better to get tips from than multi-time triathlon world champion and cycling coach extraordinaire Karen Smyers?!?! Karen was kind enough to share some of her expertise with us here, including suggestions catered to triathletes, several types of workouts, and even some great jams to add to your cycling playlist (if you’ve been to a Karen class, you know: the playlists vibes are always impeccable). Newbies and seasoned cyclists alike can benefit from these nuggets of insight to improve or maybe just refresh how you approach bike training. And don’t forget - WWMS organizes green team exclusive indoor training rides led by Karen each year, and we have one remaining session on March 24th - you don’t want to miss it! What are some areas you notice triathletes in particular tend to struggle with on the bike? There are so many tools to help cyclists out there now: power meters, HR monitors, cadence, GPS maps while you ride, not to mention all the equipment options: different aero bar set-ups, disk brakes, electronic shifting, water bottle carriers, tubeless tires, Garmin mounts…that it can all just be overwhelming in the beginning. I think it is good to concentrate on the basics to start:
What are your favorite drills / workouts for folks to try at your class and then take home to do on the trainer? I have a variety of workouts that I like and try to keep it interesting as well as challenging. Here are 4 main types that you could do a variation of: 1) Basic threshold workout: a straight-forward set like 3 x (3 x 2.5’ on :30 rest). The 2.5’ intervals should be hard enough that you are breathing hard at the end of each one. This set can be modified in lots of ways to make it progress from week to week: you can add intervals (do another interval each set or add a set), extend the duration (hold the interval for 3’ instead of 2.5’), increase the intensity (do more of them closer to your anaerobic threshold), or even shorten the rest (:20 instead of :30). 2) Low cadence intervals to build leg strength: holding a power that is uncomfortable but sustainable, use a bigger gear so that more force is required around the pedal stroke. Example: 3 x 8’ @ 80-85% of LT watts @ 70-80 rpms on 2’ rest. 3) High cadence drills to learn smooth pedaling (5 x 1’ @ 110-120 rpms alternated with 1’ @ normal cadence at 60-65%) 4) High power intervals to boost V02Max, increase lactate tolerance, and learn more about how your body reacts when above your anaerobic threshold (10 x 105-110% on 1.5’ rest) or (8 x :20 @ 120%, rest=:10). Any tips for surviving training through the cold New England winter? Bike indoors with a coach and a group at Fast Splits! Seriously, if you can make it work with your schedule and budget, the social aspect of biking with others and the routine of having a scheduled time for a hard bike each week makes it so much more enjoyable and productive. Zwift is a way to connect with others as well but if you are on a screen all day, it sure is nice to take a break from that when you work out. That said, I do offer some classes over Zoom a couple of days a week for those that can’t make it to Fast Splits. And there is something to be said for doing shorter, quality workouts indoors that take less time over the winter and then feeling renewed and extra excited to get back outdoors when spring comes around. It adds a variety to the routine that is important for avoiding staleness and it really makes us appreciate beautiful riding weather when it arrives. Any current favorites for the bike trainer playlist? I like Beyonce’s new release for the country charts, "Texas Hold ‘Em” (my attempt to include at least some music not from the 80’s). I am partial to almost any song by The Killers or Flo Rida for an infectious, upbeat tempo. But you can’t go wrong with Britney Spears’ "Work Bitch” for an all out effort! For more information on bike classes, you can contact Karen at [email protected]. And once again, don’t miss out on WWMS’ exclusive indoor training ride with Karen at Fast Splits on March 24th!
Are your kids texting about triathlon? Know the signs:
LOL - love olympic length OMG - openwater mighty grueling LMAO - like my aero outfit? TGIF - this gel is foul BRB - bonking real bad GRG - good ride green! Okay, so *one* of these is actually made up and specific to our Wheelworks Multisport community. What exactly is good ride green, or GRG? Maybe you’ve heard “GRG!” exchanged at the end of a workout, and maybe you’ve even been lucky enough to hear it directly from Kristof, the team legend who famously coined the phrase. While the saying has a certain je ne sais quoi essence, I’ll attempt here to capture its spirit. When you embark on a training journey with teammates, especially a long ride, you share a singular experience leading to a special bond. During the ride, you’ve probably shared jokes, snacks, near misses by suicidal squirrels, beautiful scenery, conversations about life, hopes, and dreams, and analysis of stats, pacing, FTPs, and all the nerdy tri numbers that you can’t share with anyone else because they just don’t get it. You may have seen each other snot rocket and/or snot rocket fail, get bonky and weird, or eat an obscene amount of scones at a cafe stop, but there is no judgment, because you are with your people . You’ve shared a magical ride together, but as you draw closer to home and the ride nears its end, you are faced with an abrupt farewell. At a certain point, the group will diverge onto separate paths home, and most often we will yell a short farewell as we pedal away. But, a simple “Bye!” feels inadequate to capture the sacred journey you’ve shared with teammates and the bond you now have. Thus was born “good ride green,” or “GRG.” Although seemingly short and simple, the phrase carries a warmth and a weight that a simple goodbye lacks - an acknowledgment of the camaraderie and the time spent together. As our 2023 season draws to a close, I’d also like to express this GRG sentiment to the entire team! You’ve done AMAZING things and achieved so many goals. I’m proud of you and grateful that we are all on this journey together. We have plenty of fun off-season shenanigans to get into, but for now - GOOD RIDE GREEN! -Amy Rino
Don't be a Regina George. Let's make GRG happen!
 It’s finally summer and the good people of WWMS are bursting with excitement for the 2023 triathlon season. With plenty of teammates preparing to kick off their racing season in the next couple of weekends (and some early season warriors already having raced Max Performance Tri’s Season Opener), now seemed a good time to share racing tips via the classic “what not to do” format. I asked the team for past race mistakes they’d be willing to share, and boy howdy did you all deliver. I appreciate this team for many things, one of which is our ability to laugh at ourselves! An interesting observation: while some of these stories happened at someone’s very first triathlon, MANY of them did not - a good reminder that it never hurts to brush up on strategy no matter how long you’ve been at it! Lesson 1: Nothing new on race day Jon Chesto: For my first tri, I used lace locks but didn't try them out ahead of time and the laces on both shoes came undone right away, with super long shoelaces flapping in the breeze. I somehow managed to place third in my AG at the time, even with my racing flats about to come off my feet for the entire 5k. I was hooked on the sport, but so traumatized, I haven't raced with lace locks since! Heath Cody: I decided to give Kombucha a try the day before a race…My body does not take this drink well and had a tough time fighting the stomach issues while running! Moral of the story (and I should have known better), nothing new on race day or the days before! Kristi Paradis: If you’ve never worn a wetsuit, be sure to try it on first. And practice putting it on…. putting a wetsuit on for the first time on race morning, while sweaty and wet because it’s raining, is not the best idea. Pretty sure it took me an hour. Richard Henshaw Race with what you train with - a half ironman is not the time to find out the chamois pad in your new tri-suit doesn't fit right. Lesson 2: Stay grounded through the race day excitement… and practice your transitions! Lauren Watkins: Last year at Sharon Tri, I was so pumped up for the swim start that I forgot to put my goggles on my face before I ran into the water. They were just chilling around my neck. Such a noob move. I’ve never done that before and it was my 10th+ triathlon. I realized after I took my first stroke and then had to stand up, clear out the water, and put them on my face. Oops!! Lost me a whole 5 seconds on my swim time. Sharman Lappin: My first time at Nationals, although I wasn't a rookie, I made the ultimate rookie mistake: I neglected to make sure I knew where my bike was relative to the swim out. Good grief! Richard Henshaw: Don't take your timing chip off after transition, you won't remember to put it back on. And remember, the swim hat (British for “swim cap”) comes off before the helmet goes on. Team lore: a past teammate reportedly came into T2 and thought someone stole his shoes, so he ran the 10k in bare feet, then after the finish realized that he just racked his bike one row over and his shoes were still sitting there waiting for him!  Lesson 3: Pack carefully and TRIPLE check everything Keiko Petrosky: Forgot my cycling shoes. Enough said! Amy Rinaldo (yours truly): I carefully prepared a container of overnight oats and freshly cut fruit the night before my first triathlon to eat on the early morning long drive to get there. When I opened the container in the car en route, I found half a raw onion staring out at me - I had grabbed the wrong container from the fridge! Thankfully I had some extra snacks in my bag to eat, but let me tell you, raw onion is not the car scent you want at 5am (or ever). Team lore: a past teammate forgot her bike shoes & helmet so she borrowed someone's sweaty helmet who was finishing the ride right when she was starting and used her running shoes on the bike. (She still beat everyone in her wave by a lot, so remember, mistakes don’t mean you can’t still do well!) Lesson 4: Know the course and practice the course Max Eringros My first triathlon was the Gloucester Sprint on 8/9/2009. I didn't have a road bike so I brought my reliable Trek 7300 hybrid. After spending years in spin classes, I wasn't familiar with the concept of "hills." I found out that in the outdoor world, hills exist and bike weight matters. By the second loop of the course almost everyone passed me and I realized that also having wheel guards, rear cargo rack and a security cable(!) looked like a weird flex. Team lore: a teammate did an extra bike lap in Boston tri to get to 40km, not knowing that the race was actually supposed to only be 32km. They unfortunately do not award extra credit points for extra laps. Lesson 5: Carpool if you’d like to enjoy a post-race beverage(s) to celebrate your accomplishments! Brendan Mueller: Never fill the winner's pitcher with beer assuming your friends will help you drink it. Happy 2023 season everyone! -Amy Rino  training weekend / ˈtreɪ nɪŋ ˈwikˌɛnd / noun
 Last weekend Wheelworks Multisport held our annual Training Weekend in Franconia, New Hampshire at the lovely Franconia Inn. The air was filled with the smell of flowers and bike lube, the sound of birdsong and chatter about upcoming races and summer plans, and the beautiful view of green on green. To everyone who challenged themselves to complete their longest ever bike ride, to everyone who encouraged and cheered on their teammates, to everyone who did a run brick off of an extremely hilly bike ride, to everyone who leaned into the more relaxing aspects of the weekend (though I hear the “Uno” games got a little intense so I’m not sure how relaxing that actually was), to Alyson and the members of the board who put a lot of work into planning: KUDOS to you all and thanks for making this training weekend such a special one! Let's Go Green Team! -Amy Rino Last November Wheelworks Multisport cheered on two teammates at the Triathlon World Championships! Scott Kallgren and Brendan Mueller traveled to Abu Dhabi to represent USA and Wheelworks at the highest level. Scott competed in the Olympic distance full triathlon, finishing in a whopping 2:16. Brendan competed in the Olympic aquabike, coming in in 1:26 and first in his age group. Brendan shared the following about the experience: “This was my first WC’s and it was a great experience. The paratriathletes were inspiring, the professionals were fast, and the Team USA atmosphere was really inclusive. It’s not a bad way to see the world, and bringing home hardware is merely icing on the cake!” We see the hard work and heart these two athletes put in all year long, and we are incredibly proud of them for this huge accomplishment. Congratulations Scott and Brendan!! We've had an action-packed start to the 2022 season! April saw the triumphant return of Tri-Night, Wheelworks Multisport’s annual season kick-off, fundraiser, and new member welcome. The team was thrilled to once again partake in some of our favorite things: chatting about all things triathlon, winning prizes, drooling over the bike selection at Wheelworks, eating, and generally having a fantastic time together and getting hyped for upcoming summer activities and races. A huge shout out to our sponsors - Wheelworks Bike Shops for hosting us and providing some fantastic raffle items, and other sponsors Jack’s Abby, Fuel for Fire, Teddie Peanut Butter, Robar Massage, Tri-Hard Performance Coaching, WIN detergent, Garden and Roads, Max Performance, and Sun Multisport for their support. Our second annual Teddie PB baking contest was a smashing success. There were a lot of tasty treats and voting was close, but Morgan’s Chocolate PB Cheesecake Bars emerged as this year’s victor, with Abby’s Chocolate PB Cupcakes and Mary’s Buckeyes coming in tied for a close second place! We have these and tons more team recipes available in our WWMS Recipe Doc, and teammates can contribute more anytime. Finally, WWMS was proud to donate $225 of our raffle earnings to this year’s partner charity, the Mystic River Watershed Association. Our team enjoys swimming in the beautiful Upper Mystic Lake and biking and running along the watershed area, and we are immensely grateful for their protection and advocacy work. May brought our annual training weekend, and this year we were thrilled to be back in our OG training weekend spot: The Franconia Inn in Franconia, New Hampshire. We kicked off the weekend Friday with hiking and biking options followed by delicious drinks and grub at Iron Furnace Brewing. Saturday had a scorcher on the forecast, so we got an early start with our 40, 64, and 90 mile ride options to beat the heat. As usual, this was a chance for many to do our longest ride thus far in 2022, and some teammates used this achieved their longest ride ever! Saturday afternoon post-biking saw folks enjoying cold dips in Echo Lake or sweaty run bricks, followed by dinner al fresco at the Franconia Inn and hot-tubbin time. The fun didn’t stop Sunday - teammates took advantage of every second in the beautiful White Mountains and enjoyed even more runs, swims, hikes, and tons of delicious food. Although we certainly trained hard, the weekend is always about so much more than just working out, and the bonding, laughs, and time spent together felt extra-special after these past couple of tough years. By Amy Rinaldo In this new era where time ebbs and flows sporadically and it feels impossible to ever know what day it is, where reality can change at the drop of a hat while also carrying a mind-numbing monotony, where we have lived and continue to live through “unprecedented times” and grow increasingly tired of such overused phrases, all I can say is…thank goodness for this team! It’s March 2022 and I’m long overdue for our 2021 retrospective, but I hope you will join me down memory lane and look back at the ways we helped each other stay healthy and sane last year. The start to the year found our team engaged in off-season training despite being in the depths of winter and facing an uncertain year ahead: weekly bike trainer rides led on Zoom by Richard, Sunday all-weather runs led by yours truly, and weekly Zoom strength sessions led by PT extraordinaire Malia. As the snow melted, vaccines for the-virus-which-shall-not-be-named became available and news of races returning promised a much different and more optimistic year than 2020. As Race Manager Anne began sharing news of race confirmations, many teammates excitedly began planning their triumphant return to the starting line. Returning to racing was exciting, but perhaps equally exciting was the June return of Sharman’s weekly race reports, highlighting all the teammates competing in a given week and providing equal parts kudos and hilarious commentary. We raced and volunteered all summer at team favorite triathlons like Harvest, Hyannis, Patriot, Mass State, Boston, Pilgrimman, and many more. We worked hard to prep for those races; team training picked up in the spring with the popular Tuesday training tris led by Anne, Wednesday morning track workouts led by Morgan, Thursday swims in the Upper Mystic, the infamous twice monthly hill (read: hell) rides with Brendan, and tons of fun, impromptu activities like Harvard stadium runs with Keiko, scone-focused rides to the Harvard General Store with Richard, and hikes and rides with Kristi. And, Coach Will of Tri-Hard Coaching developed a useful training plan for our team based around our weekly training events. Beyond training and racing, we had plenty of other fun last year. Teammates participated in a Mystic Lakes cleanup and breakfast social in May, we had our first Training Weekend since 2019 in June, an open water swim clinic at Walden Pond, our annual “No Sleep ‘Til P-Town” ride led by Jon, our annual Boston to Portland ride led by Anne, our annual DIY triathlon led by Sunny, and a fall cider donut ride led by Richard. At our Year-End-Party hosted in Mare’s beautiful backyard, we celebrated the year’s accomplishments and continued camaraderie, modeled our new team swim caps and gear bags, and did what triathletes do best: pigged out on delicious food. We thanked Amy Moody for all of her wonderful work as team president and welcomed a new presidential triumvirate of Brendan, Marina, and Morgan. Last year we also created a diversity scholarship, designed to make our team and the sport of triathlon more welcoming and accessible to underrepresented groups. So much going on in the world right now is far more important than triathlon, but I have been incredibly proud of how our team has united these past few years and worked hard to maintain a safe, supportive, and much needed community. Thank you everyone for being a part of WWMS and making our team so special!   by Amy Moody, President
As endurance athletes it’s ingrained in our inner psyche to push ourselves towards some future goal that we cannot accomplish today. Thus, when injury strikes we don’t hesitate to come up with a plan and begin the process of making ourselves better. The process might pale in comparison to our usual methods of bettering ourselves, and be a lot less fun, but we know we must continue because it will be worth it to get back to all those things we love. However, there’s a dirty little secret no one likes to talk about or even acknowledge: not all bodies make it back. Not all bodies come back stronger than they were before. Not all bodies make it back to all of those favorite activities. Not all bodies make any progress at all. And worst of all, too often there is no way to know which category your body will fall into. Of course, these aren’t the stories you tend to hear about. Instead, they are buried behind a near impenetrable wall of scientific jargon in various publications of clinical studies with titles that rarely give any clues about what information may lie inside. Some of these stories made it into the light at the Olympics, hidden within larger stories of overcoming adversity and success. The bronze medalist diver who was a gymnast before a career ending sprained ankle. Can you imagine losing your favorite thing over an injury as innocuous as a sprained ankle? I think the medical community does us a disservice by not acknowledging these stories, and instead constantly encouraging hope. Which I understand, because hope is certainly a required element as you enter week 10 of a low resistance repeat until you reach a number you can’t count to elastic band regimen. But hope is so often in competition with acceptance. “50% of individuals experiencing pain 1 year after the onset of injury made no further improvement.” Neither this statement nor the half dozen other articles reporting some percentage of complete non-responders among patients with my knee injury have ever been acknowledged by a physical therapist or doctor. So you continue on with the elastic band regimen ad nauseum because as athletes we have trained ourselves to continue until it is absolutely impossible to go on, until somebody else says stop. But at what cost? The endless hours of PT were a joy sponge and took away from the time I could have been spending outdoors doing the things I was still able to do. In what other aspect of my life would I continue with a process that was so miserable and came at such a high cost under the assumption it would pay off? (Pregnancy as it turns out, but that’s a story for another day). Eventually, I circled a day on the calendar. I will keep giving it my best shot until this day, and then no more. No more doctors. No more elastic bands. No more comeback. The day came and as expected, relief. I could take the dog for a walk in the woods without feeling guilty that it would mean no time for elasto-hell. But also, unexpected challenges. After so long of calling it an injury, who gets to decide when it’s no longer an injury and what to call it now? How do you put a stop to the well-intentioned encouragement, optimism, and inquiries about progress now that none of it is applicable? I leave open the possibility that my knee will improve and a day will come when I might be able to bike to Walden or go for a run in the woods. But I’ll never make it back because my body has called it time-- maybe not in a way that can show anyone else the training and competing are over for good--but I know my body has told me it's over. I hope you will all join me, and those like me whose bodies have hit roadblocks before we were hoping, in celebrating my retirement from triathlon.  by Amy Rinaldo
Last month five members of WWMS joined the Making Waves podcast hosted by race director Tim Richmond of Max Performance. The panel discussion makes for a great listen, whether you’re a prospective teammate looking to learn more about the team or a longtime member excited to hear some familiar voices. Anne Traer, Katrina Ladd, Nancy Hays, Morgan Jamiel, and Jon Chesto discuss some of their favorite aspects of the team (spoiler: there’s truly something for everyone!), why they’re hooked on multisport, and how they balance life and training. The episode also recounts some favorite training events and races and shares a little about our new diversity scholarship. Did our panelists successfully convince Tim to join our annual No Sleep Til P-town ride up the Cape? Listen to find out! You can stream directly through the Max Performance website, Spotify, Apple podcasts, or most podcast platforms. Plenty has been said about what was lost in 2020. The tragedy, fear, and disappointment we all faced, combined with all of our favorite activities grinding to a halt, means that most of us are ready to forget last year like a bad dream. I do not wish to minimize the very real pain and loss caused by the-virus-which-shall-not-be-named. But in reflecting back on how our team dealt with the past year, I was reminded of how strong my teammates are, how much we achieved together, and how many memories we managed to make in the midst of all this chaos. Though they may have been few and far between, good things DID happen, and I want to take some time to celebrate those. March & April Everyone knows triathletes are good at transitions! As the early months of the pandemic unfolded:
In looking back at the past year, I mostly want to celebrate you, dear teammate. You are remarkable for WHATEVER you have achieved this past year. Did you complete a virtual race or challenge? Did the cancellation of life as we know it get you try something new? Did you change your perspective? Did you care for mini-teammates or other family members? Did you finally take time to slow down and recover and take care of yourself? Did you simply survive? Whatever it was, please remember: you are strong, you are a fighter, and we applaud you. Whatever uncertainties the future holds, I’m glad to say at least one thing with confidence: we will continue supporting each other and celebrating each other’s victories no matter what!  An obligatory virtual social screenshot Fantastic swim shots taken by our talented team president/photographer extraordinaire!  Trash clean-up day at Shannon Beach Tuesday training tri workout included a fourth sport this summer - playing with puppies! Lots of fun at September’s DIY tri  Getting into the fall spirit on the cider donut ride |
