Cadence Boot Camp

You'll notice in the photos above two guys in lab coats appear to be wondering what the hell is wrong with me. Indeed, the current state of my swimming tends to raise some eyebrows. Fortunately for me, they know what they're doing, and it didn't take long for Cadence coaches Holden Comeau and Brian Walton to gain insight into the seeming anchor attached to my swim stroke.

It's early in the new year, and what better time to blow the cobwebs out than two days of high-end, exercise physiology testing. I'm reporting from the Cadence Cycling and Multisport Center in NYC. As you may have already heard, this is no ordinary bike shop. It's better described as a combination state-of-the-art in the following categories: exercise physiology testing on the bike, in the pool and on the run, a bike-fit lab and bike-fit protocol that probes all manner of depths and nuances. The place is decked out with various performance labs, an Endless Pool, a showroom where they sell equipment, and a cafe that I can't help but notice has become popular with even the non-athletic types living and working in Tribeca. As I type these words, it is in this cafe I sit, alongside a bottle of S. Pellegrino mineral water.

Yesterday, day one, Cadence coach Brian Walton and his staff set me up with a lactate threshold swimming test and LT test on the bike. Walton also took me outside on the bike (on a January day seeming more like early spring than deep winter. It was around 60 degrees).


Today, Chad Butts, a Cadence exercise physiologist and cycling coach, put me through a lacate threshold test on the treadmill, followed by a max VO2 test, also running. Talk about a one-two punch. After I recovered, Chad and Brian took me through one the bike fitting process used by Cadence, a two-hour plus program which unveiled areas worthy of focus I had never thought of before.

Soon the coaches will be talking me through my test results. I'll be posting a comprehensive article onto Triathletemag.com on Monday.