Episode 108: Goal Mapping for 2026!

Happy Thanksgiving! With the end of the year fast approaching and a new season on the horizon, this week’s episode features a deep dive on goal mapping! We recap what goal mapping is, explain why it’s a great starting point for your next season, go through all of the questions we like to ask our athletes as they map out their goals, and share some thoughts on why the inherent vulnerability in goal mapping can be scary. We then share some thoughts on our own goal maps for 2026, including Jim’s plan to cycle the Haute Route in France in August and Katie’s ideas on returning to sport postpartum. Whether your goals for next year are big, small, or still to be decided, this episode is for you! Check it out. 

Main content: 

• Why do we do goal mapping? Many reasons:

• Mapping out goals and the steps needed to get there can help you realize whether your goals are realistic/smart given competing demands on your energy, time, etc.

• Mapping out goals can give you a strong “why” that helps when you don’t want to get out of bed at 5am in February to get to the pool

• Mapping out goals can help you plan how many and what type of events to incorporate in your season, as most events are ideally in alignment with your goals (or at least not working against them – if you have an Ironman performance goal, don’t race a marathon one week before Ironman!)

• Mental prep: from day 1, you can visualize what success looks like 

• Performance is at least a six months (or often times, years) process. If you have specific performance goals, these should be aligned with yourself and your coach by December / January.

• Katie - this is why I don’t plan to have any A races until >9 mos PP, and am open to changing that based on how recovery timeline goes (more on that later)

• How we do goal mapping:

• Start with post-season evaluation questions (go through below)

• Then, goal mapping exercise 

• Partners in goal mapping: your coach, your village (family + close friends, others who will support your journey; sometimes, colleagues/work)

• Disclaimer: goal mapping is vulnerable! It’s scary to put big goals out there because if they are situated at the right level of difficulty, there is always a possibility of not hitting them. Key reminder: “big goals, loosely held”

• Your identity can not rest on the achievement of an outcome goal because outcome goals are in some ways out of your control. Process goals are in your control!

POST-SEASON EVALUATION QUESTIONS

These questions can help you determine which races/objectives to target next year!

1. What are you most proud of about your season?

2. What did you enjoy most about your season? 

3. Reflecting on your season, what were the biggest challenges you encountered? 

4. What about this season do you want to do differently next season? 

5. What about this season do you want to do the same next season? 

GOAL MAPPING EXERCISE

• What is your PURPOSE in training and/or racing? What drives you or motivates you to keep getting out there? 

• What is/are your OUTCOME GOAL(S)? Breaking this down further…

1. WIG -- Wildly Impressive Goal (“A Goal,” example: qualify for Kona): 

2. WAG -- Wildly Achievable Goal (“B Goal,” example: beat PB in IM): 

3. WOG -- Wildly Obvious Goal (“C Goal,” example: finish IM): 

Questions to ask yourself as you brainstorm these outcome goals:

• Why this goal now?

• What is about this goal that’s important to you? What does this goal mean to you?

• Is this goal internally or externally driven?

• Note: Be as specific as possible in outlining your outcome goals! And remember: big outcome goals are there, and they can be important to acknowledge, but they should not be the focus. Consider both the process goals and the goal achievement strategies (below) as the most optimal to focus on, with the purpose being the gas that drives that car. 

• What is/are your PROCESS GOALS? What are the steps you need to follow in order to achieve your outcome goals? (Example: swim 2x per week; foam roll every night; 3 meals and 3 snacks per day in heavy training; meet with a therapist; etc.)

1. Swim:

2. Bike: 

3. Run:

4. Strength:

5. Recovery:

6. Fueling/Hydration: 

7. Mindset: 

8. Other: 

• What BARRIERS do you foresee in following through on your process goals? Consider barriers that held you back this season as well as foreseeable barriers in the next season. (Example: pool hours conflicting with work schedule; commitments with family or kids; fear of cycling alone; struggle to prioritize good fueling on busy days; etc.)

• What are your GOAL ACHIEVEMENT STRATEGIES? These should address both enacting process goals and overcoming barriers to following through on these goals. Also consider how often you can commit to following through on each of your goal achievement strategies, and write this out. (Example: >8 hours in bed minimum 5 out of 7 nights per week; breathwork 5 mins per day, 7 days per week; etc.)

1. Physical:

2. Mental:

• Identify any NEED-TO-HAVES to make achieving your goals possible. (Example: people in your support network and their specific role; get a smart trainer and TT bike; honest and direct communication with coach; etc.) 

Jim’s 2026 Goal Mapping & Personal Training Contract


Why did I write this?

As soon as I signed up for the Haute Route—the first major event I’ve committed to in years—my Identity Athlete started to surface, bringing with it shades of Obsessive Passion. My overarching aim is to blend high-level personal performance with exploration, curiosity, support, and sports mastery—anchoring myself in Harmonious Passion.

Short video: Steve Magness Obsessive vs Harmonious Passion

(For more on Obsessive vs Harmonious Passion, check out The Passion Paradox by Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg.)

What specific and general goals do I have for the Haute Route? (Process and Outcome goals)

* Arrive in excellent, personal-best cycling fitness.

* Race my race, not others. 

* Enjoy the event and the camaraderie of fellow passionate cyclists. 

* To fully express my endurance drive and character through the act and art of cycling. 

* Learn the terrain and logistics to support future trips to ride more major European climbs.

* Arrive in Europe knowing I’ve consistently put my best foot forward every day since November 2025.

* Answer the question: Can I reach the same cycling performance and FTP I had ten years ago? What is my 58-year-old body capable of? (Purpose)

* Gain additional cycling-specific knowledge to become a better endurance coach. (Purpose)

What specific performance goals do I want to reach by August 2026 / the Haute Route?

* Achieve an FTP between ‘X-Y’ watts.

* Make riding at ‘A-B’ watts  (Lower Threshold Power - LTP) feel sustainable and firmly high-Z2 aerobic.

* Be comfortable riding in large groups.

What key events or workouts do I need to achieve these goals?  (GOAL ACHIEVEMENT STRATEGIES)

* Bike camp in March with focus on climbing.

* April Mallorca bike training camp with a focus on extensive climbing and low-cadence work.

* At least two three-day training camps in June and July with 80–100 miles / 10,000 ft of climbing per day.

* Maintain 13–15 hours/week on the bike as a “Basic Week” through winter; increase to 15–20 hours/week in spring and summer.

* Primarily reference and follow an Xert training plan.

Is there additional equipment I need? (Need-to-Haves)

* Probably not. The plan is to ride the R5 (my current bike) with the current wheel set during the Haute Route.

* Check with previous participants for any gear they found helpful or essential.

Is there specific training or knowledge I need to meet these goals?

* Talk with others who have completed the event to learn about the mental and physical demands.

* Watch Haute Route YouTube videos for insights on gear, training, and the overall experience.

* (This is a good checkpoint to evaluate whether hiring a coach would help.)

Are there specific requests I need to make of my family and social network?

* Inform my family of the long-term goal and the time commitment required to achieve it.

* Ask friends to support my training, especially for long-volume days and training camps.

What am I willing to do to achieve my goal? GOAL ACHIEVEMENT STRATEGIES

* Complete monthly FTP tests and periodic power-profiling best efforts.

* Do strength and mobility work 4–5 times per week.

* Wake up early to train on busy days.

* Go out in the cold nearly every day to accumulate bike volume and complete hard workouts.

* Spend meaningful time on the indoor trainer to adapt my legs for high-quality work when outdoor riding isn’t possible.

* Repeat my “Basic Winter Bike Week” week after week from November through April.

* To fully believe that I am capable of achieving my goals. My mental mindset is success and unwavering confidence.

What activities or behaviors do I want to avoid?

* Disrupting or rescheduling family events to accommodate training.

* Becoming so rigid with the training plan that I skip social opportunities. When choosing between a proper workout and a once-a-week (or more) social ride with friends, I will choose the social ride.

* Obsessively relying on data. Instead of validating a workout only through metrics, I will focus on whether I put my best foot forward. Execute and honor the day as you feel, not only as the plan dictates.

* Becoming an identity-driven athlete. I will cultivate a “Love of the Sport” mindset rather than a performance-driven identity.

Katie:

Quick thoughts on goal mapping during pregnancy - bit of a weird year as there is a lot that is unpredictable about birth experience/recovery, baby needs, and what life will generally feel like as a new mom. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t have goals and goal map! Things I am thinking about now:

• Purpose in training/racing - joy! Identity! Having something for me! And not necessarily at the expense of performance, but performance is not the only (or primary) driving factor.

• Realistic constraints on my time with a new baby - can’t disappear for 6 hours to ride my bike 

• Realistic constraints on my environment - I live in a city, and the easiest option is running out the door or doing strength/Zwift at home 

• Goals - return to sport safely and, eventually, feel like “me” in running (which may or may not mean the same paces/performances!)

• Long term goal - marathon next fall, but note I am not committing to any big goals before that so I can honor the recovery process 

Challenge or Resource of the week:

Jim: If you are looking to change habits leading into 2026, check out Atomic Habits  by James Clear

Katie: Goal map!!! Do it!

Gear pick of the week:

Katie: Jolyn swim top and TYR bottom for my pregnant swim era

Jim: Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Protein Oats - Don’t sleep on oats! Massive protein and carbs. 

Episode 107: Committing to the Off Season, Imposter Syndrome, and Running in Pregnancy

We did a deep dive on a bunch of interesting topics in this episode! Katie and Elena trade insights and questions on: how to make outdoor training bearable now that it's very dark and cold out; Elena's takeaways from committing to a true three-month off season for the first time ever; life lessons from Elena's coaching experience at the Girls on the Run 5K; imposter syndrome at big races and in life; and Katie's extended thoughts thoughts on running in pregnancy now that she is nearly eight months along and still hitting consistent mileage. We also cover some fun challenges of the week related to meditation and gratitude and share our practical (and fashionable?!) gear picks. Check it out!

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Gratitude practice!

Elena: 10 min morning meditation

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Reebok Nano X5 - lifting shoes

Elena: Fenix Headlamp

Episode 106: 70.3 World Champs, Off-Season Reminders, and Indoor Trainer Cycling Tips

This week's episode hits a bunch of fun topics including: insights from our athletes and the pros at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Marbella, Spain; thoughts on how to get back in multisport training if you have been focusing on a single sport for a while; off-season reminders, including how to balance lack of structure with a smart progression of volume and intensity; indoor trainer tips for cycling; Jim’s new mobility and strength routine; and “chocolate chip cookie” training. We also preview the Triathlon Academy, an entry-level coaching option for members of the Endurance Drive community, and hit some fun fashion-inspired gear picks of the week. Check it out!

Katie:

Insights from 70.3 world champs

• Insights from the pros:

• Once again, IM/70.3 is a run race – see both men and women winners

• LOVE the redemption that Lucy and Taylor brought to race day. Amazing to see them basically race an entire Kona and then execute on this race just a few weeks later. 

• Rare finish for the men with a sprint, but shows it does matter to be fast at the end!

• “Ready is a decision, not a feeling”

• Love this! If you wait to feel ready you will probably never feel ready. Repeat to yourself “I am ready” and the performance follows

• Two arrows analogy in practice: One of my athletes got a bike mechanical (dropped chain) and recovered it almost immediately / didn’t let it affect the rest of her race. We love this! 

• And a fun fact: the men’s WINNER who had a sprint finish with KB to win the title crashed early on in the bike, had a mechanical, and recovered it! From his post race interview: “It was my own fault. I just went too fast through that corner. I had no idea we had to go right so I just slid out and went under the barrier. I got stuck a bit and my right TT extension was sort of across this way so I had to ride with it like that. And then the casing on my rear derailleur cage was also bent a bit which meant I couldn’t go into my smallest gearing. So I stopped at the end of the first climb to bend it back and luckily it felt good from there on. But my hip was hurting quite a bit at the start of the run and it took me a little bit to get into it but once I did, I felt really strong actually.”

• Another athlete’s insights on bike course:

• Practiced all bikes on a course she simulated nearby at home - was super prepared for the climbs and descents, unlike some other riders. For some technical bike courses, it REALLY matters to be a good bike handler. It seems like more and more of these races are becoming quite technical, especially in Europe, so it pays to invest in good bike handling skills.

• Amazing negative split on the run —> “Could I have gone faster on the bike?”

• My response is almost always “probably, but we never know where the ‘line’ is between nailing it and blowing up. You could be 3 feet away or 3 millimeters away. I prefer to err on the side of slightly easier on the bike, especially long/hard bikes like this one, for your fastest overall time.” 

My thoughts on getting back into swimming and biking after abandoning both a couple of months ago in pregnancy

• The why: I can still run pretty well! But I know I will likely be able to get back into biking/swimming sooner than I can get back into running, so I want to re-introduce that as part of my routine now.

• Also a better fit as the weather gets less nice to run outside 

• Swim: Start small! 30 minutes, easy technique, no pressure; use gear like fins, paddles and buoy, etc.

• Bike: Peloton was quite the adjustment! Picked an easy class, second workout of the day (i.e. very low pressure / doesn’t matter, especially when there’s potential for time wasted troubleshooting), fun music 

• General: Stop before you’re gassed so you end on a high note; hen in doubt, less data

• Mindset: win is getting wet or win is clipping in 

Jim:

A Few Off-Season Reminders

When you head out the door this time of year, your primary goal should be simple: keep it light and have fun.

Have a loose plan, but be willing to modify it as you tune into your body’s energy. For example, the other weekend I set out with my mountain bike and a small backpack full of food, hydration, running shoes, and a few warm layers. My plan was to ride for about an hour to a trailhead, run up a mid-sized mountain, and then ride back to the car.

Within the first 20–30 minutes, I realized my ambition level didn’t match my energy level. I ended up adjusting my ride and run plans four different times before finally settling on a version that matched how I felt that day. It was colder than expected, too. By aligning my daily goals with both my energy and the environmental conditions, I turned what could have been a frustrating day into a great one.

In short: have a plan, but feel free to modify the heck out of it!

Layer Up More Than You Think You Need

For longer outings—say anything over two hours—bring more warm layers than you think you’ll need. This can be as simple as an extra wind shell, a dry shirt, and gloves or a hat/headband. The shorter days and lower sun angle this time of year can make temperatures drop quickly. One hour you’re biking or hiking in warm sunshine, and the next you’re chilled in the shadows of the hills.

Keep November (and Maybe December) Relaxed

Use November—and possibly December—as a mentally and physically relaxed phase of training. That might simply mean lowering the pressure and giving yourself permission to go easier.

January 1 will be here soon enough, and with it comes the focused intensity and volume needed to prepare for 2026 races and events.

Practical Guidelines for Triathletes:

• Aim for 2–3 easy rides per week, with a few short hard pickups (20–30 seconds).

• Run 2–3 times per week for 30–60 minutes. Even a light 20-minute run helps maintain readiness for longer sessions later.

• Don’t underestimate the value of frequent, easy 20–30 minute runs — they add up.

• If you feel like swimming, great. If not, it can wait until the new year.

For Cyclists:

• Focus on plenty of Zone 1 / Zone 2 riding, 3–5 times per week.

• Avoid diving into VO₂ max intervals too early but don’t be afraid to put out some effort in Zwift/TPV or hills 1 - 2X per week for short bursts.

• Maybe jump into a Zwift race for fun and some organic high-end aerobic work.

Good segway into a listener question: I’m recovering from an injury I got in the off season partially because of inconsistency in volume and intensity; some weeks I would do very little running or biking because I was traveling or doing other active things and then some weeks I would have more time and excitement and do bigger adventure type workouts, and ended up getting injured (largely from running and biking). My recovery has involved structured / planned workout volume and increasing the overtime, so the second part of my off season has actually had a lot of structure. I’ve heard you talk about lack of training plan being good in the off season, leaving flexibility for adventures and different levels (or types of activity). How can an athlete think about balancing both the flexibility and lack of structure and varied types of adventures in the off season with ensuring that variation doesn’t cause issues because the body isn’t used to it? 

Winter cycling trainer tips

Now’s a good time to organize your winter training setup. I just went through my annual ritual of reconnecting my trainer, virtual training software, and devices.

Somehow, every year this takes a few hours longer than I expect. This time, nothing connected properly to my older trainer—again—so I ended up syncing TrainingPeaks Virtual to my iPad, which was not on my 2025 bingo card. 

My trainer ride progression has been: 

• 1st trainer ride - all kinds of technical problems.  Really hard to push any watts. 

• 2nd trainer ride - connected to iPad, power meter broke, low Z1 felt like Z3.  Effort feels like two zones higher.  Patience with getting your trainer legs.

• 3rd trainer ride - watts were up 20 - 30, more comfortable getting into my low Z2 zone

• 4th trainer ride - watts leveled off at 3rd trainer ride level. But feeling a little more comfortable on the trainer

• 5th trainer ride - Tempo-threshold workout:

Pro tip: Don’t try to set up your trainer and virtual software right before your first workout. It will likely end in screaming, tears, or both! Set aside time to get it all dialed in when you’re not rushing to train. (I ignore this advice every year.)

Why does indoor training feel so much harder than outdoors?

1. Cooling and Heat Dissipation

Indoors, your body can’t shed heat efficiently:

• Outside, airflow massively increases convective cooling. 80% of our energy produced is heat. Humans are very inefficient!

• Indoors, even with a fan, you’re still steeped in your own heat.

• As core temperature rises, your body diverts blood to the skin for cooling — meaning less oxygenated blood for your working muscles.

• Result: higher heart rate, perceived effort, and sometimes lower power for the same “feel.”

Fix: Use multiple high-flow fans — one head-on and one angled from the side — and open windows or use a venting setup if possible.

I use an economical floor fan for my front and a smaller table fan for my side.   Good fans will fundamentally change your trainer experience.

Fix: Expect about 3–8 % lower sustainable power indoors.  You can adjust your Threshold Power in TrainingPeaks (and/or Zwift) at least for the first 2 - 4 weeks then re-evaluate.

2. Lack of Micro-Rest

Outside, your effort naturally varies:

• You coast downhill. I coast, on average, 10-15% of my ride time. That is A LOT of rest and recovery. 

• You soft-pedal into turns or might use the draft of another rider(s).

• You stand or shift weight subtly to handle the bike.

Indoors, it’s constant tension and grind — no coasting, no micro-breaks.
That “steady grind” means your neuromuscular fatigue builds faster, especially in the quads and hip flexors.

Fix: Spin light between intervals, stand up 10–15 seconds every few minutes, or slightly vary cadence.

3. Reduced Mechanical Efficiency

• Indoors, the bike is fixed — no balance, no forward motion, limited upper-body engagement.

• You lose some of the elastic energy return and small stabilizing muscle recruitment that aid efficiency outdoors.

• The “locked-in” position can also increase local muscular fatigue, especially in the glutes and lower back.  The trainer requires more engagement through the pedal cycle. 

Fix: Periodically get out of the saddle or change hand positions to mimic natural movement.  I like to move from the tops, to the hoods to the drop bars regularly. I will stand up for a 10”+ every 5’ - 10’.  There is no glory in just sitting completely still on your trainer. Find a routine that will make the trainer experience sustainable for the winter. 

For longer trainer rides, I get off every 1 hour to use the bathroom, refill a bottle, get another snack. A 5’ break every hour will really help the long rides feel manageable. 

 4. Psychological Factors

No wind, no beautiful scenery, no terrain = less sensory stimulation.
Your brain interprets that monotony as higher effort for the same output — it’s pure perception of effort (RPE) science.

Fix: Use engaging visuals (e.g., Zwift, TrainingPeaks Virtual, race footage) or structure intervals with clear micro-goals every 2–3 min. Or watch your favorite TV shows. Trainers are great for binge watching.

5.  Trainer Calibration

Smart trainers can slightly over- or under-report power depending on setup and calibration.

Fix: Calibrate your trainer and/or power meter before each session.

I use my power meter as the power source when on TPV or Zwift and not the trainer.

If you have ever raced in Zwift, you will find out just how many trainers out there are not calibrated.  In other words, you are NOT the worst bike rider in the world but rather over 50% of the field has an uncalibrated trainer which makes them faster than Tadej Pogacar. 

Mobility & Bodyweight Strength — My New Routine

Lately, I’ve started a new near-daily routine with Carrie using The Sculpt Society app. The lead instructor, Megan Roup, is a fitness trainer, entrepreneur, and former dancer — and I’ve been surprised by how much I enjoy these light, efficient workouts.

Here’s why they’ve become a regular part of my training:

1. Super Convenient and Efficient

You can do the workouts right at home. The beginner sessions are around 20 minutes, with optional 10–15 minute stretch sessions that fit easily into a busy day.

2. Smart Progression

The beginner program starts easy and gradually builds in difficulty week by week — following the principle of progressive overload.

3. Gentle but Challenging

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity — you’ll definitely feel the burn, especially during the arm/shoulder warm-up and all the hip/glute work.

4. Fantastic Movement Prep or Standalone Session

You finish feeling engaged, primed, and alert. It’s perfect as a standalone mobility and strength session, or as a warm-up before running, cycling, or heavier strength training.

I never thought I’d be doing this kind of workout — but here we are, and I’m loving it.

I talk about mobility and strength all the time with my athletes (especially Masters athletes), but I’ve always struggled to make it a consistent part of my own schedule. This program has changed that.

Mobility truly gives you years of your life back. In endurance sports, we often move in the same planes for decades. These sessions are helping me move outside those planes, building a more balanced, healthy, and mobile body.

No one over 40 has ever said they’re too mobile or too strong — and this is a great reminder why.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Training
I stole this idea from Jessie Diggins when asked if she was able to determine the training magic when she trained with the Norwegians. She said all training is more or less the same.
Training is like making chocolate chip cookies — the main ingredients are always the same. No matter who makes them, you know you’re eating a chocolate chip cookie.

Think about the basic ingredients:

• Flour

• Butter

• Sugar

• Chocolate chips

Training works the same way. The key ingredients are:

• Consistency – showing up nearly every day

• Time – showing up nearly every day for months and years, not just days and weeks

• Volume – doing enough training to meet the demands of your event and your goals

• Patience – understanding that progress comes from sustained effort over months and years

Sure, some chocolate chip cookies have sea salt, a splash of vanilla, or a secret spice. There are slight variations in how you bake them — but in the end, it’s still a cookie you recognize.

Ad: The Triathlon Academy  

What It Is

The Triathlon Academy is designed for athletes who want to train with The Endurance Drive but may not be ready for full one-on-one coaching.

It incorporates our “best of” workouts and proven training practices. You’ll receive structured weekly and monthly plans to help you build triathlon skills and a solid fitness foundation.

Support

I’ll be available through TrainingPeaks and email for guidance and feedback. If we have enough participants, we’ll also host a monthly Zoom call for additional Q&A and community connection.

Who It’s For

The Triathlon Academy is geared primarily toward athletes beginning their endurance journey—especially those training for Sprint and Olympic-distance races. While it’s mostly short-course focused, I do offer a 70.3 (Half Ironman) option. It’s probably not suited for full Ironman-distance training.

How It Differs from One-on-One Coaching

The main difference between one-on-one coaching and The Triathlon Academy is the level of individualization.

• One-on-one coaching is highly customized and involves regular, hands-on feedback tailored to your unique goals and lifestyle.

• The Triathlon Academy offers a structured, yet generalized plan—still rooted in The Endurance Drive methodology, but designed for independent athletes.

Challenge of the week:

Jim: Keep your activities light and fun in November and December.

Katie: If you’ve been out of the pool… get in for 30 minutes!

Gear pick of the week:

Katie: Lululemon yoga mat for mobility and strength @ home

Jim: Best biking base layer I’ve ever used:  Uniqlo Cashmere Turtleneck sweater

Episode 105: Balancing Family, Career, and Sport as a Parent-Athlete

In this week's episode, we asked some of our most inspiring community members to tell us how they make training work alongside busy family and professional lives. We were blown away by the rich insights that came back, including tips on early morning workouts, run commutes, calendar blocks, stroller jogs, home gym setups, and how to effectively tag-team with your partner when both of you want to get some movement in. Our parent-athletes also opened up about how their mindsets have evolved since becoming parents—reframing training as self-care, identity, and connection—and how that shift helps them show up more fully for the people they love, without letting go of big athletic goals. Whether you're a parent-athlete yourself, thinking about starting a family, or just looking for better balance in a busy life, this episode is for you. Check it out!

Favorite gear/resources/etc. for parent-athletes

• “A great babysitter!”

• Home gym setups:

• “2) Home training set-up that you actually enjoy. This both cuts out any travel time to gym, and also lets you workout while kids are napping.”

• “For me, the best ‘gear’ is anything that helps save time or make training fit more smoothly around family life. My indoor trainer is probably the most valuable tool I have. It lets me get quality bike sessions done early in the morning without leaving the house.”

• “I also rely heavily on my watch and TrainingPeaks to plan efficiently, so I can make quick adjustments when family or work schedules change.”

• “Beyond that, I’d say my real ‘resource’ is routine and mindset. Having a clear plan and realistic expectations keeps things sustainable. It’s not about having the perfect setup, it’s about having the right tools to make the most of the time you do have.”

• “Treadmill so you can still train while they are sleeping.”

• “An eye mask and red lights - one of you will be up during the nights for a while. Using red light really helps me not fully wake up while changing diapers so that I get back to sleep faster. And an eye mask really helps me to stay asleep when my wife is tending to the baby.”

• BOB jogging stroller

• Baby bjorn: “And don't knock the classic Baby Bjorn! I did everything from mow the lawn to vacuum the house to go walking with friends to out for cocktails with baby onboard! (no judgment - both of my children avoided catastrophe in all those scenarios). Babies are mobile - take advantage of that as much as possible! They won't break. ;)”

Our gear picks of the week:

• Katie: KT tape for pregnant belly!

• Elena: 

• Door pull up bar & bands

• Notes app– but curious to learn others’ task and planning management systems!

Episode 104: Women's Ironman World Champs Insights, Building Muscular Endurance, and Reflections on Outcomes vs. Process

In this episode we finally got to discuss our reactions to one of the craziest races we have ever seen in Ironman history: the all-women’s 2025 Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. We discuss what it means to win and lose with grace, Taylor Knibb’s incredible post-race interview, the role of heat and humidity in making or breaking an athlete’s day, and what bike brands seem to be most popular at the elite level. We also chat through the role of muscular endurance in super long-distance events like half and full Ironmans, marathons, and ultra runs, and preview some of the innovations we will be bringing to our athletes’ training in the 2026 season to account for this. Next, we deep dive on takeaways from Ironman California, which Katie and Jim agree is one of the best races you can do as a first-time IM athlete. Finally, we expand on a listener question from last week about burnout and drill into three different types of athletes: “event athletes,” “identity-based athletes,” and “for the love of the sport athletes,” considering what lessons we can learn from each athlete type as we try to burnout-proof our season. This episode was so fun to record and we’re excited to share it with you, so check it out!

Links we mentioned:

• Taylor Knibb Feisty post-race interview: “All my other measurements were apparently impeccable except for my core body temperature…lots learned, but guess what? It’s one thing I need to fix, so I think it’s fun to have that information because you learn, you grow, and you be better next time, and you can’t do that without acknowledging how you fell short.” 

  • “There’s a Buddhist philosophy of the second arrow and so the first arrow is the bad thing that happens to you, which is out of your control. And then the second arrow is your response to that. And so you get to determine if you’re hit by the second arrow. And so how do you reframe it? What can you learn from it? How do you move on?”

  • “Perfectionism = rooted in shame. Failure = you didn’t have it on that day. It’s not about you as a person. It’s just whether you had it on the day, and even if you won the race, you wouldn’t be any more or less perfect. Having the privilege to find your limit is pretty cool.”

• Canyon bikes: size chart

• New Yorker article on Kerri Russel: “Russell was seeking something even more elusive than fame: a sense of self that doesn’t rise and fall with one’s accomplishments.”

Ad: The Triathlon Academy

We’re excited to announce a new coaching option for 2026: The Triathlon Academy. 
I soft-launched this program in 2025, and now we’re ready to fully roll it out in 2026.  This offer is not on our website yet; I’m launching it for our podcast community only for now.

What It Is

The Triathlon Academy is designed for athletes who want to train with The Endurance Drive but may not be ready for full one-on-one coaching.

It incorporates our “best of” workouts and proven training practices. You’ll receive structured weekly and monthly plans to help you build triathlon skills and a solid fitness foundation.

Support

I’ll be available through TrainingPeaks and email for guidance and feedback. If we have enough participants, we’ll also host a monthly Zoom call for additional Q&A and community connection.

Who It’s For

The Triathlon Academy is geared primarily toward athletes beginning their endurance journey—especially those training for Sprint and Olympic-distance races.
While it’s mostly short-course focused, I do offer a 70.3 (Half Ironman) option.

It’s probably not suited for full Ironman-distance training.

How It Differs from One-on-One Coaching

The main difference between one-on-one coaching and The Triathlon Academy is the level of individualization.

• One-on-one coaching is highly customized and involves regular, hands-on feedback tailored to your unique goals and data.

• The Triathlon Academy offers a structured, yet generalized plan—still rooted in The Endurance Drive methodology, but designed for independent athletes.

Spots Are Limited

Enrollment is limited for the 2026 season.
If you’re interested, reach out at Jim@TheEnduranceDrive.com to reserve your spot.

Ad: Eli’s Ascutney Vertical Event

Check out the Mt. Ascutney Vertical Backyard race in Brownsville, VT on November 22 (the Saturday before Thanksgiving). A last person standing event, each hour runners have the option of doing a 2.25 mile loop or three .75 miles loops with an e total elevation gain of 1,209 feet up Mt. Ascutney. The person who lasts the longest is the winner. 

But this event isn’t just for people who want to go 24 hours or more, and reach the vertical gain of Mt. Everest, it’s an opportunity to see what you’re capable of. How high can you go? Can you do a lap in an hour? How about two laps? Small prizes for those who hit the elevation gain of Mt. Washington (5 hours) and Mt. Whitney (12 hours). 



We’ll have hot soup and food, and use of Ascutney Outdoors so there will be indoor space. Runners can set up personal aid stations if they want outside near the start. 

Signup is on Ultrasignup and check out Northeast Trail Adventures on Instagram for more info.

We already have runners from the ages of 15 through 71 signed up, and they include casual weekend warriors and some of the most incredible athletes in the region.

Spots are limited to 70 and they’re filling up quickly. Go ahead and earn your Turkey this Thanksgiving.

Check out Eli’s podcast interview here!

Challenge of the week

Katie: Ask yourself what you would do if you weren’t racing next year - in terms of movement, training, etc.? And let that guide your goals!

Jim: Spend some time this week thinking about what will bring you real joy in 2026 from a training, race and event perspective. 

Gear/resource pick of the week

Katie: Prenatal strength and mobility content - @goodfortheswole and @pregnant.postpartum.athlete on Instagram 

Jim: The Roadman Cycling Podcast: Unlock Hidden Watts: The Science of Breathing for Power with Dr Andrew Sellars and The Sculpt Society mobility workouts

Episode 103: Burnout Prevention, Pros and Cons of AI as an Athlete, and Playing the Long Game in Pregnancy

This week's episode features a deep dive on three big topics: (1) how to plan out a sustainable season in order to avoid burnout, (2) pros, cons, and use cases of AI as an athlete, and (3) playing the long game in pregnancy and postpartum—particularly with respect to new research on bone density in pregnant and postpartum runners. We also riff on hydration and running shoe recommendations and share updates from our training and coaching lives. Check it out!

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Journaling on a burnout prevention plan for your upcoming season! A key question to include – where and when did you start losing joy in your season this year, and what do you think were the main contributing factors? 
Elena: Pick anything that you’re trying to improve on in your life right now and try creating a plan for it using LLM help!

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Skratch Unsweetened for everyday hydration

Elena: Saucony Triumph shoes

Episode 102: Mental Health in Athletes with Dr. Alejandra Zamora, Psy.D

In this week's episode, we’re joined by a very special guest: clinical psychologist and triathlete extraordinaire Dr. Alejandra Zamora, Psy.D. Ale draws on her experience working with Division I athletes, as well as her own background as an endurance athlete, to answer our questions about common mental health conditions that affect athletes, including anxiety, depression, OCD, and PTSD. We also discuss how personality traits like conscientiousness can act as a double-edged sword in sport, the connections between trauma and endurance training, practical strategies for managing a range of mental health challenges, and how to leverage movement, social connection, and creativity to support mental well-being. Finally, we cover a range of quick-hitter insights on fueling and body composition, using LLMs for season planning and reflection, and setting up your environment to support your goals. Check it out!

Note: This episode is a general discussion of topics related to mental health and does not represent a therapist/client relationship. We encourage listeners to connect with a mental health provider to discuss individual concerns.

Katy Perry VMAs video we mentioned - and Taylor Swift’s reaction :)

Gear pick of the week:

Katie: Maternity FITsplint belly band

Elena: Patagonia Storm Racer Rain Jacket

Ale: Cora menstrual cup; Datefix gels

Episode 101: Getting Your Zone 2 Back, Pre-Race Injuries, Tire Dragging, and Workout Mindfulness

This week's podcast—the first in our next century of episodes—features insights and listener questions on a ton of fun topics including: how to transition back into Zone 2 running after time off, channeling the idea of "smooth" rather than specific paces or other data points in workouts, what to do if you get injured or sick right before a race, why modulating volume and intensity over the course of the year is helpful from a mental health perspective, how you should think about using data to match your goals at different points in your season, the fitness benefits of tire dragging and other forms of resistance training, the science behind building strength while on the bike, an update on TrainingPeaks Virtual, and a discussion of mindfulness in workouts. We also introduce a ~twist~ to our classic gear pick of the week segment that will help us come up with more fun things to share with you in future episodes. Check it out!

Katie: 

Transitioning back into training after time off: 

• Question from an athlete to riff on: “I started to miss running since [A race], so I’m getting back into it - I’m probably on my 5th or 6th run. I took the tactic of ‘just run at a comfortable/comfortably hard pace and completely ignore HR until the rust comes off.’ What this means in practice is that my HR is still very above what I would call zone 2 (160+) in my old zone 2 paces (9:30s). Should I slow down for the HR, or just accept this is part of getting back into it? And in general, what are your tips for transitioning back into running?” 

• My response:

• I would still try to stick to zone 2 feel as best you can (you don’t need to look at HR but I would avoid “comfortably hard” zone) as that will actually get you back to fast running at old zone 2 paces fastest

• Don’t glue eyes to the watch if it creates stress but keep things as much of a conversational pace as possible, and consider running for time rather than pace/distance until things settle

• Another friendly reminder:

• Perceived “regression” in zone 2 after time off is normal. As hard as it is, trust the process and old paces will come back around with consistency and small bricks over time. They will also come back around more quickly than it took to build them up in the first place.

• Jim - Focus on smooth. Smooth is…

  • Being present. It’s recognizing this is the only moment, not past or future.

  • A feeling not an outcome. 

  • Moving with freedom.

  • A reduction of cognitive load.

  • Sustainable like a flywheel.

  • No agenda, acting by intuition. 

  • Leaving data and allowing yourself to tune into you.

  • A childlike flow state, not a conscious, adult-like logic state.

What to do if you get injured/sick right before a race: 

• Inspired by a convo with one of my athletes who is now coaching. One of her athletes training for an IM has been dealing with a meniscus tear that flared back up recently during her run training. While biking and swimming are still manageable, running causes pain to return. With the race just three weeks away, she was debating whether to pull her from running completely, replace it with aqua jogging, and prepare her for a run-walk strategy on race day.

• Broader question: How should athletes and coaches approach last-minute injuries like this—balancing recovery, fitness, and realistic race-day goals?

• My answer: 

• This close to race day I would completely shut down running. No more fitness to be gained at this point and main goal is to have a shot at being able to start. In race prep I recommend going through all of the possible run scenarios (no pain, some pain, really bad pain) so she has a physical and mental plan for what she would do in each situation

• And also helpful to go through goals with her - is goal to smash this race and in the absence of that it’s not worth it, or to cross the finish line of an IM no matter what happens? Make sure that starting actually makes sense and is in alignment with goals

• As a coach: good to lead with questions and then help with coming up with a plan that has answers 

• A helpful reframe: no more can be done right now physically other than resting and giving your body the best shot at recovery. There is still a ton of work that can still be done on the mental side, so channel energy into that. 

Modulating volume/intensity over the course of the year to “change your baseline” of what you need for endorphins, mental health, etc. + what data is useful for this approach: 

• Came up for me in pregnancy, but relevant outside of pregnancy: healthy to modulate and periodize your training volume and intensity over the course of the year for many reasons. One that stands out is that if you target the same volume and intensity the whole year, you may feel that you *need* that mentally to feel stable (see Episode 48: Adventure, Risk, and Trauma with Catherine Rocchi)

• Problem is, you need more and more - can get to a point where you feel like you need 3 hours of movement every day to be able to focus, get work done, feel good mood-wise

• For me in pregnancy, the initial transition to a point of much fewer training hours/week, not doing doubles anymore, etc., was hard from a routine + endorphins + mental health standpoint; but now I have normalized to a point where if I just do 20 mins of mobility and breath work and get some good steps in, I feel totally fine with that. This will also help me prepare for going to 0 postpartum (and for non pregnant athletes, can help you prepare for something like injury, medical procedure, major life stress/events, etc. that derail training). 

• Related to our discussions on data: what data is most in alignment with my goals right now? 

• Start with your goals: for me, healthy pregnancy, healthy baby, safest return to sport postpartum, mental health/ feeling like “me” (with limitations) 

• Training that matches my goals: running when I can, safe x-training when running doesn’t feel good, 2-3x prenatal focused strength per week, mobility and breath work every day

• What data is useful for that? Not volume (hours), TSS, fitness scores, etc. -- none of it is useful. 

• Instead, subjective notes on how I am feeling over time (both mentally and physically) as well as occasional metrics such as sleep, stress, etc. and HR/pace just to have a sense of how I am pushing myself 

• This whole calculation can be done at any point in your season to align with any set of goals. Sometimes training hours/week, TSS, fitness scores, HR, etc., actually can be useful; other times it is not

• Ask yourself: is this data serving my goals and/or making me feel better about my performance? If not, drop it.

Jim:

Tire Dragging / Resisted Walking

I created a little stir and feedback last week when I posted to some uphill tire dragging to my Strava. The common question was along the lines of “WTF?!” and “What’s the point?”

So a few items to consider:

Like all training, we need to look at the context: The context for this is my back has been a bit wonky and prevented me from running regularly. I want to get some time on feet and challenge my primary running muscles.  I also want to work on hip extension which is really a key to running speed. Dragging a tire is a perfect way to challenge your muscles and promote hip extension.  

Also, as we head into off season and thinking about next season, we want to identify and target our limiters. One of my limiters is muscular endurance; I can trail run up to a couple of hours but after that, my muscles really start to tire and my run and vertical speed really diminish. My limiter is local muscle strength, primarily in my glutes, hamstrings and quads. 

Like weighted carries, tire dragging is an excellent way to put an extraordinary load on my muscles.  Instead of having to run two hours then challenge my muscles, weight carries and tire dragging are immediate muscle challenges and a very time efficient way to build muscle strength and durability. 

Key point: The primary point of local muscular training is muscular fatigue is the principal limitation to endurance.  If endurance is defined as the ability to do something over and over again, many thousands of times often, it is your muscle fatigue which limits your ability to endure.   How many times have you been in a long event and you got to a point where you said something like, “I couldn’t go faster because my quads gave out.”?

1. Low-Speed, High-Resistance Strength Training

• Pulling a tire creates constant resistance, forcing the legs, hips, and core to work harder with every step.  This constant resistance can mimic what it feels like late in races and adventures.

• Lifting weights in a gym is for maximal strength and we highly advocate incorporating this into your endurance training.  Tire dragging builds muscular endurance.  Muscular endurance may be the most important quality to improve for long distance endurance athletes - runners, triathletes, cyclists, nordic skiers, etc.  When you hit the wall at mile 18 of a marathon, the two main causes are low glycogen (fueling) and muscular endurance.  

• There is a version of this in the pool: swimming with a small parachute or drag bag. It is excellent for developing your catch and muscular endurance.

2. Improved Aerobic Capacity and Strength Endurance

• Walking with resistance keeps you in a Zone 1/2–heart rate range if paced correctly.  Think low cadence climbing in TPV/Zwift which we do a lot in the winter on the trainer.  You can do a lot of Z1/Z2 muscular endurance work without a lot of global fatigue.  

• It’s a way to combine strength and aerobic training. This is a dream workout; two birds with one stone!

3. Posture, Core, and Gait Benefits

• A properly rigged belt or harness keeps the hands free and places load on the torso and hips. You can mimic running form in slow motion while dragging. Think hip extension, rolling up on the big toe and pushing off the back foot.

• This challenges the postural muscles (glutes, hamstrings, erectors, abdominals) to stabilize under resistance.

• Because you’re still walking, it encourages a natural gait pattern instead of the altered mechanics that sometimes happen with weighted backpacks.

4. Joint-Friendly Alternative

• Unlike running or loaded carries with dumbbells, tire dragging is low impact.

• The resistance is horizontal rather than vertical, so it doesn’t pound the knees and spine the way weighted running or rucking can.  Most endurance athletes - triathletes and runners - should focus on moving their body horizontally and not so much vertically.  If you are a mountain runner, vertical movement is an important consideration.

5. Mental Toughness and Specificity

• The monotonous grind of dragging a tire develops patience and grit—qualities critical in long endurance events.

• For triathletes or ultrarunners, it can feel like practicing the “long grind” late in a race.

6. Versatility

• Intensity is easily adjusted:

• Heavier tire = strength focus.   

• Steep hill = strength focus

• Lighter tire = endurance and cardio focus.

• Flatter terrain = endurance focus.

• Can be done on pavement, grass, dirt roads, or even snowy surfaces (similar to sled dragging).  If you don’t have a hill, dragging a tire on grass provides a lot of natural resistance. 

In short: Dragging a tire while walking builds strength endurance, reinforces posture, adds resistance without pounding the joints, and develops mental and physical resilience needed for long-duration efforts.

Lawrence van Lingen: Resisted Tire Walking

Lawrence van Lingen: How to make a Tyre or treadmill theracord for resisted walking.

Cyclists do not need to incorporate off-bike resistance training to increase strength, muscle-tendon structure, and pedaling performance: Exploring a high-intensity on-bike method: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12244400/
This study tested whether cyclists benefit more from gym-based strength training (squats) or high-intensity, all-out pedaling efforts on the bike. Over 10 weeks, both groups did the same training volume and intensity, while a third group just stuck to regular cycling.

Findings:

• Both gym and on-bike training boosted aerobic power and strength.

• On-bike training gave extra improvements at lower thresholds (ventilatory threshold) and in pedaling-specific strength.

• Gym training increased quadriceps size more, but also showed a trend toward more injury symptoms.

• The control group lost muscle and strength.

Takeaway: On-bike high-intensity resistance training is just as effective as gym work—and may be safer and more cycling-specific.

Protocol: Resistance Training on bike group: Participants in this group performed seated high-intensity pedaling cycles. Each set consisted of 7 maximal voluntary pedaling cycles (i.e., all-out efforts) from a stationary start on a constant 6% slope (~100 m).

How you can incorporate this into your training: 

• As you approach a hill, put your bike in the hardest gear (chain on big ring up front and the lowest, or 2nd/3rd) smallest in back.   Stay seated and pedal at max effort until you reach around 7 - 10 full pedal strokes. 

• You can also use stop signs or traffic lights as natural starting points, although you may need to stand up to get the bike moving forward for the first 2 - 3 pedal strokes. 

TrainingPeaks Virtual

A quick reminder: all of our athletes with TrainingPeaks Premium (99.9% of you) have access to a great virtual training platform: TrainingPeaks Virtual.

They’ve just added six world-famous routes such as Sa Calobra and Alpe d’Huez, and starting in October you’ll be able to upload your own GPX files to ride any course you like. 

In practical terms, this means you could upload an Ironman or Half Ironman course, your favorite local ride, or pre-ride routes for upcoming events. There are plenty of GPX sources, including Strava, and even sites like Cycling Stage, where you can download all current and past stages of the Tour de France, Vuelta a España, and Giro d’Italia.

So, is riding a GPX file of your Ironman or Half Ironman course the best way to train? Not really. It can be fun and give you a sense of the course, but because you can’t truly coast on a trainer, the virtual version will always feel harder. The best preparation remains a mix of structured intervals and race simulations on the course itself (or on similar terrain).

Interesting side note: Computrainer was the original “smart trainer.” But because it never evolved with wireless or modern software controls, Wahoo eventually pushed them out of the market over five years ago. At its peak, though, Computrainer was the trainer—way ahead of its time with course simulations, spin software, and structured training. Here’s a fun read: Computrainer Ceases Production.

Difference Between Doing a Workout and Doing a Workout Mindfully
As we wrap up the season for some athletes, it’s a good time for both coach and athlete to reflect. One recurring theme I’ve noticed is the difference between athletes who approach their workouts with intention—being mindful of both short- and long-term goals—and those who don’t take that extra step.

More often than not, the mindful athletes make greater progress toward their goals compared to those who treat workouts more transactionally.

Key takeaway for next season: Carve out a little mental space before, during, and after each workout. Set the intention, execute mindfully, and reflect afterward. This small habit adds up over time—and by season’s end, you’ll find yourself much further along the path toward your goals.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286631650_The_nature_of_mental_toughness_in_sport

This study investigated the components of mental toughness as reported by 131 expert coaches and 160 elite athletes from 31 sport codes. The written statements of coaches and athletes were analysed by means of an inductive content analysis. This resulted in the identification of 12 components of mental toughness. These are: motivation level, coping skills, confidence maintenance, cognitive skill, discipline and goal-directedness, competitiveness, possession of prerequisite physical and mental requirements, team unity, preparation skills, psychological hardiness, religious convictions and ethics. The coaches regarded concentration as the most important characteristic, while the athletes regarded perseverance as most important.

Subthread: Key takeaway from interview with Scott Johnston of Evoke Endurance and coach to the men’s and women’s UTMB champions: 

• Collecting hard data, such as heart rates and elevation, is important, but understanding the internal load of an athlete is crucial, and currently, there is no great way to collect hard data about internal load, so coaches rely on the athlete's perception of their exertion.

• The combination of hard data and soft data, such as an athlete's comments and feelings, allows experienced coaches to make adjustments to the training plan

Challenge of the week

Katie: Related to an insight - as you move throughout your season and off season, ask yourself what your goals are and what data best supports your goals, if any? 

Jim: What specific attribute (strength, metabolic, aerobic, skills, etc) are you trying to improve this winter?

Gear pick of the week (or resource)

Katie: Gordo Byrn’s Endurance Essentials substack

Jim: Evoke Endurance podcast - particularly Ep 121 - How we don’t train and Ep 122 - How we do train.

Episode 100: Reflections From 100 Episodes of the Podcast!

Celebration episode inbound! In this episode, Katie, Jim, and Elena reflect on the lessons we’ve learned from 100 (!) episodes of the podcast. We riff on themes including connection, community, endurance principles, gratitude, vulnerability, progress, and creativity, and we share what excites us most about the next 100 episodes. Our biggest takeaway? None of this would be possible without all of our listeners, so thank you to everyone who has come back week after week to signal to us that we have created something worth listening to. We are incredibly grateful, and cheers to the next 100!

Challenge of the week:

Jim: Asking myself when have I been at my best and what was I doing to get there?

Elena: Treat yourself to a nice breakfast (and see if you feel better throughout the day!)

Katie: Season recap journaling and goal mapping for next year. See our sheet here! Key questions to answer:

• What are you most proud of about your season?

• What did you enjoy most about your season? 

• Reflecting on your season, what were the biggest challenges you encountered? 

• What about this season do you want to do differently next season? 

• What about this season do you want to do the same next season? 

Gear pick of the week:

Jim: Kinco 1927KW™ gloves - the best fall / winter bike gloves (and doing any chores / walks outside.

Katie: Craft Hybrid Weather glove - better for running/trail running/hiking, OK for biking too; these are in my pack always, including in summer

Elena: Sprints Car Towel – great for the heat of summer or the wet muddy fall

Episode 99: Deep Reflections on Listening to Your Body, Athlete Identity, Pregnancy Risk Tolerance, and Doing Things for the First Time

We love a deep reflections episode! Katie and Elena hit a bunch of topics including recovery after really big races, what it actually means to listen to your body (and why listening to your body can be hard in pregnancy), mental challenges with the off season and how to manage them, athlete identity, risk tolerance for moving your body at different stages of life, why doing anything for the first time is so tough, and a whole lot more. We also answer a great listener question on racing on your period and mindset shifts that can help you with any type of adversity in races. Check it out! 

Challenge of the week:

• Katie: Keep up a (modified) log of comments on how you are feeling even in the off season. 

• Elena: Set some form of strength goal– pull ups, wall sit hold, squat, etc. Something to motivate feeling strong and building progress in a non-endurance sport way

Gear pick of the week:

• Katie: Aikendo running belt - cheap and honestly great

• Elena: CompressSport Race Bib belt and CompressSport Free Pro Running Belt

Episode 98: Ironman World Champs Insights, Norwegian Training, Managing Burnout, and Tips for Race Anxiety

This week’s episode hits a bunch of fun topics including: insights from the professional men’s race at the Ironman World Championships in Nice, France; what’s hot and what’s not in the Norwegian training protocols; our recommendations on TT bike brands; how to identify and prevent burnout as long seasons draw to a close; some additional tips for the off-season; and how to manage race-day anxiety. We also dive into habit stacking as a way to make sure you actually do the recovery and mobility things you should be doing and hit some of our most creative gear picks of the week yet. Check it out!

Intro

1 - UTMB interview w/Elena

2 - Ironman Championship / Norwegian dominance / Norwegian training discussion

We provide an overview of Norwegian training methods. This document outlines Norwegian training/methods.  Bottom line: The meat of Norwegian training is a lot of low intensity work and the other ~10% is fairly advanced methods such as double threshold workouts. See this document for details. 

We also discussed lessons from 2024 Kona Ironman World Championship from Episode 56.

Also of interest: Episode 52: How we qualified for Ironman World Championship 

Insights

Katie: 

Burnout

• Start with 3 days off; then infuse some community/joy/unstructured adventuring; if you still aren’t feeling it after that, conversation about whether it is worth it to keep pushing

• “Keeping the recreation in recreational athlete”

• General thoughts on burnout - tends to be most common when you are doing LONG races and training a lot by yourself

• Infuse: community, joy, adventure 

• Burnout is most common when we see seasons dragging on too long especially without a solid mid season break 

Jim: 

TT bike thoughts:

If you are in the market for a Time Trial / Triathlon bike for next season, check out the Slowtwitch bike count at the Ironman World Championship. 

Canyon was the top choice by over 100+ bikes:

• Canyon: 502

• Cervelo: 380

• Trek: 347

I like to watch the scoreboard for crowd source information so this list points me in the direction of what is ‘best in class’ for triathlon bikes.

One variation on the Canyon theme is to get one of their top end aero bikes that comes with a front end that seamlessly integrates with their aero bars. You can make a road bike just as fast as a TT bike with the correct position. 

Other TT bike brands that were not as high up on the list I would consider are Scott, BMC and maybe Argon 18. 

I would not consider Quintana Roo as many athletes seem to have fit problems and their build quality / durability seems less than other manufacturers.  (That also might be dated information on my part so grain of salt and please do your research.)

I would also not consider Specialized as I don’t think they are putting in the work other brands are to advance their product. 

Race Day Anxiety:

Specific Physical Methods to Combat Race Day nerves (or any performance related task)

1. Deep Breathing

• Use breath work to calm the nervous system.

• Breathe into the fear and reframe it as excitement.  Mantra: “I get to do this!”

• Maintain steady breathing during moments of anxiety to prevent holding breath, which worsens the feeling of being stuck.

2. Physical Movement

• Move around pre-race to release nervous energy.

• Use gestures such as pumping hands in the air to shift energy from fear to excitement.  I like pumping hands in air and saying internally or out loud, “Lets’ go!”

3. Body Awareness and Acceptance

• Notice physical symptoms like sweaty palms or a high voice and reframe them positively (e.g., sweaty palms as a sign of energy).

• Stay present in the body rather than getting lost in anxious thoughts.

4. Physical Reclamation

• Reclaim your physical space by mentally affirming your right to take up space and be big on the race stage. This is YOUR day.

• Use strong, assertive body language to counteract feelings of shame or self-consciousness. I like to pretend I’m a pro athlete here to do my job that I do very well.  My body language suggests that I’ve done the work and I belong here.

The above has been adapted from the Art of Accomplishment Podcast: What to do about Stage Fright?

Another resource related to this topic from this week’s NYTimes:  What Sport Psychologists Want You to Know About Mental Toughness

Don’t lock into one goal.

Focus on helpful thoughts, not just positive ones.

Get moving and use ‘cue words’ to regroup.

Visualize the most crucial moments.

Control the ‘controllables.’

Separate your performance from your identity.

Challenge of the week

• Katie: Habit stacking, which has helped me actually do my PT and mobility work. Pair with workouts as a “this is part of the workout and is required for me to do the workout.” Soon becomes a pretty automatic part of the workout that feels weird if you don’t include it. 

• Jim: Incorporate some strength training while you are on the bike.

Gear pick of the week

• Katie: Bougie one - espresso machine. Got a Breville Oracle Jet for my birthday and it has changed my life. Quick riff on caffeine as a performance enhancer. 

• Jim: Crocs - loving these for recovery and building a little foot strength. I was not a believer of “recovery shoes” but I think they do work a little by not constricting your swollen feet, allowing your toes to naturally splay, stimulate your nerve endings in your feet with their slightly nubbed soles and super cushy but not too cushy.

Episode 97: Physical and Mental Insights from Elena's UTMB Race Experience!

She did it! This episode recaps many of the physical and mental insights Elena picked up while racing for over 29 hours at the world's most competitive and well-known 100-mile ultramarathon. We cover: what the energy in Chamonix is like during race week; how Elena prepped mentally and physically in the days and hours leading up to the race start; what the experience is like for crew and spectators; how she mentally and physically navigated feeling worse than expected in the first 20 miles of the race; how she dealt with insane weather conditions including rain, mud, cold, and snow through the night; the story behind the broken pole; what the last 30 miles felt like once she realized she was going to finish; how Elena is feeling now; and what's next on her running and racing scene. We also hit an interesting insight related to Boston Marathon registration and pregnancy race deferral policies at big races. This was such a fun episode to record, and we're so psyched for Elena on her huge accomplishment (did we mention 18th in the world?!)—check it out!

Information on pregnancy race deferral policies:

Boston Marathon

Ironman

UTMB

Challenge of the week:

Katie: Related to season planning – (a) identify one of your limiters, (b) reframe as something you are excited to get better at, (c) brainstorm three things you can do or change to improve. Can help to get a coach’s perspective as you do this!

• Related: how to know something is a limiter. Many different ways, but some include something you feel always holds you back in training/racing/recovery; something you have a lot of anxiety around in training/racing; parts of a race where you feel you are always getting passed relative to other people (e.g., bike in triathlon, technical downhill sections in ultra, etc.)

• Examples of common limiters: sleep, nutrition, time management, or sport-specific skills

Elena: say “I’m Awesome” multiple times on your next hard activity and see what happens :) 

Gear pick of the week:

Katie: Veken packing cubes (cheap random brand I found on Amazon and a life saver for all travel). I put these in my Patagonia Black Hole duffel 55L and can crush anything from overnight trips to 3-week vacations 

Elena: On CloudUltra Pro Shoes– ran the whole race in them and not too many feet issues! And Desitin for anti-blisters!

Episode 96: Mid-Race Mental Resets, Presidential Traverse Takeaways, Weighted Vests, and Adventuring How-tos

This week's episode features plenty of insights from recent adventures and races. We cover: takeaways from Katie's recent "Pregnant Prezi" and FKT attempt on the Cannon and Kinsmans Loop, our favorite hikes and runs in New England, tips on mapping and route planning if you want to plan your own adventures (especially in a new location), insights from tough open water swims in races, mentally resetting when a race or training session doesn't go your way, whether weighted vests are a good training stimulus and/or investment, and advice for the upcoming fall off season. Check it out!

Pregnant Prezi + Cannon/Kinsmans FKT 

• Fueling — slam ‘real food’ calories (PB & J, breakfast sandwiches, etc.) on downhills and save quick carbs (gels, liquid) for uphills

• Special treats when you aren’t craving the usual fig bars / macro bars etc: Coke in a soft flask, Rice Krispie treats 

• Tired + hungry = clumsy. If you are tripping or stumbling, need to eat more

• Set point: Need to get to Washington feeling good 

• Moving ‘efficiently’ rather than fast 

• Balancing ‘fast and light’ with not being stupid re: safety (no matter the weather, pack the puffy and gloves/hat when going to the Alpine Zone)

• Having a plan in advance for bailout and what would constitute grounds for bailout; often too easy to get fixated on a goal 

• Broad reflection: prezi #13 in my life! There is something special in doing the same route over and over again in an area as interesting as the whites because it is SO different any time. Can literally toggle the difficulty simply by toggling the weather / going up in the Alpine Zone on a day where weather presents challenges vs. doesn’t. We were very lucky in that the weather was basically perfect for this day, but it isn’t always! 

• Some modifications I’m making in pregnancy:

• More rest before and after (usually a full day off except some mobility focused strength work), and then basically all easy days for the rest of the week

• If I can’t nail the fueling and hydration, the big stuff is off limits

• Fast and efficient but not reckless, especially when going downhill 

• Clear bailout options every time and 1-2 more layers than I need

• (These are all probably smart even if not pregnant!)

• Trail running gear recommendations: 

  • Patagonia Micro Puff Hoody

  • Salomon S/Lab Ultra

  • Garmin InReach

Favorite Hikes in New England (from easy to hard):

Easy:

• Mt Monadnock

• Mt Major

• Mt Cardigan

• Mt Kearsarge

• Mt Greylock

• A good blog with 6 easy-moderate NH hikes

Moderate:

• Moosilauke

• Mt Chocorua

• Baldfaces

Advanced:

• Carrigain

• Franconia traverse

• Northern Presidentials

• Katahdin

Big Day(s):

• Prezi traverse

• Pemi Loop

How to Get Started Adventuring

• I’ve been talking with new athletes who recently moved to this area, and both asked the same question: “Where do you bike and run?”

• My first reaction was: just go out the door—our area is full of great roads and trails. Go explore! Simple, right? But on further thought, it’s not always that simple. Here are a few tips I use to find places to bike, run, and adventure:

  1. Use Strava’s Global Heatmap.
     Get a Strava account and use the Create Route function with the Global Heatmap turned on. This shows the most popular roads and trails for biking and running—my go-to for exploring new areas. Create your route, then sync it to your smart device.

  2. Check segment leaderboards.
     Look at Strava segment leaderboards in your area and browse some of the top athletes’ profiles. Usually, the fastest and most active riders or runners know all the best local routes. Follow them and pay attention to their usual loops—you’ll quickly learn what’s good.

  3. Leverage your bike computer.
     I’ve been building a lot of new dirt and gravel routes lately using my Garmin 540 and 1050. The 1050 is my favorite because of its big, clear color screen (plus preloaded maps for Europe, which the 540 doesn’t have). Having clear navigation right on the bike computer reduces the friction and stress of exploration.

  4. Try RidewithGPS.
     Another great resource for planning and exploring is Ride with GPS. Their global heatmaps, especially in remote areas, are super robust. Many hardcore gravel riders share their routes there, making it my top choice for remote gravel planning. It’s both easier and harder to use than Strava, but worth it.

  5. Don’t chase perfection.
     I tend toward perfectionism, spending too much time trying to create the “perfect” route. But the reality is: a line on a computer map only tells you so much. The best way to learn an area is to get out the door and ride. Yes, you’ll get lost. Yes, your planned route might not work with your bike or skills. But you’ll always discover something—and you can return with better knowledge. When I spot an interesting side road that’s not on my original route, I’ll ride a few hundred yards down, then turn back. That leaves a GPS marker I can use to plan a future adventure. Do this enough, and you’ll start piecing together the best routes in your area. It doesn’t take long to really learn your town.

  6. Tap into the community.
     Most places have regular group rides or runs. Join them. It’s the fastest way to find great routes, meet new people, and plug into a community that brings joy, health, and adventure.

Insights from Dan’s sprint tri - the power of a mental reset after a tough swim 

• First, thoughts on open water panic:

• Super normal (@Jim listeners have commented on how validating it felt to hear that you had experienced this somewhat recently!) 

• Big win to keep moving forward (“I will finish this” mindset)

• In this case, cause was likely (1) no warmup (not allowed at race and long wait from staging to gun going off), (2) going out too hard, (3) tons of pool time but not a lot of OWS practice 

• My advice: If no swim warmup, you have to treat the swim like a warmup. Also useful to do some arm swings and other dynamic activation on land

• Going out too hard - in contrast to Cohasset Tri earlier this year where his goal was exclusively “swim as easy as possible while still making forward progress” he got excited about gains in swim fitness and went out HARD leading to panic

• Ironically the Cohasset Tri swim ended up much faster than this swim

• For the vast majority of athletes it is a great strategy to take the swim nice and easy 

• Mental reset after a bad swim - Ask yourself “is this thought helping my performance?” and cue a single word/mantra: RESET

• What’s great about triathlon is that there are very natural opportunities for reset; harder in single sport racing when the mode/method/training/stats are roughly the same throughout, but think about aid stations or key course landmarks as useful points 

• Ended up rallying for a great bike and run! 

• Also: quick thoughts on feeling BAD later in the day after a race

• Slam hydration with electrolytes and protein and try to stay inside out of the sun and rest 

Discussion on weighted vests - they are all the rage, what do we think?

• Walking < Walking with weighted vest <<<<<<< Heavy weighted strength in the gym

• Not a substitute for heavy lifting but certainly something you can fold into your routine

• How to start heavy lifting? Hire a professional, even just for a few sessions! Or check out video-based programs:

• EC Fit Performance Strength

• MTN Tough 

• Ladder 

• Mom Moves (for pregnancy) 

• Level it up by doing stairs, incline treadmill, or hiking with weighted vest on

• Economical version: just fill up a good backpacking pack or Salomon with stuff, like water 

Advice for the Fall Off-Season

• Ride your bike. A lot. Preferably outside, so you can work on bike skills while building a solid aerobic base.  Explore new routes. 

• Strength and mobility work.

• Hiking. Or any outside adventure.  

• Train for a fall running race.

• Don’t try to maintain peak swim/bike/run fitness. Focus instead on general fitness.

• Things you don’t need to worry about:

  • Swimming! Swimming once a week is fine—or take a break altogether.

  • A heavy dose of Zwift/TPV. If you do use them, ride a variety of courses and find the ones you really enjoy. Remember, there are tons of events happening every 30 minutes or so.

• Late summer / fall goal: Aim to be in basic shape by December 1. Most of our athletes add structure back into training at that time. It gets them into the flow before the holidays, and by January 1, they already have a routine and schedule established—making the transition into the new year seamless.

• Other podcasts to reference: 

  • Episode 42: Why we need an Off Season

  • Episode 47: How to Plan your Race Calendar

Challenge of the week

• Katie: Organize your race gear at the end of the season!

• Jim: Explore YouTube for mobility sessions and ideas. Try a bunch of different exercises and routines out.  I am currently liking this one:  21 Minute Cyclist Flexibility Routine Tom Merrick.

Gear pick of the week

• Katie: Rice Krispie treats, the secret best-ever endurance fuel 

• Jim: For gear organization and on-the-go: LL Bean Canvas Tote Bag

Episode 95: Training Insights from Elena's UTMB Prep and Katie's First Half of Pregnancy

This week's episode features a deep dive on the training principles and philosophy between two very different endurance projects: Elena's multi-year prep to race in the elite field at Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) and the first half of Katie's journey through pregnancy as an endurance athlete. We cover insights that with a surprising amount of overlap between the two experiences, including the importance of flexibility, fueling, and mindset, as well as lots of tips for listeners who are interested in elements of either journey. Whatever endurance adventure is on your radar next, this episode has something for you. Check it out!

UTMB Tracking Link: https://live.utmb.world/utmb/2025/utmb

A listener’s message on pregnancy that we loved:

As always, loved the podcast yesterday. And just felt compelled to send you a message saying keep doing your thing. I remember with both of my pregnancies running up until seven or eight months, and working out until the day I went into the hospital. I remember doing a really long workout on the elliptical the morning I was supposed to go in for a doctors appointment, and actually was surprised they wanted to check me in early and induce me… I was feeling so good. I didn’t see that coming. (Sidenote, make sure you pack a bag early… I was highly unprepared!)

I know every person is different, and you gotta go by how you feel… But I am a firm believer that staying active as much as I did during my pregnancy really helped my delivery, and my ability to bounce back afterwards. So ignore the questions and the naysayers… Keep trusting your gut and your body.

Oh, and it is OK to feel really weird in your own body as your turnip continues to grow! It was not all sunshine and rainbows. It can be a real identity struggle for someone who’s been fit their whole life to start to see weight gain in weird places that you don’t really have control over… No matter how good the reason is. So be gentle with yourself, it’s OK to feel like pregnancy is a really uncomfortable and foreign experience. I had many breakdowns when I couldn’t button my pants, and it never helped me when people would say, but it’s all for a really good reason! It still feels weird.

So love yourself, keep surrounding yourself with the right people, keep all the amazing mindfulness stuff going that you have been so consistent with… I am loving following this journey for you!

Challenge of the week:

• Katie: write down some things you love about yourself or are proud of!

• Elena: Go to bed 30 mins earlier than you usually do

Gear pick of the week:

• Katie: Sea to Summit Tek Towel

• Elena: Patagonia Storm Racer Jacket, Sleep with Me podcast

Episode 94: When Data Isn’t Helpful, Bike Handling Tips, Training in High LSS, and Muscle Memory

This week’s episode is another grab bag full of insights! Topics include: the benefits of Zone 0 movement, good data and bad data in training and in pregnancy, why mountain adventures are so great, how to approach workouts and training in periods of high LSS (life stress score), governing effort on big days, bike handling tips, training in bad air quality, how muscle memory helps you retain your season’s gains even when you take time off, and an interesting discussion on doping in amateur endurance sports. Check it out!

Katie:

Movement is movement is movement 

• Continue discussion on Z0-1 movement in the context of moving (houses)

Good data / bad data in pregnancy (and in general)

• In my experience as an athlete and coach, data can make or break your performance. 

• Challenge comes in knowing what type of data is serving you and what type of data is holding you back

• For a deeper dive on this topic, head to the archives and check out Episode 20: Good Data and Bad Data

• My experience in pregnancy:

• Oura ring (HRV, resting HR, body temp, sleep) and other health stats: useful for planning pregnancy, not useful at all during pregnancy

• Unnecessary health anxiety coming from data overload when I honestly have no idea what to expect

• Stats on training:

• TP fitness/fatigue/form - not useful!

• HR during activity - often useful (best bet is often HR + time)

• Speed/pace/power - not that useful 

• Most useful: RPE, going by feel, listening to your body; detailed subjective comments on how I am feeling physically and mentally

• Hot take: This may be true outside of pregnancy too

• Anecdote from an athlete on concern about oxygen saturation during sleep according to Garmin 

• PSA: Garmin wrist HR is NOT qualified to tell you whether your oxygen saturation is good or not

• And related, can’t tell you how many times I have had athletes freak out because their vo2 max or threshold paces are going down according to Garmin, or their training is “unproductive”. Reminder: the algorithm is bad and fitness can and should fluctuate over time. When in doubt, turn it off and listen to your coach and your body. 

• One thing I do appreciate: Garmin has a “pregnancy mode” that lets you turn off training readiness/fitness metrics. Recommend turning this on! (And consider ignoring these stats if you are not pregnant too!) 

Fun with recent mountain adventures 

• Related to the above, I have been having a ton of fun with some recent adventures in the White Mountains especially as I have been feeling a little bit better in the second trimester.

• Why are mountain adventures so great? Partially because pace, especially in Whites terrain, means absolutely nothing. A 50-minute mile going from HoJo’s to the top of Mt. Washington is fast! 

• By contrast, running my standard loop on the Esplanade in Boston at increasingly slow paces is a pretty in-your-face manifestation of the pregnancy fitness decline - which is totally normal, but still impacts me some of the time.

• Also great because:

• Often social – reconnecting with values such as community and joy

• Adventure spirit, as we talked about in Episode 92 (three types of movement: exercise, training, adventuring)

• Usually more options to modify effort, distance, and other stats on the fly based on how you are feeling and listen to your body 

• Suggestions:

• I feel like a broken record, but plan an adventure! And reach out to us if you need some route inspiration! 

• As always, fuel like a race for long days in the mountains. 

• Some challenges I am anticipating as the pregnancy progresses:

• Change in center of gravity: Alpine Zone terrain in the Whites is basically all rock-hopping and balance. Once my center of gravity starts to change, I may need to be extra careful in rocky terrain. For now, enjoying hopping along while I still can.

• Those damn ankles! Pregnancy = hormone relaxin goes up, which means I roll my (especially left) ankle a LOT. Taping can help. May experiment with poles going forward, and need to pay very close attention to every step I’m taking. 

Reminder on how to approach workouts and training in periods of high LSS

• Many athletes experiencing various forms of LSS in recent weeks

• Check out Episode 22: Life Stress Score (LSS)

• For some people, training provides structure and normalcy when life is going haywire. If this is you, it’s okay to stay on a plan while LSS is crazy. However, if LSS is substantially impacting your sleep, fueling, and ability to recovery, we as coaches highly recommend toning the effort down to Z2 focus with pickups at the most rather than structured speed/intervals etc. since injury risk has skyrocketed.

• Anecdotally we see the most niggles and overuse injuries pop up when LSS is high…

• For others, movement is helpful, but structure is not. If this is you, consider connecting with your why and your values (adventure, community, solitude) and trying to align movement with those. A trail run somewhere that calms you down (even if you are training for something that isn’t on trails) may help! And definitely loop in your coach if “structured unstructured” movement is helpful. I will literally sometimes program, e.g., “45 mins move your body in a pretty place outside”

• In most cases, zero movement at all for weeks on end (a few days up to a week is totally fine) is not actually helpful for combating LSS in the long term. Consider incorporating some walks in nature or easy social activities to see if it helps.

• As always, your coach is your partner in figuring this out and you don’t have to do it alone! 

Jim:

Governing Your Effort on a Big Day Around a Set Point

I recently tackled a big ride—the 6 Gaps in Vermont. It’s ~130 miles with 12,500 feet of climbing, and it took me 8 hours and 45 minutes on the bike.

The crux of the day is Lincoln Gap, famous for being the steepest paved mile in the U.S., with pitches hitting 24%. The hardest section comes right at the end and demands full physical and mental commitment.

Going in, my main goal was to arrive at the base of Lincoln Gap with full energy stores and a calm, focused mindset. I knew of a particular house at the bottom of the climb, and I visualized reaching that spot feeling fully fueled and race-ready. That visualization acted as my governor for both effort and fueling during the first part of the day, which was about 4.5 hours and 3 Gaps before reaching Lincoln. Throughout the early miles, I kept asking myself, “Is what I’m doing right now in service of that goal?” I reminded myself quietly, “The day doesn’t start until Lincoln Gap.”

The bonus? Knowing that after conquering the hardest climb, there would still be miles and climbing ahead—but the toughest challenge would be behind me, and a well-earned lunch was waiting on the other side.

Key takeaway: On big days—ultras, long-distance events—it can help to visualize a specific point in the day or race where you want to arrive feeling a certain way. This mental anchor helps break up the day, pace your effort, and keep fueling on track.

Sub-Thread topics:

• Be comfortable with low cadence efforts especially on big uphills where the goal is just to keep the bike upright and moving forward. I was surprised how much work below threshold I could do on the bike with this approach. 

• I used my HR reading as an indication of how fueled and thermoregulated I was, especially after my heat bonk experience from a couple weeks ago. I knew if my HR was under control, that even as the day became very hot, I was well heat regulated.  Also pairs well with low cadence (and fueling and patience). 

• On big days, your early fueling and hydration may be the most important. For me, sometimes I get taste fatigue as the day gets long and I anticipate not wanting as much food later in the day. This makes starting your fueling and hydration that much more important in hour 1.  If you keep topped off for the first 80% of your big day, you can often improvise your way to the last 20%.  

• I’m also appreciating having multiple gel options at the end of the day as each brand tastes a little different or has different consistency.  Even when I have taste fatigue, I can usually knock back gels late in the day.   My go to gels are Maurten, SIS Beta and Enervit.

• Check your tires before any big ride. I found a huge gash in my tire and a bulging tube the night before this ride. Disaster averted. 

Tips on Bike Handling
I was riding down our local state highway the other day along the river when I came across a crew sealing cracks in the road. The sealant they use seems like a mix of hot oil and a rubbery substance. Most of the cracks run perpendicular to the road, but some run parallel—especially along the white line. I wasn’t paying attention and rolled right onto one of those parallel seals. My bike instantly started swerving left and right. Before I could react, I was already past it. Honestly, I’m glad I didn’t react too quickly—because often, when you hit a small disturbance on the bike, the best thing to do is nothing at all. Just keep moving forward.

Take wind, for example. Maybe you’re riding somewhere windy—like heading to Hawi on the Kohala Coast—and you’re protected at times by road cuts. But then the cut ends, or there’s a notch in the rock, and wind sneaks through and smacks your front wheel from the side. It can easily push your wheel—or your whole bike—off course. It’s scary. But again, since it's a short disturbance, the best move is often not to react. Just keep steady pressure on the pedals and get through the section quickly.

Another situation: gravel or sand. If you hit a patch and your instinct is to brake or swerve, that often makes things worse. Counterintuitively, the best thing to do when you roll into loose gravel is to get into the drops, shift into a low-cadence gear, and drive power through the pedals—like you're doing a threshold effort. Put more weight over the front end. That added momentum will help you “float” over the loose surface and get through the sketchy section faster. The natural tendency is to slow down and tiptoe through it—but practice doing the opposite!

Take the zero or modify on low air quality days

Like how we approach high heat and humidity days, this is a suggestion to modify or skip your workouts on days with a lot of wildfire smoke.  I recently modified and skipped a couple of workouts due to the high AQI (Air Quality Index). The day the AQI was over 120 I bowed out of any outdoor activity, even a Zone 2 run.  While it was possible to run or bike easy that day, I could smell the smoke and the air was thick with haze. It seemed like the cost was higher than the reward especially this time of year when we are fit and an extra day of recovery will probably make us faster (shedding some acute fatigue).  

Another case for taking an off season:  You will retain your muscle memory gains from this season. 

This time of year, it can be hard to start thinking about taking an off season or just going to unstructured training after your big “A” race.  Every year we assure athletes that when you come back to structured training later this year or early next year, you leverage all the skills, training, experience from this year.  As long as you stay somewhat active, you will retain your gains.  

A new study seems to confirm this:  Human skeletal muscle possesses an epigenetic memory of high-intensity interval training

Human skeletal muscle displays an epigenetic memory of resistance exercise induced-hypertrophy. It is unknown, however, whether high-intensity interval training (HIIT) also evokes an epigenetic muscle memory. This study used repeated training intervention interspersed with a detraining period to assess epigenetic memory of HIIT. 

Cells possess a “memory” such that adaptations can be more quickly regained when a previously encountered challenge is reintroduced. Exercise provides an excellent experimental model to explore the concept of cellular memory to physiologically relevant stressors in humans. This study highlights molecular mechanisms that contribute to muscle memory in response to high-intensity interval training in humans, showing retention of DNA methylation and gene expression profiles from earlier training into detraining and retraining.

Conclusions: Human skeletal muscle possesses an epigenetic memory (via DNA methylation) of high-intensity interval training characterized by retention of DNA methylation from earlier training into detraining and retraining.

Shout out to Northeast Trail Adventures

Shout out to Eli Burakian and Justin Chapman from Northeast Trail Adventures  for their inaugural running camp based out of Hub North in the White Mountains.  I had the pleasure of participating in some of their social events this last weekend. 

They had a killer line up of talent and resources for their campers - David Sinclair - pro ultra runner, Hilary McCloy - PT & mountain athlete, Vic Johnson from Mountain Sports Nutrition, Alyssa Godesky - pro triathlete / adventure racer. Plus Eli and Justin who have TONS of trail running and racing experience at all levels.  

If you are interested in trail running to any extent, I highly recommend following Northeast Trail Adventures on Instagram and look for their next year’s camp.  

Athlete Questions:

• How should I govern my effort at a training camp? 

• Continuous glucose monitoring? 

Challenge of the week

• Katie: Identify a data source that is not serving you and start ignoring it!

• Jim: Stuff your water bottles with ice to keep cool. Loving the Bivo bottle with ice on the bike and for keeping electrolytes cool in the car.

Gear pick of the week

• Katie: Leukotape

• Jim: Escape Collective Subscription - best cycling news source

Episode 93: Mental Prep for UTMB, Pregnancy Mindset Modifications, and Reconnecting With Your Why

In this week’s episode, Elena and Katie catch up on all things training, mindset, and life as Elena wraps up the final month of prep for UTMB and Katie navigates the second trimester of pregnancy as an endurance athlete. Topics include: why “saying maybe” and listening to your body is sometimes a better training approach than saying yes; unsolicited comments on pregnant athletes’ bodies and training and how to handle them; how to take the pressure off going into big events, including going “Strava dark,” planning adventures, and reconnecting with your why; Elena’s big days at the Speedgoat 50K and “Soft Rock” and how they helped her build confidence for UTMB later this year; hydration strategies in ultra endurance events; and more! We love it when casual life catch-ups turn into insights-packed episodes for the podcast, and we hope you enjoy it too. Check it out!

Challenge of the Week:

• Katie: Gratitude practice!

• Elena: Step outside first thing in the morning!

Gear Pick of the Week:

• Katie: MAAP Women’s Evade Pro Base Jersey - my fave (stretchy) cycling jersey 

• Elena: Precision Hydration Electrolyte capsules or something similar

Episode 92: Minimum Effective Dose, Setting Expectations, More Racing Takeaways, and Heat Bonking

In this week’s insights-focused episode, we’re deep diving on a bunch of topics including: thoughts on minimum effective dose of training for marathon, triathlons of all distances, and ultras; how holding on too tightly to expectations can lead to disappointment; how fueling, mindset, pacing, and heat all interact to make or break race day; three types of movement (exercise, training, and adventuring) and how they serve different purposes in our lives; additional Ironman Lake Placid takeaways from Jim’s athletes; the intersection between “heat bonking” and metabolic bonking; and more pregnancy updates from Katie. Check it out!

Insights / Main Content 

Katie

Thoughts on expectations 

• Applies for pregnancy, injury, etc.

• “You’re going to feel AMAZING in the second trimester”

• Amazing relative to what?? Easier mentally to handle feeling bad when everyone says you will feel bad. Harder to handle when 

• Same goes for injury – “You’ll feel better in 12 weeks!” may not apply

• Advice: temper expectations. Learn, collect information, but don’t be so tied to it that if it doesn’t happen you are crushed

• Also goes for races – feeling bad earlier than expected is so much harder mentally

Discussion on minimum effective dose: we have had many athletes over the years who have extremely busy schedules with work, family, and other responsibilities. This naturally begs the question of what the minimum effective dose is to tackle a big goal.

Factors to consider in determining MED:

• What are my goals? 

• What is my pre-existing experience/fitness level?

General thoughts if your goal is to finish and have a solid (not groundbreaking) performance for big races:

• Marathon: 3-4x run per week, 2x strength per week (~30 mins)

• Olympic triathlon: Singles M-F with one off day, possible brick on a weekend day and a couple of S/B/R race sims

• Half IM: Singles M-F with one off day, longer session (3-4 hours) on a Saturday during specific prep phase, long run Sunday; 3-4 race sims

• Full IM: Singles most weekdays but some days with a shorter double session or 90+ min workout; LONG weekend days during specific prep phase + 3-4 race sims. 

• Ultra (50K or longer): 3-4x run per week, 2x strength per week, time for LONG efforts/race sims on the weekend 

Post B-race (olympic) chat with an athlete that didn’t go perfectly 

We talked last week about how fueling and patience are often the factors that sabotage race day. Post-race debrief call with an athlete showed this to be true, plus one additional factor: Mindset. Plus, these factors all interact!

• Mindset: “I felt like Lucy Charles for the first 500m...then I looked at my watch and the pace was way slower than I expected. I basically checked out after that because it felt like my race was over” 

• Reminder: no one wins on the swim. Difference between a good and bad swim for one person may be a few minutes at most. 

• Patience: Post-swim, sprinted through transition and started hammering on the bike to make up time lost in swim; couldn’t get HR down and ended up cooked. 

• Reminder: no one wins in transition. Keep it efficient but easy, allow HR to at least come back into high Z2 before you start the bike for Olympic and longer. 

• Fueling: “It was really hot and I wasn’t hungry so I kind of fell off the fueling” 

• Reminder: stick to your plan no matter what, and if you need to be flexible, be flexible on what you take from aid stations, not whether you’re going to fuel at all. 

• Heat made all of these factors MUCH harder. 

• The silver lining: any time an athlete has a B/C race that doesn’t go well, my immediate reaction is “Great! We learned a ton that we can work on before your A race.” 

• This particular athlete has 14 (!) weeks until her A race. Plenty of time to work out the kinks in race sims and workouts directly focused on addressing limiters / things that did not go well.

• More endorsement for racing often in your prep. 

Three types of movement: Found myself in a bit of a mental funk with pregnancy. Thought more about it and realized there are three types of movement that I do:

• Exercise: not all that structured, doesn’t really need to progress; mostly focused on maintaining health, etc. Many people exercise and don’t consider themselves to be “athletes”

• Training: prepping for a goal race/event with specific structure, etc.

• Adventuring: often but not always social, focused on values like fun; usually for me this would involve a big trail run/hike or bike ride on a fun creative route, break from routine, etc. 

I have definitely been checking the box on exercise in pregnancy but not really on “training” other than in the gym. Planning some adventures and getting out in the mountains recently made me feel SO much more like me. Need to prioritize this going forward and be flexible as my capabilities evolve!

Advice: if you are in a funk, think about how you can infuse more adventuring into your routine or sign up for something you can “train” for and build a plan around.  

Jim:

Athlete Lessons Learned from Ironman Lake Placid

During our Ironman Lake Placid wrap-up Zoom, I asked our athletes: “What key lessons would you pass on to someone doing their first Ironman?”
Here are their distilled takeaways:

Pete

• Nutrition: Had a plan, practiced it during training and race simulations. That’s the number one priority.

• Take your time in transition. Eat real food. Relax. You’ll be fueling with gels all day—real food helps ground you and makes the day feel more normal.

• Don’t get attached to a time goal. This was my first triathlon—I focused on listening to my body. I stayed within myself. On the bike, I focused on feel and cadence.

• Run strategy: Just make it to the next aid station. Take a break, get some food, reset.

• Know the course. Some athletes were confused on the second swim loop. ("Where do I go to finish?")

• The process was beautiful. The journey itself was fun and deeply rewarding.

Kaitlyn

• Nutrition: Same as Pete—had a plan, practiced it, and executed on race day.

• Expect the unexpected. Be mentally ready for whatever comes next.

• Know how to change a flat tire.

• Training and racing Ironman can be tough—on your body, mind, and relationships. It’s a selfish act.
  On race day, embrace the kindness from family, friends, and volunteers. Be kind to yourself.

• Enjoy the moment. Days like this are rare in your life.

Jason

• Practice gratitude and leave your ego behind.

• Spectator energy is real. When someone calls your name, those little acts of kindness hit hard when you’re digging deep.

• Show up early on race morning. It was chaotic getting on buses to transition.

• Your #1 goal should be finishing—because it’s incredibly hard.

• Practice run-walk. Have a plan and the courage to start early. It saved my stomach and helped me negative split the marathon.

Jeff

• Nutrition was a lifesaver. Ate tons of real food in transition. Sodium was key.

• Get in the water early to avoid traffic on the first swim loop.

• Take your time in transition.

• Power walking at 15-minute miles is very doable.

• Race simulations helped set the mental and physical context for race day.

• The family experience was amazing—it truly became a family day.

Kevin

• The day brought so much joy.

• River Road on the run can feel isolating.

• The town miles flew by thanks to the energy from fans.

• You can’t go too easy on the first bike loop.

• Nutrition: Be ready to eat more than during Race Sims. I ate 17 gels.

• Don’t chug non-flat Coke.

• Don’t try new products (like Mortal Hydration) on race day.

• Race day goes by faster than training simulations.

• Set multiple goals.

• Your “A” goal happens 5–10% of the time.

• Most likely you’ll hit your “B” or “C” goal—and that might simply be to finish.

• Post-race: Walk. Move. You need active recovery to clear metabolic waste.

Coach’s Note

This year, I introduced a weekly Zoom for our Ironman Lake Placid crew. It created a real sense of connection and team energy.
Athletes could share insights, compare notes, and build lasting bonds.

Come for the training plan. Stay for the community!

Does Metabolic Bonking Lead to Heat Bonking?

This was a question I asked myself after a bike ride last week.

For context: I’ve recently increased the intensity of my bike rides. After riding two days in a row with some solid efforts, I went out for a third-day ride and experienced an interesting “event,” let’s call it.

That day, we had driven over to Burke, Vermont with the family (highly recommend checking it out—there’s an amazing trail network via Kingdom Trails, plus some great cafes and breweries). It was mid-afternoon by the time we arrived, and I had to be back by 6 p.m. to record a podcast with Katie. I realized I didn’t have time to sit down for a late lunch. My last real meal had been breakfast around 7 a.m.

Knowing I had a long gap between meals, I grabbed a couple of fig bars and ate them right away, planning to refuel again in a couple hours in Lancaster at the Polish Princess. I left Burke around 2 p.m., and it was nearly 90°F with high humidity.

There were two major dirt climbs on the way to Lancaster.

Given the heat and my less-than-ideal fueling situation, I paced myself very carefully. But there was no avoiding the intensity of the heat and humidity. By the 90-minute mark, I was really feeling it—which surprised me because I’ve done a lot of heat riding this summer and generally feel pretty heat-adapted. Still, I felt slightly dizzy, and over the next 30 minutes, I really started to suffer.

By the time I reached Lancaster, I was in a near full-blown metabolic bonk: dizzy, very hungry, and mentally foggy.

At the Polish Princess, I inhaled two large pastries and an iced cold brew. I felt instantly better and figured I was set up well for the final hour home, even though it included more climbing—especially in the last few miles.

But within 15 minutes of leaving Lancaster, I started feeling another kind of bonk—this time a heat bonk. My body was overheating, my heart rate was out of control, and no matter how easy I rode, my heart rate stayed higher than my watts (very unusual for me).

Then the mental battles began. My brain was screaming at me to stop. I was deep in a spiral of negative self-talk and mental tricks trying to convince myself to get off the bike. I kept negotiating with myself: “Just go slower, push a little less, keep moving forward.”

By 2 hours and 45 minutes in, I was completely cooked. I knew I wouldn’t make it home. I pulled over at a local swimming hole, found some shade, and just shut down. After sitting there for about 10 minutes, I found a kind stranger and asked them for a ride home—which they graciously gave me.

So, did my metabolic bonk contribute to a heat bonk?

After doing a bit of research, the answer seems to be: yes.

Low fueling and metabolic stress can absolutely impair your body’s thermoregulation. When your glycogen stores are depleted, your ability to manage core temperature diminishes, making you much more susceptible to heat-related distress.

Study: Physiological Responses to Exercise in the Heat

Takeaway:

It’s even more important to fuel (and hydrate!) properly during rides and runs in the heat. Underfueling doesn't just impact your energy—it can tip you into a full-on heat bonk.

Challenge of the week

Katie: Plan an adventure!
Jim: I’m going to second that Challenge. Post big races, or if you are taking a mid season break, is a fantastic time to go out and use some of that big fitness to adventure with family and friends. 

Gear pick of the week

Katie: Carhartt Canvas Mesh-Back Cap (the perfect hat doesn’t exi…)
Jim: Lead Out! Mini Frame Bag

Episode 91: Pacing, Fueling, Mindset, and More at Ironman Lake Placid

Ironman Lake Placid is done and dusted! In this episode we’re putting a bow on the IMLP journey for many of our athletes by covering the key insights we picked up on race day and immediately before and after. Topics include: avoiding panic training during race week, the importance of hiring a coach, why Ironman is so hard, how cool weather can be a major performance booster, dealing with torrential rain on race day, the importance of patience, infusing joy into your race experience, thoughts on the most helpful workouts and training experiences leading up to race day, carb loading do’s and don’ts, useful mantras, and a whole lot more. This episode is relevant for all long distance races, not just Placid. Check it out! 

Insights from LP and other recent coaching/training

First, big congrats to all of our athletes! So many inspiring performances and even more insights…

Jim:

Ironman Lake Placid Race Observations

Pre-Race Observations

• Recovery is king during race week.
  This cannot be overstated: race week is all about shedding both chronic and acute fatigue. You cannot gain fitness during this time—only add unnecessary fatigue. I saw many athletes doing full course previews or going too hard on Friday and Saturday. Don’t do it!
  Light movement is fine—examples include a 30-minute ride with a 15-minute run off the bike, or one day of an easy 1,000-yard swim.

• Hire a coach.
  It’s your best investment for Ironman and long-course racing. A good coach will keep you from making race-week mistakes, guide you with a tested nutrition plan, and ensure you're truly ready for race day.

• Lake Placid is stunning.
  This might sound obvious, but it’s not always the case—I’ve spent plenty of time there in terrible weather. This year, Friday and Saturday were perfect: cool, blue skies, crisp air. The combo of mountains and lakes in such a compact area makes it a recreational playground. A good day in Lake Placid will hook you for life.

• If I were king for a day...
  I’d reverse the bike course. It rides really well backward, with more trending downhills and just one major climb.

• Bike course preview:
  I rode most of the course on Saturday and was reminded just how challenging it is. I still believe the climb out of Upper Jay is the hardest on the course—it now comes just after mile 90 and is a long, grinding ascent.

• Wilmington to Placid isn't as hard as I remembered.
  Granted, I only did one loop. There’s more speed in that section than expected.

• Thinking about doing this race next year?
  You should plan at least one 7-hour Race Sim ride—ideally during your Week 3 Race Simulation Weekend.

• Incredible stat:
  The race is supported by 1,700 volunteers. That’s what makes it happen. The community support is off the charts.

Race Day Observations

General

• Ironman is an incredibly hard beast.
  Huge respect to everyone who finished. If it had been designed as a two-day event, it would still be tough—but the fact it’s packed into one day is just bonkers.

• Cool weather = performance booster.
  Race day was cool, and you could see the impact—many athletes were able to run more of the marathon than usual.

• Best race strategy: Patience + fueling.
  The best way to stretch your fitness is through discipline and smart nutrition.

• There’s no substitute for big fitness.
  Get as fit as you can—any way you can. That’s your best card to play on race day.

• Don’t forget to smile.
  Too many serious faces on race morning. Enjoy it!

Swim

• Stay easy and relaxed.

• Don't run to T1. A brisk walk helps bring your heart rate down and gets your mind centered.

• If there are wetsuit peelers—use them! I saw athletes skip them, only to fumble with their wetsuits in the sand.

Bike

• Pump your tires the day before and leave them.
  Lower pressure is often better. I saw so many people with pumps—why? You just dropped off your bike 14 hours ago.

• Check the Silca Tire Pressure Calculator.

• “A bike pump will not save you.” If you need to pump every ride, you probably have a slow leak. Fix that during training.

• You don’t need a fancy bike—just get aero.
  Clip-on aero bars on a road bike can give you a big speed advantage.

• Get a professional bike fit.
  I saw too many awkward, inefficient setups. A proper fit adds comfort and speed, and can significantly improve your run performance.

• Avoid full aero helmets with no vents.
  Most years are hot, and those helmets cook your head. One of your main goals on the bike is thermoregulation—don’t sabotage that with an oven on your head.
  (So many Rudy Project TT helmets with no vents...)

• Plan and train for a 7-hour bike ride.
  Don’t assume it will go faster.

Run

• The best runners looked smooth and rhythmic.
  Many triathletes run tight. Your challenge of the week, every week: work on fluid, rhythmic run form.

• Consider changing into dry clothes for the run, especially if it rained on the bike.

• 12–13 minute miles are common at Ironman Lake Placid.

• Keep moving forward.
  You’ll be amazed how much ground you can cover.

• I spoke with several of our athletes on the run, looking them in the eyes.
  In those moments, everything is stripped away. What looks back at you is truth, soul, and connection. This is no ordinary space—it’s rare air.
  This is part of what draws us to big races and epic adventures:
  We go there to find out who we are.

Katie:

Conversation with an athlete about how an “over-distance” swim, bike, and/or run (or time on feet adventure) prior to training is helpful from a mindset perspective. 

• “I wish I had known what it was like to see my bike computer roll over from 100 to 101, 110, 112 miles before race day.”

• W4 Race Sim my athletes did a century, though in the past I have had people do the full 112 distance. 

• Even more useful for me before my first Placid prep were adventures like the Coast Ride (600 miles over 5 days with every day over 100) and the Dartmouth Fifty 

• Then you can use the mantra: “I’ve moved my body for a whole lot longer than this before”

• I probably wouldn’t recommend doing these during the specific prep phase, but folding them into life as part of your “I want to do an Ironman in X number of years” is useful 

• Some ideas: 

• Massive bike ride (something like 200 on 100 or even a 120 mile ride or back-to-back centuries+)

• Big adventure day in the mountains that takes 12+ hours (to get used to moving your body for that long) 

• Note: What I DON’T think you need to do is run a road marathon. Different sport from IM marathon and will be a ‘shorter’ / different intensity zone day. Do it if you want to for other reasons, but not to build IM specific confidence. This athlete specifically said 18 mile long run in the Placid build was enough, and I agree (because the difference between 18, 22, 24, 26 is negligible at the end of IM). 

• Big OWS adventure (5000 yards? We once did 50 x 100 on 1:40 in the pool or could do 100 x 100 if you are crazy)

• Open to others!

• Broader point: the best IM preps are a multi-year project!

Not overdoing it on the carb loading by radically changing everything about your diet the day before race. 

• Athlete taking about day before race: “I think I did not eat nearly enough in an effort to “carb load”, so rather than (e.g.,) having a bacon egg and cheese, I just had two plain bagels in town because i was trying to avoid protein and fat in favor of carbs. By the time I got home, I felt like crap. Had a headache, was hot, and was worried I had come down with a fever and wouldn’t be able to race”

• Luckily rallied with a more normal dinner, but 

• My approach to carb loading is usually more conservative: sip sports drink instead of plain water or plain electrolytes throughout the day, choose carb-y snacks like pretzels or candy instead of protein/fatty snacks, but stick to generally regular schedule of meals and snacks (minus a ton of fat/fiber)

• E.g. I usually eat oatmeal with PB for pre race and pre workout breakfast, but when carb loading I would do some extra oats and a little less PB.

Insight on going ‘external’ vs. ‘internal’ on race day:

• One of my athletes talked about how in a race setting she loves to engage with other racers because going fully external is a better place than fully internal (where your brain may be telling you a story that will not help your performance). 

• Making a friend, making other people smile/laugh, etc. is a great way to harness energy – and something that isn’t often available to you on race sims 

• Specifically would ask racers around her “who wants to run up this hill with me?” and would get a huge crowd going up the hill together 

• Goes back to values like community, joy, etc. 

• We need more people like this on the race course!!

Importance of flexibility with fueling:

• The fuel you loved in training may not settle on race day 

• Even coke may not settle on race day! E.g. if it is too carbonated 

• For one of my athletes, oranges and pretzels became the move when nothing else worked - and that is great!

• What not to do: just stop fueling because you think nothing is going to work. You need to keep trying until you find something that works

General PSA: everyone hates their race photos! Fitness is a feeling!

Some athlete mantras I loved:

• “the best bike is one i can run off of”

• “my fastest day is one where I run the whole marathon”

• “i am in no rush”

• “it doesn’t have to be pretty is just has to be done”

Challenge of the week:

Katie: Post race, give yourself a week of “permission to be super lazy!” and turn off the athlete brain. You might actually enjoy it!

Jim: Clean up your bike post race. Get off all that sweat, bodily fluids, sticky gels and carb drink.  

Gear pick of the week:

Katie: Salomon Adv Skin 12L pack, which we have recommended before – for spectating as well as adventuring/racing!

Jim: Gear for spectators: Binoculars.

Episode 90: Reflections on the First Trimester of Pregnancy as an Endurance Athlete

This episode features a big life update and even more insights for the podcast! We dive into Katie’s A race for the foreseeable future: pregnancy! Topics include: why relatively limited research on endurance training during pregnancy makes individual anecdotes so powerful; how Katie thought about “planning” pregnancy in the context of training and racing (and why pregnancy is ultimately harder to plan than your race calendar); first trimester symptoms—including nausea, fatigue, and food aversions—and how they impacted her training; how she collaborated with coaches, doctors, and other members of her support team to train safely; the decision to “race” a 5K at 8 weeks pregnant and how it went; how Katie’s mindset and mental strategies have shifted so far in the context of pregnancy; goals and intentions for the remainder of pregnancy and postpartum; and some favorite academic papers on exercise during pregnancy. Conversations around fertility, pregnancy and postpartum journeys can be hard, so please know that wherever you are in this journey, you are enough. And even if you aren’t pregnant or planning to become pregnant, this episode has some general insights that may be relevant to you. Check it out!

Links to articles we mentioned:

The Effects of High Intensity Exercise on Pregnancy Outcomes and Complications During Pregnancy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Miles and Maternity: A Survey of Long-Duration Exercise During Pregnancy

Resistance Training in Pregnancy: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Pregnancy, Delivery, Fetal and Pelvic Floor Outcomes and Call to Action

Effect of Pregnancy in 42 Elite to World-Class Runners on Training and Performance Outcomes

Challenge of the Week:

• Katie: try a new fuel source 

• Elena: do something bigger purely for joy

Gear Pick of the Week:

• Katie: Nuun sport hydration tabs

• Elena: Platypus gravity filter, and re-recommending the Leki Ultratrail FX.one poles

Episode 89: Building Your Endurance Capacity, Open Water Swim Confidence, and Comparing Race Performances

In this week's insights-focused episode, we're powering through a bunch of relevant training and coaching tidbits on topics including: why "time on feet" is a useful mindset shift for workouts on tough or hot days, a case study on building open water swimming confidence, why triathlons (and most other races) aren't apples-to-apples comparisons, how you can build your "endurance bucket" and improve capacity over time, how to improve your speed in an open water swimming context, how to effectively climb hills on the bike, how to approach training in the week(s) between big races, and why your training plan is a map and not the territory. Check it out!

Katie: 

On hot/tough/not feeling it days – the value of rebranding everything as time on feet

Case study – Dan getting comfortable with OWS 

• Fun project of getting my FIL ready for the Cohasset Sprint Tri

• Goals: not panic in the swim, have fun 

• 2x per week in pool lessons, focusing on unlocking a “slow” pace, sighting, perfect technique, swim efficiency 

• Roka sim shorts as race swim will be in a wetsuit 

• Hitting sprint distance in pool at the end of every workout after getting technique nailed down to build confidence 

• Minimal time to get in the open water, but building all of the OW confidence swim skills once we could and simulating elements of OW in the pool, e.g. fast/slow 25s (recover breathing while still swimming)

• Nailing down gear - goggles that don’t leak, good wetsuit, etc. 

• Update on how it went - great!

Triathlons are not apples to apples 

• Weather, terrain, small variations in distance, etc. make it extremely difficult to compare two triathlons side by side  

• It’s pretty easy to PR a triathlon by just picking a race best suited to fast times

• Came up recently with an athlete who is definitely fitter than last year but had a significantly faster time at a different race last year due to weather, terrain, etc. 

• Further examples: my Patriot Half 2017; upcoming Cranberry Sprint Tri for Dan (21 mi bike??); Ironman Lake Placid vs. other IMs

Jim: 

Capacity: Building Your Endurance Bucket

You can think of endurance capacity as building a bigger bucket year after year. The water in the bucket represents your energy.

Your bucket has three spigots: small, medium, and large.

• The small spigot drains energy slowly over a long period. This represents very long efforts like Half Ironman, Ironman, marathons, ultramarathons, the Presidential Traverse, Pemi Loop, etc.

• The medium spigot handles moderate energy output. Think Half Ironman, long Olympic-distance triathlons, half marathons, or your typical weekend long run.

• The large spigot is for short, intense efforts—sprint triathlons, hard group rides, intervals, 5K or 10K races. This one drains your bucket in under 90 minutes.

Point 1: A common frustration I hear from newer triathletes—especially strong single-sport athletes like fast runners—is that they can’t access that same speed at the end of a triathlon. They're often confused or disappointed that their "superpower" doesn’t show up when they want it most.

The reality? It's simply a matter of building general capacity—making your endurance bucket bigger so you have more water to pour out over time. If your run splits were slower in your first Olympic or Half Ironman, don’t worry. As you build capacity over the next season or two, you’ll have more energy available—and with that, access to your full potential.

Building your bucket takes patience and time. It’s made up of a lot of non-sexy workouts, week after week, month after month, year after year. It’s about showing up and doing the work. Building buckets and filling them with water is blue-collar, non-Instagrammable work.

Point 2: Over time, the spigots generally stay the same size. However, your ability to use them fades if you don’t train them. A common example: as runners or cyclists age, they might maintain a large bucket (great endurance), but lose access to their top-end speed—they can’t use the large spigot effectively anymore. They have one pace. This is why it’s essential to always train some form of speed: strides, short max-effort bike intervals, VO₂ intervals. You have to use the spigot to keep the spigot functional.

In sum:

• Newer athletes with a lot of raw power will need to build capacity to carry that power into longer, more demanding races.

• Older athletes often have the capacity but must continue training speed and power to retain access to their top-end performance.

Where you are in your endurance journey? That’s a conversation for your coach.

Open Water 10/10s
To inject a little speed and stimulus into your open water swims, try this:

Swim 15–20 minutes at an easy pace, then begin incorporating 10/10s—that’s 10 strokes fast and strong, followed by 10 strokes very easy and relaxed. Repeat this 4 times, which will cover roughly 80–100 yards. This is similar to a swimmer’s drill where you swim the first half of a length strong/fast and the second half easy/recovery.

Start with 4–5 sets, which will total approximately 400–500 yards.

Be sure to maintain proper open water sighting every 7–9 strokes.

As your fitness improves, try extending the effort to 12–20 strong strokes, followed by an equal number of easy strokes.

It’s a fun way to break up a long swim and add some pool-like speed stimulus.

Pro tip: If you start to experience cramps in your foot / calves or legs, try dorsi flexing your feet (bring your toes toward your shins) and kick out a little wider. It’s terrible swim technique but it may alleviate initial cramping and save you from a bigger cramp. 

Climb Hills Better by Splitting the Hill into Thirds
Here’s a simple tactic for tackling big hills:

Look ahead and mentally divide the hill into three sections. Pick two visual markers—like telephone poles, trees, or road signs—that break the climb into rough thirds.

Start the first third by riding very relaxed and easy. Focus on staying loose: relaxed hands, chest, shoulders, and face, with big, slow exhales. Ride as economically as possible.

When you reach your first marker (about a third of the way up), the hill might start to steepen. Keep your body relaxed, but allow your effort to rise naturally with the increased grade. Think of this as applying the appropriate effort—not too easy, but not all-out either. Match your effort to the demands of the climb to stay efficient and smooth.

Around the two-thirds mark, reassess. If you’ve got something left in the tank, this is a good place to lift your effort slightly and finish the climb strong. If not, stay steady and controlled to the top.

Sometimes, you won’t be able to see the full hill—and that’s okay. If you finish your second or third “segment” and realize you’re already at the top, perfect! You’ve saved energy for the next climb.

Transition Weeks: After a Big Race and Before the Next Training Block

Like all good training plans, we build in a recovery week or two after a demanding race. The reasons are clear: the body needs time to recover and rebuild—both physically and mentally.

But what if you have another big race coming up later in the season? Maybe you qualified for Worlds in October, have a fall marathon, or another major event on the horizon.

Instead of jumping straight back into full-throttle training after the recovery phase, I’ve been incorporating Transition Weeks. These are a mix of structured and unstructured training designed to ease the athlete back into the groove without overwhelming their system.

For example, rather than prescribing “6 miles easy” on Tuesday, I might assign 30–60 minutes of easy running. If the athlete feels recovered, they’ll likely run the full 60 minutes. If they’re still fatigued, they’ll go shorter.

The same approach applies to the bike. Instead of structured intervals, I might write, “Ride 2–3 hours with optional pushes on the hills.”

The key is that the athlete is moving, staying consistent, but has a lot of agency over the duration and intensity of nearly every session.

As a coach, you’ll know an athlete is ready to return to structured training when they start consistently hitting the higher end of the prescribed range—and when you hear things like:
“I’m ready to get back into it!”

Transition weeks offer a valuable combination of light physical stimulus and consistency—essential for athletes with long seasons—and they allow for the flexibility needed to respect individual recovery rates.

Remember: the plan is a map, not the territory.
The training plan is a guide—not necessarily a reflection of what your reality will be on any given day.

In the summer, you're typically fit, but how a workout goes can vary. Life might be extra busy with kids out of school, family vacations, weddings, and more. On those days, you may have less energy, and it’s perfectly okay to scale back the workout or the week as a whole.

On the other hand, you might wake up to a cool summer morning feeling race-ready. If you’re scheduled for 4 x 2 minutes at 5K pace and feel great, go ahead and turn it into 6 x 2 minutes at 5K pace.

The key is to understand the intention of the workout and adjust up or down based on how you’re feeling—physically and mentally. Take advantage of high-energy days and be willing to ease off when needed. Both choices are valid parts of a sustainable, long-term approach to training.

Listener/Athlete’s Question

Is it better to ingest my carbohydrates through gels, drinks or bars?

Two studies, the first compared gels vs drinks and found comparable carb oxidation results and the second compared drinks vs bars and again and again there were similar oxidation rates.  

Which is to say, get your carbs in whatever form best works for you. 

First Study: CHO oxidation from a CHO gel compared with a drink during exercise

Second Study: Oxidation of solid versus liquid CHO sources during exercise

Challenge of the Week 

Katie: Schedule PT or massage for a few days after your next big race or workout!

Jim: Include some 10/10s in your open water swimming.

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: TriggerPoint Grid 1.0 Foam Roller

Jim: Continental GP 5000 bike tires