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: 

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

Easy:

Moderate:

Advanced:

Big Day(s):

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:

  • 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: 

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:

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

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:

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:

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

Episode 88: Ironman Race Day Strategies and Lessons from 200 on 100

As race day in Lake Placid approaches, it’s time to shift gears from training mode to execution mode. In this episode, we offer practical, race-tested guidance for your final week and race day strategy at Ironman Lake Placid. From gear checks and fueling to pacing the marathon, we break down the dos and don’ts to help you arrive fresh and race smart. (Rule #1: you’re not gaining fitness this week—shed fatigue instead!)

Jim also recaps his recent endurance milestone: completing the iconic “200 on 100” ride across Vermont. What did he learn over 200+ miles and 12 hours in the saddle? Everything from nutrition (Coke > everything) to mindset shifts that apply well beyond the bike. Expect lessons in pacing, managing the low points, and why you should never carry an unsecured phone in your bento box. 

We also share a quick training insight from the road and why Garmin Pay might just be the MVP of your long run.

Intro:

The JAHI (Jim Anderson Heat Index) — add temperature and humidity, and anything over 140 will start to impact your outdoor sessions!

Main Topic #1: Strategies and Tactics for Lake Placid Race Week and Race Day

When this podcast airs, we’ll be about a week and a half out from Lake Placid. Here are some key things to focus on in the final week and on race day:

Don’t try to gain fitness in the last week.
No “just proving I can do it” workouts. Your primary job now is to shed both chronic and acute fatigue.

  • Make sure your bike is in perfect working order.
    Do not wait until a few days before the race to fix anything. Arrive in Lake Placid with a fully functional bike. You don’t want the stress of hunting down a mechanic at the last minute.

  • Bring all your race gear, tested and ready.
    Race day should reflect your race simulations—nothing new. Everything should already be familiar.

  • Fuel and hydrate well in the days leading up to the race.
    I like to add extra carbs to every meal 2–3 days before the race. Yes, have dessert!

  • See Episode 85: Fueling for Performance with Endurance Sports Dietician Alex Larson

  • Stay off your feet as much as possible 1–2 days before the race.
    The expo is fun and exciting, but limit how much time you spend walking around town.

Swim

  • Think of the swim as the warm-up to the warm-up.

  • Focus on long strokes, fully exhaling underwater, and staying on the cable.

  • If you start to panic, redirect your attention to your exhale.

  • The swim should feel ridiculously easy. If it doesn’t, dial it back—think “catch-up drill” effort.

Bike

  • Keep light pressure on the pedals.

  • Constantly ask yourself: Can I maintain this effort for 6–7 hours? If the answer is “no” or even “I’m not sure,” then ease up.

  • Avoid power spikes on hills. Stay smooth, steady, and relaxed.

  • Remember: the main event is the 26.2 miles on foot. Burning matches on the bike will cost you on the run.

  • Eat and drink every 15 minutes.
    Set your Garmin/Wahoo to alert you. Ironman is a rolling buffet. For most athletes, ~100g of carbs per hour is the target. Many can tolerate more.

  • You should pee at least once or twice during the bike.
     If not, you're likely underhydrated.

  • Use aid stations smartly.
    Stop if you need to stretch, pee, refill water, or cool down. A 1–2 minute pause can significantly boost your mental and physical state.

  • Include extra food in your bike special needs bag.
     Your taste buds will change during the race. Bring options.
    Pro tip: Toss in a small bag of crushed potato chips and a Coke bottle.

  • Expect a rough patch coming back from Wilmington.
    It’s normal. Take in sugar, hydrate, and stay calm. Don’t tell yourself it’s over—it’s not. The brain just needs a boost to reset.

T2

  • Take your time. Reset, refuel, and rehydrate. Some athletes like to change into a fresh running outfit—do what works for you.

Run

  • Crowds will hype you up—don’t take the bait. Start at a very easy jog leaving T2 and heading out of town toward River Road.

  • A 10:00–12:00 pace can feel like flying after mile 8–10. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.

  • Stop at every aid station.
    Ice down your kit, pour water over your head, and tuck ice into your hat (if you’re wearing one).

  • Even if the thought of another gel makes you gag, keep taking in calories every couple of miles. Sugar to the brain and body is essential.

  • Thank the volunteers. This event doesn’t happen without them. Period.

  • Keep moving forward without judging your pace. Run, shuffle, walk—it all counts. When you’re in T2, you’re “just” 26.2 miles away from finishing. Every mile you complete is one less mile to go.

For those with races coming up, check out our episodes:

Main Content #2: 200 on 100 Lessons Learned

I recently completed a bucket item list: 200 on 100.  The route is essentially 200 miles on Rt 100 which runs the length of Vermont.  Most people start on the Canadian border in North Troy, VT and end on the VT/MA border.  Traditionally many people do this on the summer solstice. The total mileage is closer to 208 miles. 

For more information on the route, check out 200 on 100 website . Note that after 2024 they have moved their content to Facebook but this site provides all the relevant information.  

We used the 200 on 100 route on the above page except we stayed on Rt 100 out of Waterbury/Duxbury where the “official” route goes south on Rt 2 and 100B to avoid the climb out of Waterbury. The Duxbury climb on 100 isn’t terrible and I recommend staying on 100. (Rt 2 is a very busy road so we choose to climb over traffic.)

Nutrition and Fueling

  • Coke is the ultimate endurance fuel. When nothing else went down well, Coke always did. The sugar and caffeine hit hard and seemed to last longer than a gel.

    • Nutrition: 240 calories, 65g carbs per 20 oz bottle

    • Caffeine: 34mg in 12 oz, 54mg in 20 oz

  • Potato chips are a close second. Salt, crunch, carbs—they just work.

  • Bring more nutrition than you think you'll need. You’re not a metabolic robot. The body may reject certain foods or flavors, especially late in the day. Have variety and options, or plan to stop at stores along the route.

  • More gels, fewer solids, especially in the second half. As the day wore on, I craved gels over solid foods.

  • Caffeinated gels work. Simple and effective—especially when energy dips.

  • You should have Coke earlier. First Coke at Bridgewater. Next one was about 10 miles from the finish on the Snow ascent. Drank half there, and the other half at the summit. In hindsight, I should’ve had one earlier and bought two at the last stop—one for now, one in the bottle.

Mindset & Strategy

  • Never be in a hurry. Be in the moment. Ask yourself: How can I be my best right now? What’s my goal or intention for this hour?

  • Avoid checking your data too often. Use heart rate as a guide, but constantly monitoring watts, mileage, or time will only make the day drag. The only thing that matters: Keep moving forward at a comfortable pace.

  • What you do in the first half sets the tone for the second. Pace wisely, stay patient, and stay fueled/hydrated early. Success in the back half depends on discipline in the front half.

  • You will hit a low point—but it will pass. I felt nauseous and drained around hour 6. I thought the rest of the day was going to be miserable. But by hour 8–9, I felt fantastic—probably the best I felt all day.

  • Go big and reset what you believe is possible. Stretching your limits makes everything else seem easier afterward.

  • Expect the unexpected. Like launching your phone off a cliff with 30 minutes to go. Then having to drive back the next day with a metal detector to find it. The universe sometimes gives you what you need—not what you want. (Bonus: new phone upgrade!)

  • Never carry an unsecured phone on your bike.

Route & Performance Notes

  • Consider riding south to north. Get most of the climbing done early. If you catch a south wind, it’s an even bigger win.

  • North-to-south: the day doesn’t really start until Ludlow (mile 135).

    • Miles 135–190 are TOUGH. You’re depleted, and the terrain is slow and relentless.

      • It took us 5:15 to reach Rochester (excluding quick stops: one pee break, 10 min in Stowe, 10 min in Warren).

      • Average speeds:

        • 17.7 mph to Rochester

        • 17.8 mph to Ludlow

        • Ended the day at 16.9 mph

      • The 3-mile Ludlow climb is long

      • The 12-mile Snow climb is steady but moderate (up a river valley)

        • Average speed on that section: 12–14 mph

  • Beware the hidden climbs. After Ludlow, there are several short 2–4 minute climbs that don’t show up clearly on the profile but make miles 135–180 especially grueling.

  • Final climb: Wilmington Cross Road (~mile 190). Steep. A tough ask at the end of the day.

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: New Wave swim buoy

Jim: More of a hack than gear this week: Use a wood piece (or stick or foot) to get tire off rim

Episode 87: Our Top 3 Endurance Principles

In this week’s episode, we’re diving into our top three endurance principles—how we train, how we fuel, and how we keep our minds in it. We start with some quick insights from recent training: why race simulations can sometimes feel even harder than race day, and how preparing mentally (not just physically) can make all the difference. We also touch on a mix of things ranging from building confidence when it’s not coming naturally to ChatGPT for training support to thoughts on iron supplementation.

In our main section, we break down the core principles that have guided us and our athletes over the long term: how to structure training with intention (including the importance of strength and speed work), how to fuel with purpose (with practical tips on carbs, hydration, and REDs awareness), and how to build mental resilience and joy in the process.

This episode is an attempt to summarize all of the key tidbits and actionable advice that supports the overall endurance athlete journey–basically a crash course in coaching. We hope you enjoy!

Links we mentioned

The Iron Protocol

Nutrition interviews on our podcast:

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Brainstorm some very long term sport goals!
Elena: Take time for a focused mental check-in → how am I feeling about my goals right now? What’s my current enjoyment level? What are my primary negative thoughts and how can I reframe them? What do I need right now? 

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: The Feed ice bandana
Elena: Amazon heat suit

Episode 86: Four Weeks to Ironman Lake Placid

We can’t believe that we’re less than four weeks away from Ironman Lake Placid, one of our favorite races to coach! We start off this episode with a list of things you can do to eek out just a little bit more fitness in the final few weeks before the gun goes off at your A race. We also cover a bunch of fun insights related to: fueling and hydration strategy on the run, how to think about race week workouts, bathroom stops during races, bike racing in triathlon, athlete tips on keeping joy and lightheartedness in training and racing, thoughts on Strava, quality over quantity of movement, active recovery runs, and more. Check it out! 

Short Main Topic: 4 weeks out from Ironman Lake Placid: Your guide to last month's race preparation.  A few helpful strategies: 

  • This is the last couple of weeks to get that last squeeze of fitness for race day. Once you are within two weeks of race day, your gaining fitness journey is over (exercise adaptations lag weeks behind). The hay is in the barn. 

  • Swim: Get in the open water at least once a week and make that session 4,000 yards at least.  You don’t need to work on open water sighting as much as you can swim on the cable. But you do need to find a very easy race pace that will allow you to come out of the water having used very little energy. Remember: the swim is the warm up act to the warm up act.  (Think the local band who opens for the opening band who opens for the main act.)

  • Bike: Get in at least two more long rides. Ideally one or both of them is close to 100 miles and on terrain similar to Lake Placid. Ideal if you can do a race simulation weekend in Placid.  And try to keep up bike volume during the week. If you can get in a 2 - 3 hour ride on Wednesdays that’s ideal.  

  • Run: If you are a first time Ironman participant, focus most of your runs as ‘time on feet’ which is slow run / shuffle / walk.  Your best tactic now is to focus on the ability to move for 26 miles efficiently.  You can incorporate hiking / walking as part of your run program to get your body used to being on your feet for 4 - 6 hours.  Don’t worry about speedwork. 

  • Dial in your nutrition: This is your last chance to dial in race day nutrition. You should be eating / drinking something every 15’ on the bike.  An Ironman bike is a rolling buffet and it’s an eating contest.   You should be aiming for 80 - 120 grams of carbs per hour.  Use your last long rides and runs to practice EXACTLY how you will execute on race day.  

For those with races coming up, check out our episodes:

Insights

Katie:

Themes from some pre- and post-race calls, quick hitter tips

Pre-race calls:

  • Fueling strategy on the run: Have a plan, but plan that you may not be able to execute on it; the better you can fuel the bike, the more leeway you have for your run nutrition strategy to go out the window

  • Importance of carrying electrolytes, e.g. base salt or salt stick, to help with cramping especially if you do not like aid station hydration options or plan to use water/coke

  • Plan for an additional hour of fuel/hydration than you think you need on the bike. If you get a mechanical and are standing on the side of the road in the hot sun, the fueling/hydration clock keeps ticking!

  • Race week workouts are all bonus. Hay is in the barn, no more fitness to be had. If you are feeling unmotivated, tired, or just don’t want to do it, skip it! 

  • Many questions about when and how to plan bathroom stops in the context of 70.3 and 140.6 - my advice: pee in the swim!

Post-race calls:

  • Evaluating how your bike went – you can usually tell how well you executed/paced the bike depending on how your run goes 

  • The feeling of not being able to push at the end of the run, even with HR not being that high. In my experience this is usually a combo of carbs + mindset. 

    • Chasing down a slot, time, etc., can give you an extra gear that you didn’t know you had; if you aren’t near a clear threshold, it can be hard to push 

    • If you are short on carbs (or lack overall mechanical durability, though less likely for many of our athletes) you will often see legs giving out before your aerobic system. Advice: take a gel even at miles 10, 11, 12+ of 70.3 or late in the day for 140.6

Two great insights in TP comments recently – post 18 mile long run as part of the IMLP build:

  • “...very unconventional and maybe silly, but my FAVORITE thing to do on long runs (and I did this in Boston too, esp. when the flowers were blooming) is because I live in a very touristy city and there are a bunch of tourists on the mall, I simulate spectator interaction by asking families where one person is taking the picture or if they're taking a selfie if they want me to take a picture of all of them. I've only every been turned down once, people are always so appreciative, and it takes 30 seconds max. I get a big boost of energy and smiles and it helps take me out of myself and reminds me that it really isn't that serious” 

  • “I think i'm at the point in the build where...i don't really love doing any of the sports right now...I like riding my bike downhill or cruising after work, I like 5 mile runs, I like being in the water, but it feels like i'm trying to start a business with a friend or something and we're getting on each other’s nerves. We'll always be friends, but we'll be better friends once we stop trying to do this startup (the friends in this case being my running shoes/bike/swim suit and the startup being the ironman).” 

Jim: 

Reflections on 5,000 Strava Activities

A little background:
I joined Strava in May 2013. 12 years = 4383 days. More than one workout per day for 12 years.

Before that, I had over 20 years of unrecorded workouts. Strava captures a majority—maybe 60%—of my structured endurance training. My first recorded workouts in TrainingPeaks date back to November 2010, and even before that, I was using WKO.

Not every workout is on Strava—things like weight training and walks are unrecorded.

Milestones are crossroads.
They give you a chance to look back—and, more importantly, to look ahead to the next 5,000 workouts.

Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way:

  • Consistency is king. Chop wood, carry water—nearly every single day. Staying active 5–6 days a week is optimal.  Consistency builds capacity. Capacity is the vehicle for breakthroughs in training and racing.  Capacity building is a multi-year/decades process.

  • Celebrate the small wins weekly.  Take a moment weekly to review your training and celebrate consistently getting out the door.  Most weeks nothing major happens. The beauty and appreciation is in the pedestrian, daily process.

  • Short-term motivation fades. Ask yourself: Is this routine driven by a fleeting insecurity, or am I truly building a habit I’ll maintain a year from now—with little to no mental resistance? Build your life, habits, and mindset around doing something for the next ten years.

  • Something is better than nothing. Accept that we are perfectly imperfect beings. Just get out the door (or into the pain cave). The hardest part is starting. Prioritize the basics, ignore all the possibilities (that we are barraged with by social media).

  • Do it for yourself. That’s the only sustainable model. If you’re doing it for social media, burnout is just around the corner. Find the activities that speak to your heart.

  • Strava can be a source of real inspiration. Not just from people doing epic or adventurous workouts, but also from those just beginning their endurance journey. While I’m often critical of social media and its downsides, Strava has, on the whole, been a net positive in my life.

  • Earl Warren, the former chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States said: “I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.”

Emphasize Quality of Movement During Zone 2 Runs

It’s easy to focus solely on distance and time—especially during standard easy or Zone 2 runs. Schedules are tight, and workouts need to get done!

But here’s a simple and effective “game” to play: After the first 1–2 miles of your run, stop briefly and do some drills—backward walking, the Awesomizer, dynamic stretches—then continue your run. Chances are, you’ll feel better and run faster afterward.

Keep your attention on your run form and notice what changes might be helping you run faster at the same heart rate as your earlier miles.

Try this: maintain that improved form while keeping your heart rate in mid-Zone 2. See how fast you can go without exceeding your HR limit.

You may find that emphasizing greater hip extension and smoother movement through your shoulders and hips makes a real difference.

Triathletes, in particular, often run with high, tight shoulders. Use your stopping point to consciously relax your upper body. When you start running again, focus on generating power from your hips. Imagine your energy moving from the inside out—originating in your hips and glutes.

If it’s a longer Zone 2 run, feel free to stop again after another 2–3 miles to repeat the drills and stretches.

Think of it like doing technical 50s in the pool: take the time to reset and stay present with your form. Quality matters.

A hack to do an Active Recovery run

We all struggle with slowing down for active recovery sessions, especially runs.  We are sort of hardwired to run (and swim) at one certain pace.

Here’s a helpful tactic: Pretend you are meeting a friend at a coffee shop and you are running 5’ late. You don’t want to arrive sweaty but you also don’t want them to wait too long.

Or as happened to me recently in an airport: Our connection was extremely tight and this was a perfect opportunity to practice my Power Walk - arms up in running position, quick feet but not a run. 

That is the level of effort for a good active recovery run.  You will warm up your body but you won't arrive all sweaty to your destination. 

The More You Know

I’ve been enjoying the PH 500 and PH 1000 effervescent tabs. I assumed that one tab of PH 500 was 500 mg of sodium.  Nope. It’s 250 mg of sodium.  And PH 1000 is 500 mg of sodium per tab.  What’s going on?  The calculations are based on per liter and one tab is meant for half a liter. So if you want 500 from 500, you have to use two tabs in one liter. 

Listener/Athlete’s Question

Should I Kick in Open Water?

This question came from one of my athletes after a race. He noted that he always kicks in the pool but tends not to kick when wearing a wetsuit in open water.

Short answer: You don’t need to kick—or only need to kick very lightly—when wearing a wetsuit.

Longer answer: If you didn’t grow up swimming and/or you suffer from AOS (Adult Onset Swimming):

  • In the pool, we often kick to help maintain balance. Most adult-onset swimmers get little to no propulsion from their kick. There are exceptions, but they’re rare. Typically, these exceptions are younger adults—such as college students—who played leg-dominant sports in high school like soccer, track, cross country, or lacrosse.

  • When swimming in a wetsuit, the kick is less about generating power and more about helping facilitate hip rotation. Think: roll to reach and reach to pull.

How to ride a hill in a triathlon race?

This is a question we get a lot: how should I approach cycling hills during my triathlon?

If you have a power meter, I recommend not going over 100 - 110% of your FTP. Think light pressure on the pedals, smooth pedal stroke, relax your shoulders, face and arms.  When everyone else is tensing up, I think of the hills as a break from generating my own power. The hills do the work for you; you don’t need to apply any extra effort to hit, and exceed, your goal race watts. 

If you don’t have a power meter, use the same method as above - light pressure on feet, relax body.

Why Neuromuscular Intervals? 

Absolute power is the key driver for adaptation.  You need to challenge ALL of your muscles to drive effective muscle adaptations. 

Triathletes can take a page from cyclists and do bike “openers” for triathlon races, key workouts or just include 150%+ FTP bursts regulars on their Z2 rides.

This is the same ideas as strides / pickups during the run.

You only use about 20% of your muscle capacity in a Z2 run.  You regularly need to remind your brain to connect with the other 80% capacity.

Challenge of the Week 

Katie: Post-race journaling: what went well, what you want to work on, etc. Writing a race report can be so useful to look back on in the future!
Jim: Focus on the quality of movement on a run this week. Stop every so often to do some exercises/stretches, reset the body and run more mindful afterward.

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Muc Off Nano Tech Bike Cleaner

Jim: Bivo stainless steel water bottle

Episode 85: Fueling for Performance with Endurance Sports Dietitian Alex Larson

In this week’s episode, Katie and Elena welcome Alex Larson, RD to the podcast to talk all things fueling and hydration. Alex’s mission is to support endurance athletes with practical and simple nutrition advice for lifelong health and performance. She shares valuable insights related to: the biggest mistakes endurance athletes make when it comes to fueling, how to know if you are not fueling enough, how to safely approach changes in body composition (and how to evaluate whether you even should be focusing on body composition changes in the first place), fueling through life stages, meal and snack ideas to support workout timing throughout the day, how and when use supplements, how to properly hydrate, how to calculate your sweat rate, how to manage and avoid GI issues especially in running, and how to effectively carb-load before a big event. This episode is jam-packed full of useful insights that will help you perform in both sport and life. Check it out!

Follow Alex on Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

Check out her website and blog here!

Alex’s sweat rate calculator!

Challenge of the Week:

Katie: Add 10g carbs/hour to however many carbs you’ve been taking in for your long rides/runs for your next session. Log how you feel!

Elena: After your longest/hardest session, add in 4 x 30s/30s– a mental challenge and great for building fatigue resistance

Alex: Up your hydration!

Gear Pick of the Week:

Katie: Acupoint Massage Ball set

Elena: Trader Joe’s Face Sunscreen

Alex: High carb sports mixes - NeverSecond, Skratch Superfuel

Episode 84: Racing Your Race, Channeling Positive Thoughts, and Processing DNFs

This week’s episode is full of insights from the peak of race season! Katie and Elena cover whether and how to use pacers, how to handle the overstimulating nature of race morning, what to wear for racing, how improving your aerobic base improves your top end race performance, mindset shifts in the context of race-day uncontrollables, and not writing the narrative of the race before it’s happened. We also do an extended deep dive on Elena’s tough DNF at the Orcas Island 50K due to a calf injury as well as some of the mental hurdles she battled along the way and lessons she picked up from the experience. Check it out! 

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Plan a new route!

Elena: Plan a big adventure! Something that just sounds both amazing and fun.

Gear Pick of the Week 

Katie: Nathan ExoShot 2.0 Handheld 14 oz.
Elena: Baggu Crescent Bag Medium or Large

Episode 83: Race Week Tips, Avoiding Open Water Panic, and Swim-Bike Bricks

This week’s episode covers insights on lots of topics including: why you shouldn’t try anything new on race day or during race week, how to know when to push through vs. back of in periods of high life stress, panic attacks in open water swimming and how to avoid them, good data vs. bad data, rehabbing ankle sprains and other ligament injuries, mindfulness in running, swim-to-bike brick workouts, why going slow is the key to going fast, how performance gaps are widening between fueled and under-fueled athletes, and how effective movement patterns are key to speed and strength in endurance sports. Check it out! 

Katie 

Don’t try anything new on race day/week

  • Simple but important advice -- race day/week is not the time to try any new gear, nutrition, hydration, health hacks, etc.

  • Some surprising things that I would not recommend trying during race week if you haven’t done them before

    • Massage -- only do a massage if you regularly do massages and know someone you like. I have had athletes walk out of a pre-race massage very sore and with unexpected aches and pains

    • Food -- don’t overdo it on some crazy amount of an unfamiliar carb in the spirit of carb loading. If you don’t normally eat six pancakes the day before your workouts, don’t eat six pancakes the day before your race

    • Supplements -- supplements can be great but can have unexpected GI or other health consequences. Make sure you have a >2 week lead time for any new supplements leading into race week

    • Health things, unless unavoidable from a health perspective (e.g. iron infusion, B12 shots, etc.) -- 2 week lead time again useful 

Knowing when to push through vs. back off in periods of super busy life stress that make it hard to nail sleep/recovery (travel, work craziness, parenting young kids, etc.)

  • Can be a lot to deal with decision fatigue on top of major life fatigue when it comes to deciding whether to push through and just do the workout or not 

  • My 2 cents as a coach: pushing hard when you are already depleted in terms of sleep (or nutrition!) usually sets you back further than the fitness adaptations you would get 

  • Sometimes use a green/yellow/red light plan with athletes that can correspond to sleep in periods of continued major sleep deprivation (>3 days in a row). Example:

    • >7 hours of sleep = green light to do the workout as planned

    • 6-7 hours of sleep = yellow light -- max 30 mins, more of an ‘exercise snack’ type of workout, Z1/2 active recovery

    • <6 hours of sleep = red light -- day off, try to chill out 

Panic attacks in open water swimming context

  • Super normal! Many/most athletes we know have experienced this one time or another 

    • Factors that make it worse: cold, lots of people/splashing 

    • Also: dark water, unfamiliar swimming stimulus, fear of drowning

  • What to do:

    • Make sure wetsuit isn’t too tight around your neck

    • Proper OWS warmup (walk into water, hands in water, face in water, get the vagus nerve wet)

    • Swim easy a little bit

    • Flip on your back and float or switch to backstroke, breaststroke

    • Focus on full breaths out under the water. The build up of CO2 in your blood stream is probably a primary cause of panic attacks.

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”

  • Goodhart’s Law! When we use a measure to reward performance, we provide an incentive to manipulate the measure in order to receive the reward

  • This is actually really relevant to the data that we measure all the time. Pace, power, HR, plus recovery metrics like HRV, RHR, made up ones like “strain” and “body battery,” etc. 

  • I often see athletes get overly fixated on the data and not adequately tuned into the intention of the workout or the feel

    • Intention of the workout and feel are the most important ‘metrics’ we have, though they can be harder to ‘track’ 

    • Any single metric that we measure is incomplete -- data is best used holistically and only as a supplement to feel 

  • Example: an athlete once was very focused on Z2 HR and wanted to do runs on an indoor walking pad that maxed out at 4 mph. It was a run motion at a walking/shuffle pace that actually impacted her run form in a pretty substantial way. Great that her HR was in the 120s, but the “run” piece was lost. HR was no longer a great measure of Z2 running because it wasn’t really running anymore as compared to what a Z2 run would look like outside. Would have been better to run outside with good form and take walk breaks as needed to keep HR down. 

  • Similar with sleep tracking: are you chasing a 98 sleep score or the feeling of being refreshed from a good night of sleep?  

  • Challenge to athletes: figure out what data you tend to fixate on and try to do a workout (or spend a day) without it. Or do a workout hiding some data metrics and see where power/pace/HR land. You will find that you know your body and effort better than you think!

Rehabbing ankles!

  • Case study from me re: rolled ankles

  • Big bad ankle roll on a run recently, same side as I experienced a pretty bad ankle sprain at the end of last fall 

  • Freak thing / stepped weird on cobblestones in Boston 

  • Rehab plan 

    • A few days off running with good ice/elevation -- biking and swimming OK

    • Easing back into running (but no trails and avoiding cobblestones) once I didn’t have pain walking around 

    • Tape can be helpful for a bit more stability in running 

    • Strength program with a lot of single leg stability work, ankle mobility, etc. 

  • Interesting observations as I have been rehabbing it:

    • Extremely tight calves and heels compensating for the ankle instability → body is connected! Need a lot more time working on calf/heel tightness with stretching, massage, PT 

    • Once you start to have ankle issues and loosen the ligaments, re-rolling is common. Be extra careful 

      • Theory: also related to female hormone fluctuations, specifically relaxin which increases in the luteal phase. So be extra careful! 

    • Not necessarily the same protocol as a fracture which is a zero-tolerance-for-pain injury -- actually good to get things moving more quickly 

    • Blood flow, e.g. biking, a good thing

Steve Magness banger of the week

  • “Running isn’t just about fitness. It’s about reclaiming two skills we’re losing in modern life. 1. The ability to be alone with our thoughts. 2. The ability to connect with others. 

  • When you run alone, you train your attention. You learn to sit with boredom, to let thoughts come and go without judgment. No scroll. No noise. Just movement and awareness. This kind of solitude isn’t loneliness—it’s presence.

  • When you run with others, something subtle but powerful happens. Conversations unfold, not through eye contact or performance, but through rhythm and shared effort. You talk. You listen. You just are. And that’s enough.

  • In a world of constant distraction, these moments are rare. But they’re also essential.

  • Running reminds us:

    • You don’t need to be entertained every second.

    • You don’t need to track every metric.

    • You don’t need to perform for an audience.

  • Sometimes, the most meaningful things are the ones that can’t be measured. Only felt.” 

Jim: 

Swim to bike sessions:

With open water season upon us, try to get in some swim bike BRick workouts. That is a much harder transition and rarely practiced.  These are, in my opinion, of higher value than bike-to-run transitions.

Do it slow first before you go fast

With the warm weather (kind of) many athletes are able to extend their sessions.  A key primary principle to keep in mind as you train for your distance is to do it slowly first. Then when you can do the distance slow only then consider doing it fast (or race pace).  

This serves you in a few ways: 

*The first longer sessions are easy, gentle on the body, low psychological load sessions. Your only goal is to complete the distance (or the race or key workout). This takes a ton of pressure off the first few long sessions of the season.

*You build overall durability and biomechanical adaptations at an appropriate speed and timing.  You are conditioning your body first to tolerate the time / distance. 

*Once you are comfortable with completing the time / distance, start to add in blocks of race pace effort with plenty of recovery.   You don’t need a lot of race pace efforts to provide additional stimulus to the body.  Think gentle ramp of race pace efforts over a series of key workouts over 2 - 3 months. 

Gap Developing Between Max-Fueled Athletes and Less Optimally Fueled Athletes

I’ve been watching the Giro d’Italia—one of the three Grand Tours in cycling, alongside the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain).

Commentators have been emphasizing how high-carb fueling is becoming a major differentiator in the peloton. Veteran riders like Geraint Thomas often mention that this shift in nutrition is one of the biggest changes in pro cycling. Those from his generation who have adapted are staying competitive, while those who resist are either dropping out or falling to the back of the pack.

I’m seeing a similar trend among my athletes, and the performance gap is accelerating this year. Athletes who prioritize maximum or appropriate fueling during intervals, race simulations, and actual races are consistently breaking through performance plateaus and achieving results they never thought possible. 

On the other hand, I have a subset of athletes who, for various reasons, have not embraced adequate fueling—despite their bodies burning through glycogen like newspaper in a fire.

There are a few reasons we talk about fueling on every podcast:

  • For new listeners, we want to educate you on this critical performance topic and help validate what you may be hearing elsewhere.

  • For regular listeners who haven’t yet embraced adequate fueling, we encourage you to give it a try. You’ll feel better, and any psychological or logistical hurdles can be addressed. It’s simple, though not always easy.

  • For those already on the high-carb train, you're probably nodding along—it’s an “if you know, you know” (IYKYK) moment.

Logistically, carrying all your carbs can be tricky. A couple of helpful items:

Also, take your bars out of their wrappers, cut them into pieces, and store them in your bento box. If you're keeping extra bars in your tri kit’s back pockets, pre-open the wrappers to avoid fumbling during your ride.

And if you're an Ironman athlete, don’t forget about the bike special needs station at mile 56—use it to reload your hydration and nutrition.

Stuart McMillan on the Rich Roll podcast insights

* Effective movement is crucial for sprinting (insert running for sprinting) success; coaches should emphasize the quality of movement over sheer volume.

* Athletes should focus on developing a strong hip extension pattern, which is essential for efficient sprinting. (See Lawrence van Lingen YouTube channel for many hip extension exercises.)

* Emphasizing variability in movement can enhance adaptability and resilience in athletes. (i.e., do a bunch of different movement / play to increase your resilience/durability)

* The relationship between coach and athlete should be collaborative, allowing athletes to express their needs and preferences in training.  The Coach knows best practices but only the athlete knows how they feel.

* Athletes must cultivate a mindset that allows them to perform at maximum intensity while remaining relaxed and fluid.

* The best performances often occur when athletes are fully present, which can be difficult to achieve in high-pressure situations. (I’ve been mental prepping my key workouts the day before.)

* Connecting your entire being with the activity you're doing can lead to success, as seen in various sports where confidence and self-expression are key.  Successful individuals, such as musical artists and athletes, often achieve immense success by being themselves and expressing their true essence.

* Movement and expression are closely linked, and being true to oneself can lead to immense success and personal growth.

*Skipping - do it! More coordination demanding than running. Great warmup and even workout.

Challenge of the Week 

Katie: Mentioned before -- go data free when you can! Either for a couple of days (daytime metrics tracking) or during a workout

Jim: Be aware and have a plan of your increased need for more hydration and/or plain water cravings toward the end of a long bike ride / run. 


Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Dohm white noise sleep machine

Jim: Dark Speed bento box

Episode 82: Recovery Strategies, Periodized Strength Training, and Active Heat Training

In this week’s episode, we chat through our favorite strategies for recovery and signs of whether you are recovered or not, how we approach traditional strength training in the gym vs. cardio workouts that build strength in a periodized context, active heat training protocols to increase your blood plasma and improve performance, how we think about structuring training for unique combinations of events, how to know whether you are improving or not, and why adventurous and durability-based workouts can often make us feel like the best versions of ourselves as athletes. Check it out! 

Challenge of the Week 

Katie: Schedule some downtime in your calendar!

Elena: aligning with Katie’s– schedule yourself some spa time! You deserve it! Also watch this 13 min video: Arc'teryx Presents: 109° Below

Gear Pick of the Week

Elena: Gu Roctane high carb mix

Katie: Vornado 660 fan! 

Episode 81: Leveling Up with High-Carb Fueling, Measuring and Optimizing Hydration, and Open Water Swim Tips

This week’s episode covers insights across lots of topics including: how you can level up your long-distance performance quicker with high-carb fueling, how you can use hydration biosensors to optimize your fluid intake, open water swim safety tips, how visualizing the transition area can save you time on race day, why you should consider “going all in” for your next race, and how to think about recovery in the context of travel. We also answer some great listener questions on how to plan out your hydration strategy with aid stations and limited bottle cage capacity on race day, how to approach racing in bad weather conditions, whether to buy a swim skin or not, and considerations for traveling with a bike. Check it out!

Coaching and Training Insights

Level Up Quicker with High-Carb Fueling

We’ve talked before on the podcast about how we view the progression of athletes from Level 1 to Level 5. Level 1 athletes are just beginning their endurance journeys. This phase is critical for building foundational skills and typically takes 2–4 years.

However, my perspective on this model is beginning to shift with the impact of high-carb fueling. While it still takes years to develop triathlon skills, build a solid aerobic base, and gain race experience, the ability to perform at a higher level sooner is being accelerated by effective high-carb fueling—and hydration.

In the old model, it might take 2–3 years before athletes started seeing meaningful results at the Sprint, Olympic, or even Half Ironman level. But by focusing on properly fueling during training for months ahead of race day—and dialing in race-day nutrition—I'm seeing even newer athletes perform far beyond what we used to expect from beginners. It’s truly changing how I view Level 1 and 2 athletes and how quickly they can progress.

Previously, fueling wasn’t a major focus early on. Athletes might have taken 2–3 years of racing to fine-tune their nutrition needs. They would often start with minimal fueling and gradually train their GI systems to tolerate more over time. Now, with an emphasis on gut training and high-carb fueling from the beginning, we’re accelerating progress by years.

That said, I’m not advocating for rushing your athletic journey. One of the most rewarding aspects of endurance sports is the consistency and commitment built over time—year after year of training that develops deep aerobic and metabolic durability. But with a focus on proper fueling from Day 1—specifically high-carb fueling—we can climb the mountain faster than before. This gives you more years to keep improving, and we just might discover you’re capable of performing at levels you never imagined.

hDrop Review
hDrop, the first reusable hydration wearable sensor. Sweat testing for athletes made easy, flexible and affordable.

It comes with an arm strap and you wear it at the top of your tricep for best results. It’s comfortable and I don’t even notice it is there.

Pros:

  • You may already have a general idea of your sweat rate and sodium needs, but hDrop helps refine and validate your actual requirements.

  • After each session, you receive a wealth of data, including:

    • Total Fluid Loss

    • Estimated Sodium Loss

    • Sodium Concentration (mg/oz)

    • Average Sweat Rate (oz/hour)

    • Estimated Potassium Loss

  • The “Data Explained” feature offers detailed, practical insights into your session. For example, during my long session on Wednesday, I lost the equivalent of five sports bottles of fluid, and my sodium loss was higher than average compared to the general population.

  • The app includes charts for Fluid Loss and Sweat Rate.

  • At the end of each session, it reminds you to replenish a specific amount of fluids and sodium. I find this especially useful, as I often focus on food post-workout, while hydration and sodium replacement can be easy to overlook.

  • The app runs in the background on your phone and supposedly you don’t need your phone the whole time but if you do, the app will remind you to drink. And you can add a connection to your Garmin units for real-time metrics such as sweat loss, sodium loss, and the hDrop Score.

  • Over time, you can start to correlate your hydration and sodium needs with the conditions of your run or bike sessions (e.g., specific heat and humidity levels).

  • It includes a morning thumb reading to assess hydration status. This is helpful if you're feeling a bit worn out in the morning—it could be due to dehydration.

  • It uses reusable hardware, unlike disposable patches such as Nix.

Cons:

  • You need to start a session while connected to Wi-Fi or cellular service. Since I often begin workouts in areas without coverage, I have to start the session at home before driving to my starting point. It's not a major issue—just something to plan for.

  • After using hDrop for a season (or part of one), you'll likely gain all the actionable insights you need. It’s not something you’ll need to use every year. However, for the price, it's definitely worth it for at least one season of use.

  • Randomly the app will log you out.

When in doubt, add swim gear

  • Everyone knows I do not love swimming

  • Whenever I don’t want to get in the pool and do a main set, it usually works for me to do a main set with fun choice gear – paddles, fins, etc. 

  • Times are faster which feels great mentally, but effort (slow/medium/fast) is the same 

  • I feel pretty strongly that swimming with a lot of gear will make you faster swimming without gear (after all, a wetsuit is a serious piece of gear)

  • While you shouldn’t avoid swimming without gear all the time, I think you can get away with a lot more gear swimming than you think!

Open Water Safety tips
Just a few reminders for those getting into open water for the first time this spring:

  • Always use an open water swim buoy.

  • Acclimate your hands and face to the water before fully submerging. I like to blow bubbles with my face in the water for 1–2 minutes beforehand. Repeat this until your head is acclimated to the cold and your breathing normalizes.

  • Try to swim with a buddy whenever possible.

  • If you're swimming with a buddy or group, agree on designated landmarks or turn points, and stop to check in with each other every 500 yards or so.

  • I like to throw in a few backstrokes periodically to check on others around me—it never hurts to take a look once or twice while heading toward your planned spots.

  • If you're swimming in a new area, take a few minutes before entering the water to assess your surroundings: Where are other swimmers? Are there motorboats? Where are the docks and shoreline in case you need to exit? If you’re in the ocean or a large lake, take note of current and wave patterns as well.  When in doubt, ask the locals where you should swim and what are the hazards.

Visualize swim in/out, bike in/out, run in/out when you get to a race venue

  • Polar Bear Tri in Brunswick Maine

  • Most of my spectating involved yelling at our team kids “other way!” for run out (opposite from bike in/out)

  • Important to visualize all steps of transitioning when you get to a race site; it can be very confusing especially when you are at 175 HR and were just underwater or hammering the bike

  • Broader theme: reduce and/or eliminate all decisionmaking during the race (we have talked about this with planning out your fueling in advance, too) 

Going All In

I was talking to a marathon runner who’s on the cusp of qualifying for Boston. A few weeks earlier, we had decided that she would go for it at her upcoming race—roll the dice and see if she could hit the Boston Qualifying (BQ) time.

But the week before the race, she was feeling sluggish and her legs felt heavy. She started to question her ability. I reassured her that it was just the taper and she’d feel fresh on race day.

We came back to her original goal of really going for that BQ. My main point was this: she had trained so hard and so consistently for months to get to this point. We didn’t want to look back and wonder what could have been. There was risk—but likely an even greater reward.

It got me thinking: how many great athletes can you name who gave 10% to 90% effort? None—because those people don’t make the history books. They aren’t the ones we remember. Our role models don’t just call it in, they go all in.

So this is a call to give 100% in your training and racing. Bring your full intent every day, even when you’re recovering. “All in” doesn’t mean going all out every session—it means bringing your best self to the “work”. When you reflect at the end of the day, there’s nothing more satisfying than being able to say you did your best.

It’s easy when everything is clicking.

But things will go wrong. You’ll make a great effort and still fall short. You’ll face moments where your emotions flare and your plans fall apart.

What matters most is how you respond. Again and again and again.

Excellence does not mean control. It does not mean perfection.

It means the ability to meet the moment with objectivity, flexibility, and a next-play mindset. It’s staying in the game. It’s giving your all. It’s beginning again. It’s responding instead of reacting. It’s stepping into the arena. It’s caring deeply. It’s laying it all on the line. It’s coming up short. It’s exceeding expectations.

It’s doing this all while staying grounded. While keeping your head up. While continuing to show up as best you can.

— Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness

Alan Couzens quote - “one should never underestimate the recovery benefits of a stable life”

  • This has hit hard recently!

  • Tons of travel this month - learning once again that travel is hard on the body, and injury risk goes WAY up if you don’t modify accordingly

  • Extra hard when the stoke is high and you are traveling somewhere with fun opportunities for recreation

  • Some things you can do: reduce volume/intensity and treat it as an organic rest week; bring your recovery modalities with you and use them when you can; hydrate more than you think you need; fuel the work and pack lots of snacks in advance

    • First stop upon arriving at a new destination: Whole Foods for post workout shakes, simple breakfast materials, etc. so you pre and post workout fueling routine stays dialed 

Listener Questions

How should you plan out hydration for a race where your number of hours on the bike exceed your bottle cage capacity?

  • A few options:

    • (1) One double concentrated bottle + one water bottle from an aid station, alternate sipping 

    • (2) Learn to use the hydration offered at aid stations and rely on that

    • (3) Exchange bottles at bike special needs (definitely do this in IM but make sure to add lots of ice and consider insulated bottles - stories from IM St. George and Kona) 

  • In all of the above, be okay with getting rid of bottles you will never see again

  • I don’t recommend using e.g. a camelback unless you really have to (e.g. some self-supported super long gravel races) - not aero and can be very hot on your back, plus unnecessary extra weight.

  • Jim: I just bought 30oz water bottles for my bike, upgrading from the standard 22oz bottles.  Given my per hour sweat rate and the upcoming summer heat/humidity, these will become my standard bottles until cooler weather. 

How should I change my race plan if the weather conditions look terrible (e.g. insane rain/wind) and or the swim is likely to get canceled?

  • Real athlete story from IM 70.3 Panama City

  • If swim is canceled, race plan shouldn’t change that much because the swim should never really burn a match – just extend your land warmup (if you can’t ride, a 15-20 minute easy jog with strides will do) and make sure to not overcook the beginning of the bike

  • If conditions will be dangerous for racing, dial back intensity on curves/turns/steep downhills and/or incredibly windy sections, avoid biking on the paint on the road, and be open to being out of aero more than you would otherwise be to ensure you are safe

  • Even if the weather is terrible, fueling hat stays on - you might be more focused on bike handling than nailing your fuel, but you need to lower the intensity to the point where you can continue to nail your carbs 

  • Jim: If the swim is canceled like Chattanooga 70.3 this weekend, consider adding a few more watts to your overall bike plan or shoot for a slightly faster run split.

Help! I am afraid the swim could be too warm for wetsuits, do I need to buy a swimskin?

  • My answer: unless you are gunning for an AG/overall win, you probably don’t need a swim skin. The odds that the swim is too warm for wetsuits are pretty low in IM brand races (race officials have a huge incentive to avoid a non-wetsuit-legal swim for safety reasons) and there is always a lot of fear/hype in the Facebook groups beforehand that is largely unwarranted. 

  • Swim skins are also VERY expensive and you will probably use it 0-2 times.

  • I have a swim skin that I have worn in Kona, but that is one of the few races where there is 100% certainty of no wetsuit and where the distance of the swim does offer an advantage; and I also think I would have been fine if I didn’t use it 

Question for Katie re: bike bag. “Also, are you planning on travelling with the new bike in your Scicon case? I'm looking to buy a travel case for some upcoming trips and I have a very similar set up in my Tarmac SL7. I'm a bit worried about the soft case especially after you mentioned the carbon damage but that might not be correlated whatsoever!”

  • My response: “Essentially yes I think my bike got damaged by TSA, but in fairness my father in law packed it up for me with me supervising on facetime (long story) and I don’t think it was as carefully done as I would have done on my own. I’ve flown with it probably 30 times or more and only had an issue (not with carbon) one other time, but I also don’t trust TSA enough anymore with a softshell case to fly with my new really nice bike, so for now that bike will not be air traveling with me (I usually borrow or rent when I go far at this point). If I really need to fly with it I’ll probably get a hard shell case someday, or maybe I'll fly with my gravel bike which is pretty beefy/durable.” 

  • Jim: Consider a hard case like Bike Box Alan

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Get a professional bike fit! Quick story from my bike fit

Jim: Gently run your hands along your tires before every ride to check for glass/wire/nails/bulges.  Every 1 - 2 years you will discover a surprise that will probably save you from a very inconvenient flat tire. 

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Lifting shoes! Reebok Nano X4

Jim: Castelli Espresso Jersey or Assos MILLE GT Jersey S11

Episode 80: Mental Prep, Fueling the Work, and Self-Belief at the Flying Pig Marathon

In this week’s episode, we’re recapping Elena’s speedy race and “effort PR” at the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. We talk through why Elena chose to race a road marathon as part of her build for UTMB, her flexible approach to setting A/B/C goals, how she managed internal and external pressure, why feeling bad during the taper doesn’t mean you’re going to have a bad race, the mental prep she did to get ready for race day, how she designed and executed her race plan on a challenging course, why body weight has so much less to do with performance than we might think, what it was like to coach her husband Will (who also crushed it!) for this race, and why self-belief was the number one factor that led to her incredible performance. Katie and Elena also cover some fun insights on when and how to choose a big vs. small race, why the ability to “say yes” to anything physically is one of the greatest benefits of endurance training, how we think about integrating chat GPT into our training and coaching strategies (or not), and female athlete body pressures. This is a super rich episode full of insights for any athlete — check it out! 

Challenge of the Week
Katie: Put an emergency gel or other snack in all of your sports bags - swim bag, gym bag, saddle bag, run belt, etc. 
Elena: share a tasteful amount of vulnerability– it may help someone!

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Brazyn Morph collapsible foam roller

Elena: Janji 3” Multishort

Episode 79: Training in the Heat, Fueling Big Days, Troubleshooting Fatigue, and Building Bike Fitness

This week’s episode is jam-packed with insights across a bunch of different topics! We riff on: how to think about training during the first hot and humid days of the spring; how to plan out your fueling strategy for long workouts and races; troubleshooting low motivation and/or fatigue; the pros and cons of indoor vs. outdoor intervals on the bike; handling high-pressure situations by having a calm conversation with yourself; optimizing recovery after big days; using races or group rides as organic fitness tests; how to build durability on the bike; why skipping and other plyometrics can revolutionize your running; and Jim’s minimum effective dose 15-minute run workout for time-crunched athletes. We also hit some fun swimming-related gear picks of the week and answer listener questions on clip-in pedals. Check it out!

Insights:

Katie:

Troubleshooting low motivation and/or fatigue

  • Anything that lasts longer than 3 days in a row is a red flag

  • Rolldown list that I usually ask myself / my athletes

    • Underfueling / overtraining? *Note physiologically these are probably the same thing

    • Sleep, or sleeping a lot but not feeling refreshed by sleep 

    • LSS

    • Vitamin/ nutrient deficiency (especially iron, vitamin D)

    • Female athletes - cycle phase 

  • Tell your coach! We can help! Great to nip things in the bud before they get bad 

Question to riff on: Pros and cons of structured intervals outside vs. organic intervals outside. 

  • When and how to do each?

  • Jim: Our listeners will know that I’m not a big fan of the bike trainer. However, and it pains me to say it, it’s where the power is often built. It is incredibly time efficient and you can draw a short line between a lot of quality trainer work and power improvement. 

  • In the ideal world, we would do a mixture of both inside and outside riding. Inside for specific power work and outside to build up durability.  And this is often a good option in the Spring when sunlight is limited, it’s often still cold during Monday - Friday pre and post work workout time slots.  Then you can catch some sun and warmth on the weekends outside. 

  • If you ride outside with a power meter, it’s deceiving that you are spending more time in higher power zones than what you are. For example, if I want to do 20’ of sweet spot training, if I ride a hilly course, I’ll often see that ~90% power number and think I’m getting in all the planned work. But analyzing the data post ride, I might see 12’ of accumulated sweet spot work.  The lesson is if you want to do outside intervals, find a specific stretch of road or hill to do your work.  For example, I have a number of hills that I know are 5’ long vs 8’ long and which ones are really steep for VO2 max work vs other hills that are better for Sweet Spot or Threshold.  Or stretches of road on the TT bike that are good for 10’ - 20’ Half Ironman intervals. 

  • Which is to say, you can do the work outside but you need to explore your area and match the terrain with the type of work you have planned. And then go back and forth (or up and down). You are treating the outside like a bike trainer session - how ironic. 

Steve Magness on high pressure situations of discomfort, in racing or life → having a “calm conversation” with yourself

  • Protocol for situations of mild discomfort:

  • 1. Observe the sensation. Notice it

  • 2. Describe it. Emotional granulation is when we add layers to the feeling. When we know what it is, it takes the edge off it.

  • 3. Label it. Call it the devil on your shoulder trying to get you to stop. We gain control over what we name.

  • 4. Talk back, calmly. Talk to it like you would a friend giving advice. Research shows shifting to a 2nd or 3rd person creates psychological distance, which allows us to turn down the inner alarm. Even better, take that inner voice and make it outer.

  • 5. Ground yourself in the present. Shake out your arms to reduce tension. Take a few deep breaths to remind you you’re still here.

  • 6. Change your focus: If your brain starts to panic, your focus starts darting all over the place looking for an escape. Lock on to something useful. The teammate ahead of you, the next mile mark.

  • “This is starting to hurt. Makes sense. We’re running fast.” 

  • A calm conversation is about putting space between stimulus (hard running) and response (slow down or stop). No judgment. No panic. Just presence. And in that space, something shifts: The pain doesn’t disappear, but the fear or pull to escape it does. You see it as information that you can listen to or let float on by

  • Jim: Steve published a good article on The Psychology of Performing this week.  

    • This article explains that the fear, doubt, and anxiety athletes feel before a race are natural survival responses rooted in human evolution, originally designed to prepare us for life-or-death situations. This is our subconscious mind.  The other side is we have recently evolved to work with tools, math and logic. This is our conscious mind.  

    • One of the article key points: Racing experience will help us develop mental models to respond to many different situations.  Experienced racers are flexible and have capacity to respond to many different situations/uncontrollables vs inexperienced racers tend to have only one race plan and often that race plan is blown up in a races dynamic environment.

Workouts During the First Hot Days of Spring

You're going to feel rough—and that's totally normal. After months of winter, your body isn't yet adapted to the heat or efficient at cooling itself.

Here are a few things you can do:

  • Modify your workout by removing any intensity. Avoid intervals on the first 1–2 hot and humid days of spring. Pushing hard too early in the heat can lead to negative health outcomes.

  • On the bike, drink at least one bottle of water per hour—and consider more if it's especially hot.

  • On the run, if you're overheating, take a walk break. It's better to finish strong than to crash mid-run.

  • Ease into the heat. It typically takes 2–3 weeks to fully acclimate, so be patient with yourself.

  • Golden rule: Never do anything in training today that will jeopardize your ability to train tomorrow.

Organize All Your Calories in One Place for a Big Ride

The night before your big ride, lay out all the calories you’ll need for the day. Gather everything in one place and organize it by what you plan to consume each hour. If you're one of our athletes, use our Half Ironman and Ironman fueling spreadsheet to list out your products and calories per hour.

For example, if you expect to burn around 3,500–4,000 calories on a long Ironman training ride, aim to consume about half of that—roughly 2,000 calories. A general guideline is to target at least 80–100 grams of carbohydrates per hour.

Here’s why this exercise is so useful:

  • You’ll likely be surprised by how much fuel you actually need. Seeing it all laid out helps reinforce the importance of the  correct amount and need for consistent fueling.

  • By organizing your fuel by hour, you reduce decision fatigue during the ride. This lets you focus on effort and maintaining a regular intake of carbs.

  • If you stop at a coffee shop or café for a snack and coffee, don’t count those calories in your main nutrition plan. Consider them bonus calories. Stick to the fueling plan you created with the spreadsheet. Yes, you’ll likely eat more total calories, but this gives you wiggle room in case you fall behind on fueling and also trains your GI system to handle higher carb intake—something that almost always improves performance.

After the ride, go through your pockets to see if you followed your plan. It’s harder than it sounds! Take a few minutes to journal what went well and what you can improve for next time.

For example, on a long ride a couple of weeks ago, I noted in my journal that I felt low energy during the final 30 minutes. This past week, I remembered that moment when I started lagging again near the end of a 5 hour ride. I reached for an SIS Beta Gel with 40 grams of carbs—and it worked!

After a Big Effort—Race or Race Simulation—Take More Rest and Recovery

Lately, I’ve been seeing more comments about feeling tired, needing extra days off, or only being up for light aerobic activity. This is completely normal and expected.

After a big effort—whether it’s a race or a race simulation—your body will send clear signals about what it needs. And more often than not, it’s asking for more rest and recovery than your brain (i.e., the anxious athlete mind) thinks it needs.

Listen to your body. It’s usually the smarter coach.

Get More Out of Yourself with a Race, Group Ride, or Training Partner

I tend to avoid standard run or FTP tests with athletes for a couple of reasons:

  1. Most people don’t enjoy testing—it’s rare to find someone who actually looks forward to it. Testing often feels like a “have to” instead of an “I get to.”

  2. Solo testing rarely reveals your full potential. Humans are wired to work harder together—it’s in our tribal DNA.

Instead, I prefer athletes to use these approaches

“B” Races
These usually push you to your limits and give you a true sense of your fitness. They are a great way to see how far you’ve come in training and help you plan and pace your “A” race more effectively.

Group Rides or Runs
Most communities offer group rides or runs—track workouts, club rides, etc. These are excellent opportunities to break out of your own head and push yourself alongside others. And more often than not, especially on group rides, things get spicy. That extra intensity can take you to peak power and paces you might not reach on your own.

Intervals with a Friend
Some of my best power numbers this year have come from doing intervals with friends or just riding alongside them when the pace unexpectedly picks up.

For example, I increased my 5-second power by nearly 60% and improved my best 1-minute power by 15%. In that same session, my average 1-minute power interval went up by at least 10% just by doing them with a friend.

These are huge gains—especially considering that in endurance sports, we’re usually chasing improvements of just 1–3%.

Building Physiological Resilience / Fatigue Resistance

From a Daniel Rowland Substack post: Link

“Endurance performance is typically explained through VO₂ max, metabolic thresholds, and efficiency. However, recent research suggests these characteristics deteriorate over time, with individual variability. This has led to increased interest in physiological resilience—an athlete’s ability to maintain performance despite prolonged exertion.”

Here is a subset of the key takeaways:

  1. Long-term consistency and high training volume over several years are linked to improved resilience.

  2. Prolonged sessions that include race-pace or higher-intensity efforts under fatigue appear to enhance resilience.

  3. Heavy strength and plyometric resistance training help maintain physiological capacity over time.

Practical Long Bike Workout Ideas (Related to Point #2)

Here are a few ways to apply this in training:

  • Climbing Late in the Ride: Choose a long route where the first half is easier, saving the majority of the climbing for the final hours—e.g., 3 hours into a 5-hour ride.

  • Tailwind Out, Headwind Back: Ride with a tailwind for the first half of a long loop, then challenge yourself with a headwind in the second half.

  • Progressive Intensity: On a flatter course, ride the first half at Ironman intensity (65–75% of FTP), then add Half Ironman intervals (80–85% of FTP for 4-6 x 10–20 minutes with 2’-4’ recovery) during the back half.

  • Climb-to-Workout: Ride very easy (60–90 minutes) to a long hill, then complete a tempo/threshold effort at 90–100% of FTP for 20–30 minutes. Afterward, spin home in Zone 1 for another 60–90 minutes.

No matter how you structure it, a tactic to building fatigue resistance is this: ride easy for 2–3 hours, then introduce some form of intensity or challenge in the second half.

Don’t Forget to Fuel

As ride time increases, so do your fueling needs—especially during those late-ride intervals. Your body will require more glycogen (carbs/sugar) to maintain performance.

Keep sipping carbs regularly, and depending on the intensity, you may need to take in fuel every 15 minutes. If you start to fade, it’s likely not a fitness issue—it’s your body calling for more sugar.

It’s tough to stay on top of fueling when you’re tired and pushing hard—but that’s exactly when it matters most. I have to remind myself during these moments: I’m doing two things—working harder and fueling even harder.

Skipping

Skipping is having a social media moment—thanks to Andrew Huberman, social media trends, and even coverage in The New York Times.

We include skipping as part of our recommended run warm-up routine, and for good reason. It helps to:

  • Warm up the body

  • Develop power and coordination

  • Open up the hips

  • Engage many muscle groups at once

  • Train the brain

  • Improve balance and stability

  • Strengthen bones

  • Scale to your ability level

  • Add variety—try skipping uphill for an extra challenge

It’s the ultimate plyometric move.
And honestly? It’s just fun. You can’t help but feel lighthearted when you start skipping down the road before a run.

One summer, I focused exclusively on drills—and my base run pace improved by 30 seconds per mile. I believe the exercises that had the biggest impact were drop jumps, skipping, and uphill strides.

Want Proof?
Check out this study on the Effects of Plyometric Training on the Performance of 5-km Road Runners:
Read the study

The plyometric training protocol used in the study consisted of:

  • 6 sets of drop jumps

  • 30 seconds of effort followed by 30 seconds of rest

  • 2 seconds max between each jump

  • 45 cm box height

  • Performed twice per week for 8 weeks (16 sessions total)

Result?
Runners improved their 5K time by 11%.

A Minimum Effective 15–20 Minute "Run" Workout

If you're traveling or short on time, this is a highly effective "run" workout that only requires a small amount of space—a park, sidewalk, or quiet street will do. You don’t need much geography to make it work.

Workout:

  • 3 minutes backward walking (look up Lawrence van Lingen for technique)

  • 2 x 10 standing hops – 10 seconds recovery between sets

  • 2 x 30 seconds drop jumps (if a platform isn’t available, skip this or modify)

  • 2–3 x 15–20 seconds skipping for height – walk back recovery

  • 2–3 x 15–20 seconds skipping for distance – walk back recovery

  • 6–8 x 8–10 second short uphill strides – only needs 150–200 feet; walk back for recovery

If you have leftover time, a 5’ easy jog. 

Listener Questions

Look vs speedplay vs others for ease of clipping in / out?

  • Jim: I don’t think any clip in pedal is better or worse for clipping in and out. The key is you can set the clip in tension for any pedal. For example, with Look pedals, there is a screw on the back of the pedal that allows you to loosen the tension screw.  I personally set all mine to the least tension as that seems to be plenty of tension to keep clipped in even during strong moves on the bike and it’s easy to unclip which is a real big consideration if you are riding in an urban area with more starts and stops.

  • I would YouTube your pedals for a lesson on how to set the pedal tension. 

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Try to simulate the elevation/terrain of your race course in your next race simulation – or better yet, plan to travel to the race site. 

Jim: Journal your per hour fuel and hydration after each long ride / run.

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: TYR mesh swim bag

Jim: Aquasphere Kayenne swim goggle - great for pool and perfect for open water swimming. One goggle to rule them all. 

Episode 78: Boston Marathon Insights, Handling Race Nerves and Disappointment, and Optimizing Your Schedule

This week’s episode is another grab bag full of recent insights from racing, training, and spectating! Elena and Katie cover a bunch of fun topics including: insights from the Boston Marathon; how to optimize your training schedule for variables like multiple sports, good vs. bad weather, recovery, and social time; pre-race nerves and anxiety; processing bad races; gender breakdowns in Ironman and ultra training; emotions and training; what rucking is and how to incorporate in your training; how the menstrual cycle impacts overall feel in training; and fun new marathon prep workouts. Check it out! 

Challenge of the week

Katie: Go for a PR on a Strava segment!

Elena: Be hyper aware of your negative self talk. Whenever you catch it, practice reframing it into positive self talk. 

Gear pick of the week

Katie: Goodr sunglasses 

Elena: REI Swiftland shorts

Episode 77: Training Camps, Buying a New Bike, Post-Race Blues, GI Issues in Running, and More!

This week’s episode is a grab bag full of fun insights related to: the how and why of training camps, considerations for buying a new or new used bike, navigating race-day uncontrollables, impulse control in racing, how and when to “burn a match” in workouts or races, GI issues on long runs, the post-race blues, and lessons from interval training. We also debrief Jim’s recent bike trip in Europe, answer some questions related to “hitting the wall” after Katie’s recent marathon (hot take: there is no wall), and cover some fun tech-y gear picks of the week. Check it out! 

Want to put all of your big fitness to a good cause? Check out the Bike MS: Cape Cod Getaway 2025 or consider donating to support!

Coaching and Training Insights

Katie:

Thoughts on buying a new bike

  • Pros and cons of new vs. used

  • Places to look for used bikes: BuyCycle, PinkBike, The Pro’s Closet, Craigslist/Ebay

  • Frame – carbon is best

  • Components – learn the tiers, get Ultegra (Shimano) / Rival (SRAM) or better

  • Wheels – easy to upgrade, one of the best ways to make you faster 

  • Nice to haves:

    • Power meter

    • Electronic shifting 

  • Partnering with a local bike shop for assembly / fit 

  • Two extremely important and sometimes overlooked variables:

    • The FIT and the COLOR

Navigating race-day uncontrollables

  • Race day story from one of my athletes at Oceanside with major bike mechanical

  • Pre-race call where we said that “if the only thing you are worried about is a bike mechanical, you are in a good place!” 

  • What to do: start trying to fix yourself, and if that doesn’t work, flag down a mechanic; they will find you eventually especially in big races

  • Emotional regulation – being able to regroup is really hard when you get shaken by an uncontrollable. Remind yourself that getting upset won’t help the situation and focus on what you can control in that moment

    • Example recently of not choking in the face of disappointment/major pressure: Rory McIlory 

  • Mindset shift: mentally, subtract mechanical time from your overall time to get a more accurate picture of your fitness/training

  • Super proud of my athlete for being mentally locked in! 

Post-race blues

  • Normal! Part of it is physiological - the endorphins/dopamine/other happy hormones wear off 

  • Things to do:

    • Celebrate and enjoy what is harder in peak training (example: brunch! Triathletes can’t do brunch! Or vacation) 

    • It can help to stick to your routine (i.e. if you normally do your workouts in the morning, consider some Z1 recovery movement during that time) 

    • Start researching other races you might be interested in doing to know what the options are, but I recommend waiting at least 2-4 weeks before singing up for anything new

Impulse control in marathon racing (and many other races) 

  • Shoutout to one of my athletes who had an incredible race at the Ojai Marathon in CA. A goal of 4 hours, ran 3:51

  • Interesting course – first 6 uphill, then most of the race downhill to Ventura, flat finish

  • In pre race meeting we talked a lot about how much impulse control was going to be important in this race; goal was to NOT try to be at goal race pace during the first 6 and assume that she would make up a ton of time on the downhill

  • This involved letting the 4 hour pacer pass her in the first six miles which can be so tough mentally, and yet she did it

    • “For the first 6 miles I had to go so slow to keep my HR down” 

  • Finished strong, negative split the whole thing, and said: “I feel like I really enjoyed it because I wasn’t dying the whole time” // “It feels so good to be optimistic and excited after a race instead of just completely gassed” 

  • Super strong mental game here and lessons many people can learn from! Hold back!

GI issues on long runs  

  • Something is in the air/water – 6 (!) athletes reporting GI issues on long runs over the weekend! 

  • Actually super normal and something to loop coaches in about 

  • Some things that can help:

    • Trying to normalize your workout and mealtimes so your body stays on a schedule – often this is worse for late afternoon or evening runs especially if your body isn’t used to it

    • Also important to train your body to run at the time of day of your race – if you always do your long run at 11am and your race starts at 6am, more likely to have GI distress or not be able to go to the bathroom beforehand 

    • Keeping a pretty plain diet the morning before your runs as well as the 1-2 days before, especially for racing; try to keep up your normal volume of food, but keep it plain like if you were recovering from a stomach bug  

    • Watch the caffeine intake; sometimes helps people in the morning but too much can be tough on GI system 

    • In extreme cases, consider checking in with doctor for gluten or dairy intolerances, IBS or any other related issues 

Jim:

Bike Camp Lessons

Why do a bike / run / training camp:

  • Big bump in fitness. Compress a week worth of TSS into 3 - 4 days.

  • Focus on one sport which will give you more confidence and skills. We did a lot of climbing and descending on hairpin turns and my downhill cornering skills got a lot better. And due to all the climbing, my power balance (left and right leg) improved (still rebuilding after last year's accident).

  • Time to focus on just being an athlete and not having all of life's responsibilities. Training camps are adult play camps.

  • Build new friendships and renew old friendships.  When you work hard with a group of people, you develop a quick feeling of camaraderie. I’ve kept in touch with people for many years after a training camp and you may get to see them again at a race/event in another part of the world.   (You could work with someone for years in an office and never feel close to them but you go to a training camp for a week and you develop a bunch of new, close friends! Hard work and shared suffering brings us together like nothing else.)

Day 1: The number one rule: nothing too crazy. You're probably dehydrated, tired, and adjusting to time zones. Your only job is not to ruin the rest of the week. This might mean letting some moves go on the bike that you would normally cover. Let go of your ego on Day 1 and focus on the long game.

  • Day 1 mistake: I didn't eat enough on Day 1 and suffered later in the day when the pace picked up. I wasn’t sure when we would be stopping or the specifics of the route (e.g., when the big climbs or descents were coming). I had two water bottles: one with 80 grams of carbs and the other with 40 grams. I was saving the 80-gram bottle for a big climb, which left me with just one bottle to sip from, causing me to ration my water/carbs early in the day.

  • The day started with a 45-minute climb right out of the gate, making it tough to ease into the day and the camp.

  • Honestly, I ended Day 1 feeling like I hadn’t trained enough and that the next four days were going to be tough. I was a little embarrassed and disappointed in myself. Turns out, it was just the bad sleep, dehydration, and fueling that were affecting me.

Day 2: Main Mission: I ate early and often. I increased my intake by 50% over Day 1 and felt fantastic later in the day. I was able to push bigger watts at hour four, which hadn’t been possible on Day 1.

  • The route on Day 2 started with a 45-minute easy warm-up, followed by two gentle climbs. The bigger climbs came mid-ride, and by then, I was well-fueled, hydrated, and properly warmed up.

  • The effort on Day 2 was similar in mileage to Day 1, with more climbing, but the TSS (Training Stress Score) was nearly the same. Because I was fueling better (and had gotten some sleep and hydration), I ended Day 2 feeling strong and ready to tackle Day 3.

  • The strongest rider on Day 1 faded on Day 2 because he wasn’t fueling enough.

  • Day 2 lesson: Get through Day 1. Don’t judge the entire camp based on the first day. Stay well-fueled and hydrated for the rest of the week. Focus on steady, fueled watts—this will often outperform Day 1 heroics.

  • On a 4-day camp, the camp doesn’t really start until late on Day 2, so hold back until then.

Day 3: 2.5 hour recovery ride with one 10’ threshold+ interval up a small mountain to a monastery.  Zone 1 recovery was important and it’s nice to throw in a few harder efforts these days to build confidence and keep touch with high end speed/power.

Day 4: I was a bit tired and initially, as we started the ride, I wanted to classify my physical abilities as either "bad" or "good," but I realized there was a third option: I felt like I was in the middle of the bell curve. It was a reminder that feeling neutral is also a valid choice in both athletics and life.

  • Physiological lesson: My heart rate was suppressed, and I couldn’t get it above 155 bpm. I was aerobically tired. On Day 1, my heart rate was elevated, while on Day 4, it was lower. Heart rate can be misleading. 

  • This might be a situation where the Tymewear ventilation heart rate strap could be helpful. I suspect my breathing rate was the same at 155 bpm as it was at 165-170 bpm on Day 1.  More to come on this topic; I am an early tester for the first public release. (Don’t go out and buy one of these yet!)

Additional Thoughts: Even in cooperation, there is competition. We weren’t there to show each other up but to ride together across some incredible terrain. However, as athletes, there will always be a natural tendency to compare strength and speed. It's human nature to categorize each other’s abilities and traits.  Competition / hierarchy naturally wants to be established on Day 1 as our brains love predictability.  However, if you play your cards correctly, who is strongest on Day 1 may fade later in the week (or the next day).

Post-Camp/Travel: The day after camp or travel should be an easy, active recovery day. Don’t push it—let the gains consolidate and ease back into your regular routine.

  • My hack: I usually don’t sleep well when I return from travel, so I’ll get up early the day after to ensure I’m tired by the second night home. This helps me sleep and get back on track with my usual schedule.

Intervals Are Compressed Learning

  • I always say that racing is a rich learning environment. But the same can be said about interval workouts.

  • Take this example: the other day, I did 8 x 1-minute bike intervals at anaerobic capacity—about 150% of FTP. These are tough efforts that mimic the demands of a group ride or race.

  • Back when I wasn’t training in a structured way, it might have taken me weeks to accumulate 8 x 1-minute efforts at that intensity.

  • But now with structured training, I compressed all of that learning into a single 30-minute session.

  • The main lesson: How I executed the first interval compared to the last was dramatically different. In the first couple, I went out way too hard and faded fast. Then I started experimenting—spinning a higher cadence and easing into the effort. By the 6th interval, I had it dialed in: a smooth, sustained effort for the full minute, with even a kick of power at the end. I finished that workout not just with fitness gains, but with new skills and confidence to attack short, high-intensity efforts in a race—like powering up a hill or closing a gap.

  • If I hadn’t been doing structured intervals, it would’ve taken me weeks—if not months—of solo and group rides to learn how to execute that effort properly.

  • The same principle applies to running. Take the hill on your usual route. If you only run it once on your normal run loop, you’ll eventually get a feel for it—but it might take months to truly dial in your hill pacing.

  • Instead, turn that hill into your interval session: do 45-second, 1-minute, or 90-second hill repeats. In one session, you’ll learn more about how to run that hill well than in weeks of casual runs. That’s compressed learning.

  • Then, next week, you could apply the same approach to 2- or 3-minute hill intervals on the bike. Within several weeks—or even just a month—you’ll gain effort-based skills that might otherwise take years to develop.

  • That’s how you become an experienced athlete. That’s the kind of racer you want to be on race day.

How and When to Burn a Match

  • If you’ve been consistently doing your Zone 2 (Z2) aerobic training and your interval work, as we've discussed, then you're ready to burn some matches during a race or group ride/run. But what does it mean to "burn a match"?

    • It refers to significant, usually short bursts of power or pace—like attacking on a hill, making a strong pass, or accelerating hard out of a slow corner. These efforts can be intense, but they're brief and tactical.

  • In triathlon especially, we generally advocate for even pacing across the swim, bike, and run, as this approach typically yields the best overall results. However, as your aerobic fitness improves—and you develop a good understanding of the power or pace you can sustain for 10” - 30” seconds, or 1–2 minutes—you’ll be able to burn a few matches during a race without negatively impacting your overall performance. Done correctly, this can give you a critical edge over your competitors.

  • Think about a running race where you're evenly matched in pace with a group of runners. Then you hit a hill. If you're able to maintain the same pace up the hill while others slow down by 5 to 15 seconds per mile, you’ll start to separate from the group. Over a hilly course, those small gains add up. On flat terrain, you might all run similarly, but your strength, hill conditioning, and pacing knowledge give you the advantage when the terrain gets tough.

  • The more you develop the ability to burn matches at key moments in a race, the more strategic and successful your racing becomes. It’s a huge confidence booster—and it honestly feels like a superpower. While others dread the hard parts of the course, you're thriving. See a hill in a race? Hold my beer.

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Try 5x of one of your key disciplines (swim, bike, or run) to see a training breakthrough. **Though be smart with run mileage! See also Jim’s blog post: The Power of 5x.

Jim: Go do intervals with friends or a group.

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Elevation Lab TagVault AirTag Bike Security Mount

Jim: VEEAPE Tiny Pump Mini Bike Tire Pump