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