Welcome to the new season, athletes! We are back in full swing with training and coaching, so Jim and Katie sat down for an extended insights episode all about what we are learning from our athletes (and from ourselves!) in the first couple weeks of the new year. We cover: good and bad data, going high vs. low in Z2, workout ordering, logistics of a training week, intentions and resolutions, “gentle January,” engaging the parasympathetic state, hunger cues, and a whole lot more. We also do a deep dive on TrainingPeaks Virtual, a new online cycling competitor to Zwift, and introduce a new bonus segment. This was a fun one — check it out!
Coaching and Training Insights & Main Content
Katie:
Why don’t program workouts in TP such that they sync to a Garmin?
Check out our Episode 20: Good Data and Bad Data
We want you to have a good feel for work/recovery intervals and the flexibility to be aware of your surroundings! With a workout like 6 x 20” pick ups, it doesn’t matter if you take 60” or 80” or 72” between them. And some days your pickups are going to be 6:00 pace while other days they might be 6:45 pace depending on how you feel. Think about the intention of the workout, always.
Another note - our run workouts are never meant to be complicated enough that you can’t remember them off the top of your head!
Going high in Z2 vs. low.
Better to go low due to the same mitochondrial adaptations.
Gordo Byrn framework for when you are ready to try an IM:
You’re able to swim relaxed freestyle and you’ve completed workouts up to 4,000 meters duration.
You’ve completed running races at 5 km, 10 km and Half Marathon distances. You do not need to have completed a marathon, but you do need to have been injury free for the last 12 months and have been running 3-4x weekly.
You’ve completed triathlon events ranging from sprint distance to 70.3 distance.
You’ve ridden a number of century rides (100 miles, or more).
Does workout ordering matter?
Specifically: does it matter if doubles are done back to back vs. with a rest in between? Does it matter if I e.g. swim and lift on one day and bike and run on another day, or swap to swim/run and bike/lift?
Workouts are like Scrabble tiles, move them anywhere they best meet your life schedule. Very few ordering rules like back to back tempo / threshold runs.
How to approach doubles?
Big rock, small rock analogy
For me right now: strength (2x per week), longer weekend run, and midweek run workout are my big rocks (as I’m doing a little early season run block). Big rocks need good recovery beforehand and need to be done first in the day. I am also locked into early morning BoMF run and one recovery day per week. Pretty quickly, the week is filled out with workouts, but preserve the big rocks!
Athlete question: Can I stack volume onto Z2 runs/rides/swims if I have time?
Yes. Principle: Do nothing today that will jeopardize tomorrow.
BUT there is a limit. If you are doing 3 hour rides on the trainer now, you will burn out and/or have nowhere to build ‘to’ unless you’re angling to do 25-30 hour training weeks at your peak
Talk about volume, mitochondria development, etc.
The fifth leg of an Ironman / triathlon / ultra run is logistics
Reverse planning
Automate it
Laundry, food, recovery, transitions (pool/gym), packing, etc.
Boring and repeatable is your friend
If you travel a lot, think travel-friendly
Talk about hacks
Some fun goals/intentions from an athlete who did a great job at goal mapping
Training goals
Train with friends at least 1/week
Discover a new training food that I really love
Have fun when I train at least 1/week
IM goals
Run the last 6 miles of the marathon
Race the last 6 miles of the marathon
Have at least one moment when I say “holy cow, I am having so much fun”
Process goals:
Focus most on fueling immediately after
No more than 24hrs between TP comments
ALWAYS do a little warm up, even if it shortens the actual run
Jim:
New Years resolutions
Motivation, Guilt, Shame, Self punishment
May be a short term motivator but it’s not a long term strategy.
Instead build friction free habits and schedules that enable long term change and transformation.
Easy zone 2 is very effective because it’s easy to get out the door for a run and bike. It’s a lot easier to drive to the pool when your swim set is largely easy to moderate.
And I find that once I’m doing the activity, most of the time my body and mind get primed for strides, a few hard pushes uphill or some fast 25s. And if my body isn’t up for it, no worries. You nailed the workout by just getting out the door.
Start January run program very easy
Everyone is pumped to literally hit the ground running in January. This is our reminder to ease gently into a run program, especially if this is your first round of structured training or you are coming from an off season. Running is very corrosive. The first few runs might feel fine but if you overcook it, you’ll find that the following weeks, you’ll start to struggle with plantar fasciitis, achilles injuries, etc.
There are a lot of macro and micro adjustments your body must make; tendons, muscles, bones, fascia, blood movement over a course of January and February.
You are always rewarded for being patient and slowly building a run foundation. It’s not linear; you’ll go along feeling not much progress but eventually hit the “hockey stick” part of the curve.
For January, I like to think about pacing for a 50K - super easy, all morning pace.
Focus on breath, breathing out on recovery part of interval
While doing structured workouts on the bike, I’ve been focusing a lot on big breaths out during the recovery and playing a game of how low can I get my HR during the recovery. I find it a bit easier to focus on the out breath than in breath but then transition to focusing on big, deep breaths from the belly during the intervals.
It’s good practice for outdoor riding and running.
So much strength work
I realized that I have so many athletes doing strength work this winter either on their own or with a trainer. Great job, team!!! Keep it up! I’ve always said I’m most scared of the strongest athlete on the course. Big Fitness along with Big Strength is unstoppable!
Parasympathetic as a normal state.
I usually think about the parasympathetic (rest and digest) state only for after workouts or before bed but we should strive to live in a default parasympathetic state not a sympathetic state (flight, fight, freeze).
In today’s climate, it’s easy to be cranked up as a normal emotional state. I find myself checking in regularly throughout the day to ask this question of myself.
If I’m in a ‘fight or flight’ state, I can use a massage gun, RPR, foam roll, breathwork or brief meditation. Develop a lot of tools in your tool chest to bring about that change in state.Katie: recommend Insight Timer as a solid meditation app!
Your why for racing can be simple
I had a new athlete say they listened to our podcast where we talked a lot about knowing your why for racing. This left him with an impression that the why needed to be deeper than what it may need to be. He had just finished telling me he wanted to be better this year at Ironman than in previous years and liked to set goals and challenge himself. I replied that is enough of a reason or a why. Challenge, evolution and transformation takes many shapes and sizes.
Evolution, big or small, is fundamental to the human experience. It is our birthright.
Lactate reduces ghrelin, the hunger hormone.
Did you ever wonder why you are not hungry sometimes after a hard workout? I was this year old when I learned that greater blood lactate accumulation is associated with greater suppression of the hunger hormone ghrelin and subjective appetite. So, although you may not feel hungry after a long and/or hard workout, eat up. Train hard, eat harder!
Katie: related to this many athletes have reported to me feeling really hungry on their off day. That’s because your body is finally feeling how much burn it’s been doing all along! Training less that day is not a cue to eat less (in fact, failing to restock the energy stores on your off day is a one way ticket to low energy availability). Instead, think of it as your day to top off the energy stores (‘fill the tank’) because it will be nearly impossible to break even on big training days!
When it’s cold or time is limited, break up your bigger workout with an exercise snack + main workout combo on back to back days
We’ve been in a cold snap recently and as such, I’ve been using exercise snacks combined with a main workout on back to back days to safely build volume. Recently I wanted to do a longer run but instead I ran 3 miles at 5pm on a Tuesday and backed that up with a 5 mile run on Wednesday morning with a friend. Instead of doing a long run with a 36 hour time window, I did two run workouts within a 17 hour time frame. That’s better athlete math! As we often say, frequency is our friend.
When it’s really cold or time is very limited, think about exercise snacks as a way to grab a little bit of fitness and then you can follow it up the next day with a more normal workout. Stacking an exercise snack with a main workout is very helpful to gain fitness and be easy on the body.
Review of TrainingPeaks Virtual
I’ve switched over from Zwift to TrainingPeaks Virtual. It’s free for all TrainingPeaks Premium users and it’s essentially as good, and even better than Zwift.
I made the switch after spending three weeks trying to get Zwift to connect to my laptop. It’s always worked with my current setup. After trying two different bikes and three different Wahoo trainers, I gave up. FYI: Zwift’s first line of customer support are “Ambassadors” not employees. You have to work through your issue first with what seems to be a power user of Zwift and then you might get bumped to an actual Zwift employee/customer service. This was not a particular fast or helpful experience.
Conversely, TP emailed after download asking for feedback, saying it was a new program. They provided a direct email to a person. Clearly wants to engage the community and build out the product with user feedback.
I found TPV very convenient for:
Sorting custom workouts
Default screen to a lot of useful data. I appreciated the power balance as a default. (Only available if you have a dual sided power meter.)
Less gamification. No levels to the game. Pick your gear. Don’t have to earn it.
Designed well to interact in the TrainingPeaks world.
Easier graphics in general.
You can ride with others, set up group meetups, etc. There is a race or event every 5 minutes.
There are less route choices than Zwift but assume they will build out more.
Listener Questions
How do I remember my swim workout?
Write it down on a piece of paper, get the piece of paper wet, and stick the piece of paper to a kickboard or the pool deck - one of our favorite Dart Tri swim hacks!
Noah trick: screenshot it from TP and make it as phone background.
Challenge of the Week
Katie: Habit stacking -- if you want to introduce a new habit, bundle it with something that you already do. Some recent examples for me/ my athletes:
Calf stretches when I brush my teeth
Calf stretches when I wait for my coffee
Do your TP comments while you are cooling down on trainer or stretching post run
Protein shake in the shower
Jim: Use your massage gun for run warmup, combined with RPR exercises.
New Bonus Segment -- TV show rec of the week for the trainer:
Katie: Happy Valley
Jim: Jackal (on Peacock) on trainer & David Sedaris audiobooks at night.
Gear Pick of the Week
Katie: Compression socks for air travel or long periods of standing/sitting after long/hard workouts
Jim: HyperIce Go 2 Sold out on their site but Amazon has them available.