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Katie Clayton
Episode 71: Grief and Training, Adaptation, ...

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Episode 73: Tapering, Race Simulations, Zone 2, and Swim Technique Cues

We’re starting the transition to from base season to race season fast! This episode covers a bunch of topics we’re thinking about as our athletes welcome spring, the build phase, and even some races. We talk through the what, why, and how of tapering, the common pattern we see of bad race simulations and good races, and reminders on the benefits of zone 2 and how to make easy aerobic training more bearable. We also do a deep dive (no pun intended) on common swim technique issues, cues to address them, and why making the swim a low metabolic stress event needs to be the goal of triathlon swim prep. Finally, we chat through the pros and cons of TrainingPeaks’ new “See How I Stack Up” feature and share some fun challenges and gear picks of the week. Check it out!

Coaching and Training Insights

Katie:

Tapering:

  • Many athletes are getting ready for April races! This means: taper!

  • What is a taper?

  • Why do we taper?

  • How do we taper?

  • Why the taper is scary -- hard to feel like the hay is in the barn and there’s nothing else you can really do to build fitness

  • Don’t be one of those people in the IMLP facebook group that’s riding 100 miles one week out from race day

  • What to expect when tapering?

    • Sometimes body feels weird

    • Niggles, other things “off” 

    • Grouchy!

    • All part of the process

  • How to mentally get through the taper

    • Spend your extra time on mental prep, rolling/mobility, getting your gear organized, SLEEP, meal prep, etc. All the things that are harder to fit in when you are busy with peak training

    • Jim: Make a list! Read the athlete guide. Make a race day schedule.

  • Also, check out our episodes on:

Bad race sims and good races

  • Many athletes are starting race sims!

  • Mixed bag of results especially early in the season when hard RP intervals are done on the trainer and weather outside is variable 

  • Some comments along the lines of “this did not go very well, probably because of X”

  • Mindset shift: GREAT! If your race sim didn’t go well, we probably learned a ton of things about what we can change for next time so things go better. This is why we get 2-4 race sims in before a longer race so we can troubleshoot as many issues as we can 

  • Time and time again I have seen the classic “race sim went poorly, race went great” progression. So try to keep in mind the rule of thirds and use bad race sims as a learning opportunity 

    • This goes for good race sims too - if anything worked particularly well, document it so you can replicate it 

Some reminders/tips on Zone 2:

  • Check out our episode on Zone 2 Training!

  • A lot of athletes are frustrated with having to stare at their watch during workouts to make sure they are staying in Zone 2

  • I’ve increasingly moved to some feel-based cues and suggested athletes take a break from focusing exclusively on staring at the watch. Things to try:

  • Rate of perceived exertion - should be around a 4 out of 10 on Z2 runs. Easy!

  • Talk test - could you hold a conversation while running? (Bonus points if you could sing a song!)

  • Nose breathing - could you breathe in and out of your nose

  • Other things to try:

    • Run/walk

    • Running on a very flat surface, e.g. track

  • Hacks for getting HR lower

    • Watch caffeine intake prior to run

    • No fasted training

    • Run warmups/activation

    • Walk warmup prior to run 

    • Bringing as much intentionality as possible to filling up your lungs and long exhale 

    • Goes without saying but get those stress levels under control!

  • Jim: I’ve been using walk breaks between my Z2 runs and pickups / strides.

    • See my challenge of the week - sound and smell run.

Swim tips: 

  • Common swim technique issues we see and how to fix them:

    • Crossover (“train tracks”) - use the lane lines (line at bottom of pool) to enter and pull along the edge.

    • Head position (“quiet head”) - rotate your body to air, play a game of how little you need to move your head. Think one goggle in, one goggle out.

    • Hip rotation (“rotating on an axis”)

    • Kick timing (learn 2-beat; try kicking with fins)

    • “Soft warm kitty / big dog” / Slow to fast pull after fingertips are pointed to the bottom of the pool. Your entire arm recovery should be elbow led and relaxed.

    • “Armpit to the sky” - If I’m standing on the side of the pool, I should be able to see your armpit.

    • Buy a swim snorkel - best way to watch your stroke, especially your pull.

  • Videos we mentioned:

Jim:

Easier week, big weekend 

  • We are starting to get to the part of the season where the weekends are BIG training - race simulations, long rides and runs, bigger swims. As such, feel free to adjust your Monday - Friday plan so that you show up on the weekend ready to work. Make adjustments to unload during the week and load for the big weekend work

Lack of swim fitness will have a major effect on your bike/run

  • One of the biggest myths in triathlon goes: The swim is such a small part of my day timewise so I don’t need to swim much.  

  • While this follows some level of logic, it does not reflect that reality of triathlon and human physiology. 

  • A few reasons to be swim fit:

    • Swimming is very metabolically challenging and globally demanding on your nervous system. Think of the deep hunger and tiredness you get after a hard swim workout. If this is how you start your race, it will naturally drag down your bike watts and run pace. 

    • Imagine that you have a bucket full of energy. You want to meter out how much energy you pour out for each event. You want to dump out a little of the energy in the swim, a bunch on the bike and have half the bucket full when you hit the run so you can dump all remaining energy into it. 

    • If you are not swim fit, you dump a third of your energy out of the bucket. This leaves A LOT less energy for the bike and run. 

    • If you are not able to get to the pool regularly, which is common for a lot of athletes, plan your swim sessions around finding a very easy swim pace to do your event distance. Practice pulling way back on effort and comfortably doing your swim distance. You aren’t thinking about racing, you are thinking about energy conversation. 

Don’t count swim strokes

  • I’m seeing a number of questions from athletes asking how to improve their swim turnover i.e., taking more swim strokes per 25 in order to increase their speed.

  • There are many ways to improve your swim speed and turnover is probably not in the top three. The reality is you need to swim more. If you are swimming 2X per week, try increasing it to 3X per week. That will make a big difference.

  • And if you are not improving after 2-3 months of 3X, you probably need to increase your yards with more sessions. (And of course, send swim videos to your coach to ensure you are executing swim stroke fundamentals correctly.)

  • Swim conditioning / upper body aerobic fitness takes A LOT of time and is very specific to swimming (no, you can’t increase your swim times by going to the weight room more). 

My advice: 

  • Swim more. If you really want to break through in swimming, you need to put in a swim block where you swim 5X per week. This is probably not practical for most triathletes but something to consider next winter.

  • Focus on a quiet head. A quiet head is the ibuprofen of swimming; it cures many other problems.

  • Focus on engagement in your glutes and hamstrings and swimming in a cylinder (present less resistance to the water)

  • Focus on a deeper entry and extension, about a foot under the water and getting a good purchase on the water. Pull slow to fast. Your biggest swim speed gains will come when you can start to feel the resistance of the water. The water will feel more like sand than water. 

The best blog post ever on triathlon swimming is Joel Filliol’s The Top 20 Rules for Faster Triathlon Swimming

Here are the first 6 rules: 

  • Conditioning trumps drills. Technique matters, but the way most athletes try to improve technique doesn't work. Get fitter, and your ability to hold good technique improves. It takes a lot of work to develop aerobic conditioning in your upper body. If you think you are already swimming a lot but are not improving, swim more and keep at it. There are no shortcuts.

  • Traditional drills don't work. The type of drills and the way that most triathletes do them don't actually have any material effect on swimming technique.

  • Swim more often. Frequency is the best way to improve your swimming. Also see rule #4

  • Do longer main sets. You can't expect to swim fast and be fresh on the bike if you rarely do main sets with the same or higher volume and pace than you expect in the race. For short course these should be at least 2km, for IM 4km, or more. And that looks like 20-50x100, not many short broken sets adding up to 2-5km.

  • Don't over think it. Don't under think it. Be engaged with what you are doing in the water, and use tools to help get a better feel for the water. But don't over think every stroke, and suffer from paralysis by analysis. Swimming fast is about rhythm and flow, when good technique becomes automatic.

  • Increased swim fitness translates to the bike and run. Being able to swim harder, starting the bike both fresher and with faster riders is how that works.

Foot cramps while swimming

  • I’m getting a number of comments that feet and/or calves are starting to cramp during swimming. This probably due to a couple reasons (as we really don’t know what exactly causes cramps but we have a very good trends that tell us): 

    • Electrolytes - make sure you are well hydrated with electrolytes always and especially on days you are headed to the pool.

    • Conditioning - part of cramping is the nervous system just isn’t conditioned yet to take the physical demand. As you get more swim fit, these should go away. 

  • And it’s not uncommon to stop getting cramps in the pool but then start to get them once you transition to open water swimming in a wetsuit. Again, this is probably just a slightly different body position and muscle alignment with the wetsuit that is causing a new stimulus and therefore more susceptible to cramping. 

TrainingPeaks “See How I StackUp” on the mobile app

  • This is a great tool and case for being average. To be clear, we aren’t using this feature to compare ourselves to others - that’s a joy killer!  

  • For running, I filter for Last 90 days, my Age Group and gender. 

    • 400m, 800m, 1KM, 1 Mile, 5KM, 5 Mile, 10KM, 10 Mile, ½ Marathon, Marathon, 50KM

  • Your goal is to be average i.e., be between the 40 - 60th percentile which puts you smack dab in the middle of the bell curve. This means that you can show up at any race or group run and be just fine. You may not be the overall winner but you’ll be right there with a good performance.  

  • I’ve been using this tool to help me target my limiters. Since I’m coming back into running, I’ve been focusing on improving my 400 meter time as I know this upper end, short speed will eventually extend out to longer distances as I build run durability. 

  • For biking: 5 sec, 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, 20 min60 min, 90 min

  • Most triathletes tend toward being solid in the 20 min / 60 min / 90 min category and their limiters being 5 sec / 1 min / 5 min power.  

  • Just like in the running example above, there is a downstream effect to improving your high end speed / power.  

  • For me, I’ve always had a fairly poor 5 sec and 1 min power. I’m using this tool this spring to work on my 5 sec power. I’ve gone from the 19th percentile into the 40th percentile. And I don’t think I’ll need to go beyond the 40th percentile as that power burst allows me to follow my faster friends when they put in a big power burst. My goal is to stay with the group so mission accomplished by being average! If I want to win a bike race or crit, I would need to greatly improve this number but within the context I have defined for myself, I’m right where I need to be. And that’s a key point: define what your goals are and then work your training around that. Forget what everyone else is doing, do what is specific to you and joy you want to get from your sport activities.

  • Key point: For triathletes, you are rewarded for being a well rounded athlete. The equation we use is good+good+good = GREAT race results. 

Challenge of the Week

  • Katie: Make a new playlist to get you pumped for your next long workout!

  • Jim: Go on a ride or run where you try to hear as many birds as possible (or scents). This will slow you WAY down. Great for recovery.

Gear Pick of the Week

Episode 72: Thoughts on Creatine, Sodium Bicarbonate, Caffeine, Lactate Testing, and Coaching Styles

This week’s episode leans hard into sports science as we share some new thoughts on creatine, sodium bicarbonate, and caffeine for performance. We also talk through the why and how of lactate testing and whether this is a worthwhile thing to spend your time and money on, the “feel and stair test” as an organic and data-free way to assess your training readiness, how our coaching styles have and have not evolved over time, and how we approach coaching men vs. women. We finish up with some fun challenges and gear picks related to self-care and sleep. Check it out!

Lactate testing in Boston.

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Something to try - acupuncture! Huge for me with regulating stress levels, optimizing sleep, optimizing hormones, etc.

Elena: Try some easy uphill work! Think 10 mins of steady uphill on a treadmill or big hill when you’re already tired. 

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Yogi bedtime tea

Elena: Sunrise alarm clock – phones outside the bedroom and light to wake up to!

Episode 71: Grief and Training, Adaptation, Perseverance, and Super Shoes

In this week’s episode, we’re diving into a bunch of different thought-provoking topics: how to think about training when you’re dealing with grief or other high LSS events, how to modify bike workouts during indoor/outdoor shoulder season, when and how to use super shoes, adapting workouts, persevering through workouts, push vs. pull forces in working towards your goals, low cadence cycling, the coach/athlete relationship, tapping into different swim speeds, and more. This episode was also all about gratitude for what we have and for the podcast when life feels extra tough. Stay well peeps! 

Grief and Training

  • Wish I didn’t have to bring this back, but: grief/ other majorly high LSS events and their physiological effects. 

    • Observations on what high LSS does to you physiologically

      • Resting HR

      • HRV

      • In-workout HR

      • Sleep 

      • Fueling

    • Reality check for me: you need to earn the right to do big hard workouts. If your sleep and/or your fueling are not dialed, you *must* modify to avoid injury/illness/burnout.  

    • Immediate mindset shift for training:

      • What kinds of workouts are going to make me feel better?

      • Shut anything down that isn’t making you feel better

      • Outside/nature usually better if you can

      • No ‘right’ approach

    • Long term goal re-evaluation depending on how long the period of high LSS is. Sometimes it can help to just take the pressure off or have a coach tell you it is OK to take the pressure off. 

    • Being kind to yourself. A work in progress! Screaming ‘what would I say to one of my athletes’ into the void (and ask yourself what you would tell a friend, partner, etc.)

Supershoes - the triathlete’s new best friend and force multiplier

I’ve been holding this one back from the last couple of episodes while I’ve had a chance to see for myself what the hype is on super shoes. Turns out, the hype is real!  A few reasons they are game changers:

  1. They make running fun!

  2. You learn to toe off better and enhance overall run technique.

  3. You can do more speed and more volume with less strain on the body. Win/win.

  4. Running typically saps your bike power by ~10%.  My theory is that I’ll see less of a drop this year in bike power because the strain is less. Will report on that as we move through the spring.

  5. The first versions of super shoes were only good for ~100 miles. The new versions are reported to last 300/400 miles or more.  Given that you can’t break down a carbon plate and the foam is so robust, you can wear these shoes for a long time.  I suspect you’ll just want to get another pair because you’ll just want a new pair and not because the shoe has actually lost too much of its effectiveness. 

  6. My base pace is easily 30” faster and pickups are 1’ faster. If you are not racing in them, you are giving away a lot of time / places. 

One athlete just ran his fastest 400m/800m/1KM/1 mile in the last 90 days in their first Zone 2 run in super shoes.  (He’s not been doing a lot of speed work due to Achilles and a gentle ramp into his season.)

Three workout varieties; adding the Perseverance Workouts (PWs)

There tend to be three buckets that most workouts fall into:

  1. The normal, every day workout that just gets done - Normal Workouts (NWs). Not much to talk about or report. It's to show up, get the work done and move on. Punch in, punch out. The day is done.  We want most workouts to fall into this category as these workouts are low stress, low friction, consistent and form our fitness foundation.  



  2. The Adaptive Workout (AWs). We talked a lot about this in Episode 69: Season Prep with Physical Therapist Neil MacKenzie. We discussed when to modify the workout and when to just skip the workout.  Life is dynamic, LSS gets high and you are not a robot.  We are quite proud when our athletes take charge of their health and modify it based on what is happening now and not some theoretical reality that is the training plan.

  3. And I think there is a third workout bucket which I’m calling the Perseverance Workout (PWs).  Maybe you are coming off an illness, travel, harsh winter conditions or life stress is just a bit high (but not too high).  In other words, working out is not ideal and the workout itself is a grind.  If you weren’t on a plan with a long term goal or if it was off season, you would probably skip it.  

With the tough winter conditions this year in many parts of the country, it’s added a lot of friction into the fitness routine. There are some days that are just going to kind of suck getting out there. And here’s the point: that’s OK.  Call it out.  Acknowledge that it’s not ideal and/or your motivation is lagging.  

We all feel that and sometimes, especially coming off an illness, there will be a number of workouts in a row that just kind of suck.  Because that feeling may cluster for a week or even more, they tend to gain an outsized effect on our mental game. Again, call it out with yourself, your coach and/or support system.

Sometimes it can be really HARD to get back into a normal, low stress workout routine.  That cluster of tough workouts can feel like a wall that you won’t break through.

The good news is it’s temporary and you will come out the other side.  This is a mental and physical test and a chance to improve your resilience/grit. (See Resilience Data Points).  Endurance training is very challenging, requiring you to stack brick after brick. Ideally stacking most bricks will feel just like another day on the job site.  Other days, you need to skip stacking bricks or stack just a couple. And some days, those bricks will feel twice as heavy.  On those days, persevere!

Charlie training comment on modifying and persevering

Showed up to the pool, executed programming to the best of my ability. Victory. All we can ask of ourselves. I have been so critical of myself and my training this cycle. A lot of red boxes since we started in 2025. I did a lot of reflection while swimming easy and I couldn’t really identify weeks or days where I could have done any better.
One, maybe 2, sessions missed in two months due to goofing off but otherwise most days I’m just fighting hard to stay employed, be present as a husband, and to make it to bed early.
When I was walking over to the pool, I was thinking about a skill that I haven’t seen talked about very much on social media, endurance science blogs, or life lesson authors: losing gracefully.
Sometimes life is the bigger, meaner motherfucker in the boxing ring and we’re not coming out on top no matter what. Maybe I would have been better off long term throwing in the towel, calling it wraps on the training cycle, and saving the fight for sunnier days. But I also think a big part of the point of endurance sports is to go down swinging and who you are when things aren’t going your way.
I have a feeling that over the years I’ll look back on these months and the times I was able to show up with immense pride. There’s a lot of daylight left in 2025 and I’m not ready to call it a loss just yet. I won’t go as far to say I have momentum going, but I’m feeling a little bit more centered and re-calibrated for the coming weeks. Onwards!!!

Push vs. Pull - Brad Cooper phD

Thanks to Audrey for sending this article along.

The push is something we might get externally from a parent, coach, teacher that might help set us off on a journey but it's not a sustainable, natural, internal force.  Famous phrase: Motivation is temporary, inspiration is permanent.

There is another side to push and that is pull. Or Force vs. flow. Effort vs. alignment. Got to vs. get to. Should vs. could

An example of the pull concept: 

He had a set of  track 400s that his plan says run in ‘x’ time.  Instead of approaching it with a, “I must hit this specific time or it’s a failure - a push attitude’, he approaches it with a pull attitude that incorporates a few qualities that invoke a greater sense of being:

Gratitude - grateful for the chance to actually get to do track intervals

Joy - the emotion that brings us into the experience of actualizing our potential self

Curiosity - "I wonder how fast I can run these?" creates an intriguing - and engaging! - personal mini-journey.

Perspective - Perspective reminds me not to take myself too seriously 

He ends with, “The greatest - those who sustained high performance over extended periods to reach the utmost levels - were pulled, not pushed, to those heights. "Push harder" is a myth. If we truly desire to scale new mountains…the pull provides the key.”

 Link:  https://substack.com/home/post/p-157484985

Steve Magness: Performance is about holding onto contrasting forces.

Similar to the above, Steve Magness had a banger this week: 

We must...

-Care deeply, but let go

-Try hard, but be relaxed

-Set big goals, but be able to let go of the outcome

-Be obsessive on the field, but able to take the jersey off.

-Identify with our pursuit, but don't attach

Performing well in anything is about nuance and messiness. It’s not cheap slogans we see on social media. The reality of reaching your potential in just about anything is navigating a world of contrasts.

The benefit of low cadence cycling:

Power = Cadence x Torque

Increase torque (TPV shows torque on main screen - fun to play with)

200 watts at 50rpm is the same as 400 watts at 90rpm?  (Don’t quote me on this!)

Smooth pedal stroke, improve your pedaling efficiency

Increase climbing ability 

If doing Ironman Lake Placid you need to do low cadence both seated and standing.  You spend A LOT of time doing low cadence at Placid. Start to train it now.

(There are a lot of Ironman and Half Ironman courses that have a lot of climbing so low cadence is a skill you will most likely need.)

If you want to nerd out on torque training, here is a good article.

Also, low cadence is just one tool in your cycling tool box. High cadence is just as important, too.

Interviewing a coach

I had an interview this week with a potential new client and came out of that with a couple key insights:

  1. Like a job interview, come prepared with a lot of questions and come prepared to tell your story.  This is a back and forth conversation.  Ultimately, we are looking for a cultural fit i.e., is this someone I can trust and I want to spend time with.   Many training plans are very similar so the deciding factor should not be does this coach have good workouts, nearly everyone has good workouts as there are no secrets.  The main point is can I believe in working with this person. 

  2. You are an expert on you, the coach is an expert on best practices.

Put the two together in a partnership and you will go far together. This is why communication with your coach is so key. Especially true for remote coach / athlete relationships.  The more we know, the more we can work in partnership to get you to your goal(s).

Fun thought of the week:  Your training should be like a kick ass mixed tape

You create for yourself, your friends and gets you pumped and inspired.

Listener Questions

What are the differences in swim speed between “aerobic”, moderate and threshold? 
Challenge of the Week

Katie: If you’re going through it, ask if someone can help you take something off your plate! People almost always want to help and many of us are just too stubborn to ask. (That can be a coach taking a workout off the week, a partner taking on life/household responsibility, a co-worker helping you out with something, etc.)
Jim: Persevere through a workout.  This winter is providing plenty of opportunities to work on your grit!

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: TRIHARD shower products

Jim: Maurten 320

Episode 70: Trying New Events, Vitamin D, Fueling, and More!

In this week’s episode, Katie and Elena hit on a grab bag of topics that have been coming up from athletes and listeners recently: trying new types of athletic events, coping with winter, fueling FAQs, supplements, body image follow-ups, and more! With a mix of personal anecdotes and learnings from our community, we had a blast with this one and hope you find it useful too. Check it out! 

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Body scan! Try to spend a minute or two lying down and scanning through your whole body to check where/if you are holding any tension, then think about an action plan to help address whatever is going on (massage gun, trigger point release with a lacrosse ball, foam roller, sports massage/chiropractor visit, etc.).
Elena: Plan a cool date night! With a partner, a friend, or yourself. Any activity that would be out of the ordinary for you. 

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Alaska Bear sleep mask

Elena: STRYKR gels

Episode 69: Season Prep with Neil MacKenzie, DPT

In this week’s episode, we’re bringing back a fan-favorite repeat guest: physical therapist and athlete extraordinaire, Neil MacKenzie! Neil talks us through common training and recovery mistakes athletes make in the late winter and early spring, how to tell if a rehab plan is working, how to use pain as a useful indicator, how to support injured athletes from a psychological and emotional perspective, best practices for bone stress injuries and REDs treatment, run warmups, strength training, mobility, home assessments for imbalances and other issues, PT goodness of fit, and a lot more. This episode is jam-packed full of actionable advice for all athletes! 

Coaching and Training Insights:

Katie: 

  • Love seeing athletes taking initiative and listening to their bodies! A learnable skill that will serve you well in the long run 

  • Broader discussion of when to push through, when to back off  

    • Avoid all or nothing thinking – if you don’t want to do your speed workout, you could do a short easy run (exercise snack); if you don’t want to do your Z2 run, consider a walk or consider if you might prefer to run or bike instead; if you don’t want to go to the gym, consider 20-30 min body weight at home

    • When should you say absolutely not and lean into taking the red box? 

      • Baseline LSS or LSS event of 9+ out of 10

      • If getting the workout done means getting < 6.5 hours of sleep 

      • If you are injured or sick 

      • If it will cause a major disturbance in your family life

  • Altitude is hard 

    • Awareness of effects on appetite and risk of dehydration – need to be so much more intentional about fueling/hydration. This goes for all you skiers!

    • Also hard – honoring the intention of the workout even when it’s your catchphrase! Anecdote about my run at altitude 

Jim:

  • Start working on OWS sighting in pool

    • Choose at least one set where you practice sighting every 7 - 9 strokes, or 2X per length. 

    • A good video:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6r3M4GGgIY

    • Key points:

      • It should feel very natural. If it feels strained you are probably not leaving your lead arm out long enough and/or you are lifting your head up too late. Start to lift your head at the beginning of your pull. In other words, as soon as your fingertips are pointed to the bottom of the pool and you start to pull (slow to fast) , initiate lifting your head.

      • Pro tip: try to sight two times in a row. This can imprint the flow of the movement and provide some self correction. Also, it is very realistic as you often don’t see what you are looking for on the first sighting and you don’t want to wait another 7 - 9 strokes before you look again.

  • Consider doing some Strava or TrainingPeaks Virtual racing

    • Virtual racing is a great way to get a big stimulus while learning and/or refreshing your racing skills.

    • I already feel a huge difference in HR and watts output. 2nd race way easier than first. And 3rd was easier than the 2nd. I’m getting re-acquanted with racing.

    • Considerations: 25-50% field has mis calibrated equipment so don’t worry about your placing

    • You can 2-3X your normal TSS / workout and time goes by way faster. 

    • When you want to quit, everyone else probably does too. 

    • Stick with it. The pace will slow. 

    • Be prepared to go out HOT ie VO2 max efforts for 3’-5’. Do it so you get a strong and appropriate group. 

    • It feels like racing. Racing is a skill. 

    • There is camaraderie even though it’s virtual. 

  • Consider following up your virtual racing with an EASY spin the next day.

    • Use 2X resting HR

    • As HR cap for active recovery on bike

    • For example, if your rest HR is around 60, cap your Easy sessions at 120, or plus or minus 5 beats but try to default to the lower reading.  This is a simple way to keep your easy sessions, easy.

    • Easy - you are recovering from your endurance / interval work, not trying to gain fitness. 

    • Endurance - you are working on gaining fitness.

Interview with Neil MacKenzie:

For background on Neil, see Episode 12: A PT’s perspective on Endurance Athletes.

To reach Neil, see Cioffredi & Associates website

Challenge of the Week

  • Katie: Improve your bedtime/ wind down routine. (For me: screens off, reading, breath work)

  • Jim: Improve your run warmup routine.

  • Neil:  Define your active recovery routine - walk, swim, spin, yoga, foam rolling.

Gear Pick of the Week

Episode 68: Body Image and Endurance Sports

In this week’s episode, Katie and Elena tackle a big topic that has gotten a lot of interest among our listeners — the intersection of body image and endurance sports. We talk through external and internal pressures related to body image, challenges in thinking about how bodies change over time, whether weight is a useful metric to track or not, situations and circumstances in which body image concerns can be more activating, fueling and body image, and reframes that can be helpful for thinking about fitness, fueling, and our bodies. We also cover some fun insights related to shame and missed workouts, fueling higher-intensity workouts, vitamin D deficiency, not judging early-season workouts, and treadmills as a tool for hills and speed. Check it out! 

Challenge of the Week

Katie: in your training log, identify one thing you did really well in a workout that didn’t go well (i.e. got it done despite X, kept a positive mindset, fueled well, etc.)
Elena: identify one thing you’d genuinely love to purchase but it seems intimidating… make a goal of getting it!

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Function Health 

Elena: CuddlDuds Thermals

Episode 67: Windy Training, Tracking LSS, Swim Tips, Carb Intake, and More!

This grab-bag episode was packed full of a ton of fun topics! We dive into how to deal with very windy conditions in deep winter training, withholding judgment from workouts, re-evaluating your goals, how to track LSS over time, gels and carb intake, dehydration in the winter, whether you actually should do your pick-ups or not, 'strain' and 'body battery ' as made-up stats, how new athletes should approach Ironman prep, when and how to use SIM shorts, staying calm in the water, HIIT and endurance training, and more. Come for the insights and stay for the banter!

Mix of Coaching and Training Insights and Listener Questions

  • Thoughts on dealing with windy conditions in training (which I see as one of the most mentally tough weather patterns!)

    • A hack -- planning routes so you do intervals with a tailwind or even a point to point route 

    • Related quick one - tip from an athlete to dress like you’re taking a chill walk in 20 degrees warmer than it is to choose the right apparel for running

    • Jim: Wind is mentally grinding. I use Airpods to block the noise (not safe in all conditions). 

  • Coming back to an old insight from last year -- withholding judgment, i.e. don’t write the narrative of the workout before it’s even happened

    • Jim: When things aren’t going well I focus on “smooth” as it’s a feeling, not a HR zone, pace or watt.

  • Insight from a few athletes - it’s OK to change your goals! Re-asking yourself “what is my why?” and pivoting to fun > performance

    • Jim: I struggle with racing being a place to get me out of my comfort zone and show me what is possible, elevating my game AND a place that feels confining, restrictive based on I need to do something on THIS day and train a certain way for a very specific period of time. 

  • Hot take - taking a gel is an effective solution to >80% of problems in training

    • Tired or low energy? Take a gel

    • Motivation low? Take a gel

    • Mood not good? Take a gel 

    • I always tell athletes to start with taking a gel and then we’ll roll down other things that could be an issue, but sometimes it’s as simple as taking a gel. Try it!

  • Dehydration happens a lot more sneakily in the winter!

    • Anecdote from a recent early morning strength workout 

  • Great question from an athlete: “I'm pretty lackadaisical with doing the pickups, but I know many coaches swear by them as ways to improve running economy/efficiency/a light way to add speed in the early season. Should I be more intentional about doing them (and not skipping them)? Normally I just either 1) forget or 2) feel tired and just want to get home rather than zoom/jog/zoom/jog”

    • My answer: They are definitely helpful (unless you have an injury/niggle going on), but I wouldn't push it if you’re feeling physically overtired or LSS is high. Start by asking yourself if it's your body or your mind that is tired/burnt out/not into it and if it's just your mind, but your body is ok, try a few! It’s not all or nothing either -- you can do 2 pickups and decide ‘that’s enough for today’ or maybe doing 2 pickups makes you realize you are fine to do 8.

    • Jim: We all struggle with things we are supposed to do, things that are good for us but there can often be a little voice in my head opposing it!  When it does come up, I try to dig a little deeper in my subconsciousness about why I’m putting up that barrier.  We are complicated creatures and often the answer is not readily available or straightforward. 

      • The “sell” on pickups are they are the best return on your time investment. And you have already invested the time to schedule your workout, get on your running clothes, get out the door, actually go for a run. You’ve done all the hard parts so now you get to play a little with pickups and get speedy. 

      • I like to make a game sometimes - run hard to that next telephone pole or intersection. Then start looking for the next feature up the road that seems interesting. 

      • Strides are like compound interest, you get more and more rewards as you do more over time. 

  • Another great question: are we more interested in time on feet or miles on feet at this point? My z2 pace is closer to 9:40 at this point (depending on weather/warmup/fatigue), so I end up getting a green box at 3 miles rather than 4 - worth adding a mile to my 4-mile run on friday, or chalk it up to "the intention was to z2 run for 35-45 min and we got close enough"?

    • Reminder to all of our athletes that TP makes us put in ‘planned’ pace values -- we don’t expect you to hit the paces exactly perfectly and yes, we are looking at the intention of the workout!

    • For this time of year, the relevant mantra is the OPPOSITE of ‘the devil’s in the details’ … rather it’s to not miss the forest for the trees. Base, base, base. 

  • More bashing on data! Blog post: The Truth About WHOOP and Other Fitness Trackers: Part I

    • “New wearable fitness tracker companies like WHOOP and others are using made-up metrics to score your workouts and daily physical effort.”

      • “Strain is not a physiological measurement. It’s a made-up score from WHOOP. Similar scores from other trackers are also made up.”

      • “In some cases, these estimates are completely made up and cannot even be tested, for example: sleep quality scores, readiness and recovery scores, stress, body battery, Strain, etc. - stay away from all of these and don't let them mess with your head. They are not a thing.”

    • “These grand metrics are all some degree of wrong because wrist-based heart rate tracking during movement is some degree of wrong.”

    • “And even though I like WHOOP’s idea of adding life stress into Strain, we need to remember that not all changes in heart rate at “rest” are from bad stress. For example:

      • A higher heart rate at rest because your boss is yelling at you: probably bad!

      • A higher heart rate at rest because you’re laughing your ass off with friends: probably good!” 

Jim:

  • Hot take:  Most Ironman, especially Level 1 athletes, should focus most of their training on building big bike and swim fitness/durability.
    They should aim to make 100 miles (or 6 hours on the bike) feel challenging but not devastating and a 4000 yard/meter swim feel like you can do A LOT of other exercise that same day (because you will)!  If you need to spend the rest of the day on the couch after a 4000 yard swim then you need to build up your capacity.

    • Running: They should aim for 3x per week running with emphasis with time of feet, easy running and some strides. Hiking and/or trail running with the goal of extending time on feet is just as important than the long run.

    • Spending time on run speed intervals is just draining your tank which should be spent building your bike and swim fitness.  If you are going to shuffle/walk most of the marathon, there is no reason to work on run speed.

  • When should I use my SIM (neoprene) shorts?

    • If you are a new swimmer and your “A” race is wetsuit legal, it’s fine to use your SIM shorts for nearly every session.  See point above, if you are a Level 1 athlete and swimming is new to you, SIM shorts will enable you to focus on gaining technique and helping you swim in a parasympathetic mode.

    • Pragmatism over perfection. 

    • If you are a Level 3 athlete and are doing a mix of wetsuit and non-wetsuit races, or the chances of one of your races being non-wetsuit, you should spend at least half of your swim sessions in the Specific period in a regular wetsuit.

  • If you are feeling anxious or tight chest in the water, try these two things: 

    • Kick on your back with fins. This will signal to your brain that you are OK in the water. Your face is up with all the air you want.  You must get to a parasympathetic state first in order to incorporate new information / skills. No one learns in a sympathetic state - it’s fight/protect, flight or freeze.

    • During freestyle, focus on breathing out entirely through your nose.Think long, deep exhalation through the nose. This will lengthen your stroke and should eliminate tightness in your chest and even shoulders. By breathing all the way out, air will naturally flow into your mouth when you roll to breathe. 

  • Swim to run faster

    • Athletes are starting to comment that the more swim fit they get, the easier running feels.

    • We see this every year; swimming is a high global, all body oxygen demand.  It’s not a surprise we see this crossover over, particularly to running which is a high global activity, too. 

    • Extra challenge: swim 200s with fins and paddles. This is a huge oxygen ask at even low intensity.

    • Nordic skiing is also a good sport for global oxygen demand. 

  • How do I incorporate HIIT into my triathlon training?

    • You don’t!

    • 99.9% of the time someone is doing HIIT workouts is because they have not been in a proper structured training program that prioritizes aerobic development, gradual musculoskeletal loading.  These athletes tend to either be very overpowered or underpowered.  Neither of those situations works well to perform in endurance sports.

    • Triathlon is an insane sport as you need to learn dozens if not hundreds of new skills for each sport - swim, bike and run.  If you add in regular strength, that’s four sports you are now juggling. Given everyone is time crunched, this leaves very little room for other sports. 

    • Caveat: If your HIIT class gives you joy, is a social, community event then keep doing it.  Play is important for long term mental and physical health.

  • List your products/carbs per hour in TrainingPeaks

    • Keep a journal of products/carbs per hour for your longer sessions.  Example, Hour 1 -  2 SIS gels, 1 bottle of LMNT, Hour 2 - 2 Fig bars, 1 bottle of LMNT, etc

    • And comment what seemed to work and what didn’t. 

    • Then you have a reference for your next big day.  Journaling will reduce decision fatigue and capture hard earned knowledge. 

    • Do this for any ride / run over 75’. 

    • General guideline:

      • Easy training days (Z1/Z2) under 1 hour, mid-exercise carbs are often not needed if you have a well balanced diet. However, when feeling a bit low energy take a gel or snack! (See Katie point above.)  Snacks are always welcome especially before, during and after a swim.


      • On easy training days between 1 and 2 hours, 45-60 grams of carbs per hour is a fair guide. Above 2 hours, 60-80 grams of carbs per hour.


      • When in doubt, always fuel more such as 60 - 80 grams per hour. I personally aim for the 80 grams in BASE season to keep energy balance higher and recover quicker. Remember you are fueling for your current workout, your recovery and your next workout which may even be later that day or the next morning.


      • On easy/moderate long training where the effort is not purely easy (think intervals, hills, etc), fuel at 75-90 grams of carbs per hour no matter what the duration.   Think long weekend rides with intervals, marathon / ultra training, etc.

  • Change hand and body positions on the trainer

    • As the rides get longer and/or more challenging in Base period, feel free to change hand positions on the bars - hoods, bars, down in the drops and feel free to stand up during some intervals.  This will serve to take pressure off static body parts, encourage blood flow and engage different muscles.  

Challenge of the Week

  • Katie: Set some hydration targets throughout the day (i.e. I want to finish X amount by noon, X amount by dinner, etc.)

  • Jim: Emphasize full nose exhale during swim

Gear Pick of the Week

Episode 66: Integrating Skiing with Endurance, Trusting the Process, and Female Athlete Q+A!

In this grab bag episode of the podcast, Katie and Elena catch up about recent happenings in their coaching and training lives including: how to think about training if you get sick, trusting the process, the concept of being "in your body" in sports, trying new sports, what it means to fuel enough, and mental reframes in the context of body composition. We also do a deep dive on two bigger topics: how to integrate skiing (of any kind!) with endurance training and an extended female athlete Q+A in honor of National Girls and Women in Sport Day. This episode is jam-packed full of insights for everyone -- check it out!

Resources we mentioned in the podcast:

Female Athlete Resources:

Gear Picks of the Week:

Episode 65: Making Triathlon (Somewhat) More Economical

In this week’s episode, we’re talking through our top tips for making triathlon—arguably one of the most expensive recreational sports—at least somewhat more economical. We cover non-negotiable must-have gear and equipment items, nice-to-have but not necessary items, gimmicky items that you shouldn’t waste your money on, hidden costs to be aware of, and how to budget more effectively. We also deep dive on a bunch of fun coaching and training insights including Life Stress Score (LSS), not letting Garmin health data gaslight us, gear and strategies for cold weather running, mental imagery, and setting a ‘theme’ or intention for your day. Check it out!

Coaching and Training Insights:

Katie:

LSS is on the rise: LSS has been hitting hard for a lot of athletes already! Work stress, family stress, relationship stress… it’s all stress. Gentle reminders:

  • Be gentle with yourself and your workouts! You are already dealing with a lot, and beating yourself up about it will only make things worse. 

  • Ask your body what it needs and then modify or skip as needed. It can help to lie down and do a quick body scan to see where you are holding any tension and what might make it feel better. 

  • Be extra cautious about doing any physically or mentally intense workouts. A 4-mile run with no pickups may be a better choice than 4 miles with 8 x 20” pickups on a high LSS day.

  • When in doubt, inform your coach who can be an accountability partner in reminding you that skipping or modifying is not just ok -- it’s encouraged.
    Jim: A reminder that triathlon training is extraordinary. You are juggling A LOT. You are learning A LOT. You are adjusting to a structured approach to training. You are living a lifestyle that is often at odds with the rest of the world!

Thoughts on sleep data and other metrics

  • We all have gadgets that give us a report card every day on how well we slept

  • Personally and in athletes, I often see stress and anxiety coming in when sleep is not as good as we think it is

    • Conversely, many of us have had the experience where we think we didn’t sleep well and Garmin says we did

  • Be careful about letting the data guide how you feel -- helpful to check in with yourself first and ask subjectively how tired you are/how energized you feel, and then check. Moreover, if the data is making you feel any worse about yourself / your sleep, consider a few nights with no watch to see how that makes you subjectively feel

  • “Feel” is a more powerful data point than any of these one-off subjective metrics! 

  • Same goes for RHR / HRV

When it’s cold out, be more intentional about your warmup miles

  • Freezing temps = body is much tighter moving into speed work

  • Recently did strides after BoMF and felt some hamstring twinges because I’d been running in Z1 for an hour and legs weren’t fully warmed up

  • Would have been smarter to do some 75-80% intensity pickups first and then transition into faster strides if the body felt OK

  • Jim: yes on hamstring twinges from cold legs!

Also related to cold - what do we do about cold legs/butt?!

  • Some hacks -- spandex shorts under tights; two pairs of tights; thermal tights; joggers on top of tights; Patagonia wind shield pants

  • Shout out to athlete Katie B for her recs for cold weather running:

    • Fleece-lined leggings (I have Athleta and Oiselle)

    • 2-3 layers up-top: usually a long-sleeve Craft base layer that is at least 5 years old, a Nike quarter-zip long sleeve, and a windbreaker. The windbreaker keeps me very warm, no matter if there is wind or not. 

    • Craft hat and hybrid gloves - or their mittens are awesome when it is below 20. 

    • Darn tough socks

    • Light-up vest - Nox gear

Jim: 

Mental imagery

  • I have a new triathlete learning how to swim. She made the remark that her swim video looked nothing like what she thought it would; she was imagining how Katie Ledecky swims and wanted to replicate that in the pool.  

  • All kidding aside, this type of imagery / visualization is a valid learning tool.  One way to improve your skills is to play a role and pretend you are a pro.  While you are practicing your sport, you imagine how the pro looks doing it and try to replicate that.

  • This is very effective with swimming, or sitting on your trainer watching the Tour de France replay, trying to imitate and channel your inner Tadej Pogacar.  Or while out running, pretending you are Eliud Kipchoge.  

  • From Lawrence van Lingen - “Visualization: When you vividly imagine achieving a goal, your brain reacts similarly to experiencing it in real life. This strengthens neural pathways, making the required actions feel more achievable.”

Swimming in January

  • Speaking of swimming, I’m getting many comments that January swimming, after an off season, can be a hot mess.  No worries. That’s completely expected and understandable.  My advice is don’t judge your current swim fitness or technique. Just get 6 - 8 swims in and then see how you feel (probably a lot better about your swimming).

Make each day about theme(s) to bring you in alignment with your goals/purpose. 

  • We talk a lot about knowing the intention of the workout to help you stay aligned with your fitness goals.  We can extend that out to reminding ourselves of our purpose or goal every day, particularly before going to bed or first thing in the morning.  I’ve been playing around with themes of the day to help me stay grounded and keep a higher level perspective on my daily/weekly actions. For example: 

    • Monday: Day Off theme is Restoration.  You can get an active voice and say to yourself, “Today is about restoring my body and mind”.

    • Tuesday: This is a run speed and strength day for a lot of athletes. Your theme could be Speed. “I am speedy and strong today!”

    • Wednesday: Maybe this is a hard bike or swim interval day.  “I am Strong and Smooth today.”

    • Thursday: This is a run speed and strength day for a lot of athletes. Your theme could be Speed. “I am speedy and strong today!”

    • Friday: You volunteer on this day. Theme: Service or Community.  “I am part of and of service to a community.”

    • Saturday: Maybe you do a masters program or group ride / run on Saturday. Your theme is Community.  “I value my friends and community.”

    • Sunday: Could be a more family oriented day.  Family is the theme.

    • And you may find some life and training/racing mantras from all this active voicing.

Dashboard in TrainingPeaks

  • A tip that you can create all types of fun charts in TrainingPeaks Dashboard. It’s a quick way to get an overview of your, for example, Time In Heart Rate Zones: All Workout Types over the last 90 days.  By the way, this particular chart should be a big bar for Z1, lower for Z2 and so forth.  If you were to turn this chart to the left, it would form one half of a sweet looking HR pyramid.  

  • You can make all kinds of charts for max power per month, the Performance Management Chart will display your increasing fitness.  Or track single sport fitness / power / pace over ‘x’ period of time. 

Calling all runners / adventure racers / cyclists

  • A reminder that we have a very diverse range of training and racing backgrounds as coaches. We don’t just train triathletes. If you are, or know someone who is training for an adventure race, single sport like running, ultra running, cycling, we have a deep knowledge base to help.

Main Content

  • Roll-down of things to spend money on 

    • Non-negotiables:

      • Running shoes every 250ish miles that fit you well; helps to rotate a few pairs

      • A safe road or TT bike that (1) works and (2) fits you well

        • With clip-in pedals, bike shoes, helmet, and a bike light 

        • Professional bike fit ideally

      • A sports watch (we like Garmin) with a HR strap (wrist HR is unreliable) 

      • Goggles, cap, swimsuit. Your pool may have swim toys, but at a minimum we also want you to have paddles and buoy. 

      • Wetsuit for most triathlon races, but you may be able to get around this by strategically selecting races. 

      • Tri kit for racing; general apparel for training

      • TP Premium membership if you are being coached by us. Otherwise, you can keep track of your workouts in, e.g., a google spreadsheet. 

      • If you live anywhere that has cold weather, either a bike trainer or access to a spin bike/Peloton. (70.3-140.6 athletes definitely need a trainer.) 

      • Access to a gym with heavy weights. 

      • Resistance bands and a foam roller for glute activation and mobility work 

      • FUEL and HYDRATION. Both in training and outside of training. 

      • Race registrations -- register early to get discounts

    • Nice-to-haves / splurges:

      • Power meter → dual-sided power meter (we highly recommend a power meter for Level 3+ athletes) 

      • Clip on aero bars for road bike 

      • Aero helmet 

      • Electronic shifting 

      • Carbon race wheels 

      • Fancier recovery tools (i.e. massage gun, Normatec) 

      • Body work such as sports massage 

  • Don’t waste your money on:

    • The ice headband 

    • Ketones

  • Hidden costs of triathlon

    • Nutrition and hydration (both sports nutrition products and general volume of good and healthy food) 

    • Bike shop trips 

    • Things you use up -- chain lube, bike wash, chamois cream, etc.

    • Travel costs associated with races 

    • Recurring charges for subscriptions to e.g. TP Premium, Zwift; USAT membership 

  • Ways to budget more effectively 

    • Used bikes discussion. Pinkbike & buycycle. Check the bike manufacturers website for the correct frame size for you.

      • Many local bike shops have Spring used bike sales.

      • Related, if you buy an entry level bike from a local bike shop, many will include a general bike fitting (which can be up to $500 value)

      • Don’t buy a triathlon bike as your first bike. Buy something comfortable.

    • Insurance for body work

    • When it’s OK to go with the cheap Amazon version of something vs. when you should pay for something fancier. Examples? 

      • Foam roller

    • The Feed - wait for regular sales

    • Sports nutrition products that have a cheap analog discussion

      • E.g. untapped maple products vs. maple syrup in a squeezy bottle. 

      • Nature’s Bakery fig bars.

      • Homemade cookies, brownies, cake, leftover pizza, etc on the bike.

    • TrainingPeaks Virtual (free for TrainingPeaks Premium users) vs Zwift

    • Wahoo Snap (super cheap) vs Kickr. Snap is out of stock but you can find it on a reseller site.  Or even free, cheap dumb trainer (trainer that does not have Bluetooth or ANT connectivity)

    • Garmin 245 ($280) vs Garmin Forerunner 965 ($600). And use a wrist watch as your bike computer.

    • If you already have an Apple Watch, use that for your sports.

    • Good pair of run trainers vs super shoes.

    • Don’t buy the super expensive wetsuit. Buy a good brand, lower level wetsuit (always full sleeve, too) like Roka Maverick Comp.  Very economical wetsuits: XTERRA  Middle ground between Roka and XTERRA is Orca.

    • Use the same type of swim goggles for both pool and open water. My favorite dual use goggle is Aquasphere Kayenne.

    • Sign up for local triathlon races not expensive IM branded races.

    • Your big “A” race of the year could be a self-curated adventure where you determine the race date, place and no entry fee.

Challenge of the Week

Katie: One social workout per week (and it’s OK if this means deviating from your training plan) 

Jim: Make one of your easy (or longer runs) as hilly as possible even if that means lifting your HR a bit.

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Lululemon Scuba Mid-Rise Oversized Jogger (sweatpants) for recovery lounge mode after your chilly workouts

Jim: Koia protein shakes On-the-go! New version of our favorite supermarket protein drink. Order from Amazon.

Episode 64: Overcoming Hypothalamic Amenorrhea and Starting a Family With Coach, Elite Runner, and PT Hanna Prunty

In this week’s episode, Katie and Elena sit down with coach, elite runner, physical therapist, and friend of the pod Hanna Prunty. Hanna shares some exciting news—that she and Coach Kevin are expecting their first child in June!—and dives deep into the journey she followed in order to optimize her hormonal health for pregnancy. Hanna shares powerful reflections on why more isn’t always better, how challenging it can be to make major changes to your fitness and fueling routine when you are operating at peak performance in endurance sports, and the lessons she learned about balance and herself along the way. She also tells us about how she integrates her training and career as a physical therapist with her current coaching role, and how she approaches helping athletes achieve their goals from a standpoint of health, wellness, and longevity in sport. This inspiring episode has something for everyone. Check it out!

Coaching and Training Insights:

Katie:

  • Value of looking for patterns/trends rather than single instances to track fitness and recovery.

    • Goal: identify **patterns** that signal a yellow flag before anything turns into a red flag 

    • Metrics I find useful -- workouts:

      • Objective -- HR, pace during workouts 

      • Objective -- Relationship between HR and pace 

      • Subjective -- overall ‘how did this feel?’

      • Subjective -- motivation to get out the door

      • Subjective -- words/energy in TP comments (how many exclamation points, how many times I’m saying the word ‘tired’)

    • Metrics I find useful -- recovery:

      • Sleep quality and quantity 

      • Resting HR + HRV 

      • Bonus -- Oura ring daytime stress, ‘recovery index’

    • Newly tracking weekly -- subjective ratings of:

      • Mood (1-10)

      • Training enjoyment (1-10)

      • Fatigue (1-10)

      • Fueling (1-10)

  • Related: Shout out to athletes crushing their TP comments! 

Elena:

  • How to think about cross training→ what style resonates most with you:

    • 1) Fully basing on seasons

      • You like to focus on one thing at a time and go all in on that

    • 2) “Bonus-joy” approach

      • You have limited access to some of your favorite cross training modalities

      • You trust yourself to listen to your body and mind when you need to mix it up

      • Some helpful ways to support this→ planning ahead for when you have time blocks for skiing/cross training, having a strong multisport community of people planning fun activities that you can hop in on

    • 3) Multi-sport consistency (kind of the life of a triathlete)

      • Great for injury prone athletes

      • Great for balancing different goals

  • From my blog: There is certainly no “right” approach to cross-training. I’ve learned that it’s an ever-shifting individual journey defined by asking myself the same questions over and over again: Am I having fun? Do I feel good? What sounds exciting to me this week? What do I want out of this season? This year? And what obstacles do I know I have to work around? My hope is that I can use cross-training as a tool to embrace the child athlete in me, finding play in a variety of ways. And maybe, by having fun with the journey, we all can continue to surprise ourselves with our performances as well. 

Challenge of the Week:

  • Elena: 10 minute morning walk first thing!

  • Katie: Post-workout stretch! 

  • Hanna: Get out of bed as soon as your alarm hits to a less stressful morning

Gear Pick of the Week:

Episode 63: A New Season Is Underway

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?

  • 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.

Episode 62: Our Coaching Philosophy

We’ve spent a lot of hours sharing ‘the key principles that guide our approach to endurance training and coaching’ on this podcast, but we’ve never sat down and distilled all of those principles into a single one-stop-shop episode that covers our coaching philosophy. In this episode, we’re doing just that: talking through ten of the biggest and most important principles that shape how we think about training and coaching. Highlights include person-first coaching, the 80/20 intensity distribution, grounding in the intention of the workout, fueling the work, preventing injuries, strength, durability, and lots more. Check it out! 

Coaching and Training Insights

Katie:

  • Avoiding coming out of the gates too hot 

    • So much enthusiasm and excitement in the first couple of weeks of a new program 

    • Keep in mind that your mind might be a little ahead of your body coming out of the off season, and it’s important to ease back into training gradually 

    • As a coach, I sometimes observe athletes being at higher risk for injury early in the season when they have the enthusiasm to really push it without necessarily having the aerobic base and/or durability foundation. This is particularly true in returning athletes who have taken a really solid off season 

  • Be aware that as your volume goes up your fueling needs are going to go up!

    • If you are not actively being intentional about your daily fueling as we start to pile on volume/intensity, you risk ending up in a deficit. We don’t want that ever, but especially not at this time of year. Fuel the work!

    • And check in with an RD if you aren’t sure how to fuel the work!

    • This is relevant for anyone who has been focused on body comp goals in the off season too (weight loss, etc.) -- those goals are often not sustainable when you shift gears to focus on performance, so think about the mindset shift as well

  • We are at the time of year where the weather will present challenges in training 

    • Last couple of weeks: 10 mile run in 14 degrees / real feel of 18; 10 mile run in 30 degrees pouring rain. Both left me borderline hypothermic 5-10’ after finishing and made the runs a little harder than they would have been in 50 degrees and sunny. 

    • Some action items:

      • Make sure to make a plan for post-run that helps you take care of your body: dry clothes, hot shower, hot drink/food

      • Modify your expectations -- very cold weather, just like very hot weather (as well as rain, wind, cold, snowy roads,  ice, etc.) will make training harder. Mindset shift = getting out here is the win even if my pace, HR, etc. aren’t perfect

      • And, as always, be gentle with yourself and use less data as needed!

Jim: 

  • My new run (and bike) warmup inside is RPR - Reflexive Performance Reset 

    • Cal Dietz taking some weightlifters through a warmup routine:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKgetbklmwk

    • Foot / arch for hip stability- use this video at minute 6’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNruAwkZOlw&t=343s

    • I focus on the Psoas, glutes, quads, hips and foot/arch pre run warmup. You will feel lighter, much more activated and may even get goosebumps!  This should take you no more than 1 - 2’ to perform. This is the largest return on investment I’ve ever seen for run performance.  I’ve yet to experiment much with it for bike and swim but stay tuned! Let me know if you incorporate this into your routine. Since my hip is still very compromised, I can attest to how well RPR works to activate that area.  If a gimpy, middle aged guy can move and run somewhat normal with this lingering injury, just think what it can do for you!

  • My latest strength routine addition is the Spring Ankle exercises. 

    • Enhancing Athletic Performance Unlocking the Power of Spring-Ankle for Efficient Energy Transfer and Stability – Triphasic Training Method 13

    • Why do the Spring Ankle exercises? 

      • Spring ankle exercises have proven to yield extraordinary results in foot and ankle development for athletes across all levels.

      • Efficient Energy Transfer: The series focuses on minimizing energy leaks and optimizing energy transfer along the entire chain of muscles and joints involved in dynamic movements. By addressing ankle stability and function, athletes can improve their power output and overall performance.

      • Ankle Instability and Performance: Ankle instability can significantly limit an athlete’s speed potential and overall performance. Weaknesses and instability in the foot and ankle can lead to compensatory movements, reduced force output, and potential injuries.

      • Impact on the Kinetic Chain: Foot and ankle instability can have cascading effects on other joints in the kinetic chain, such as the knee and hip. Weak ankles can lead to tight hips, lower back problems, and even knee pain. Addressing ankle stability is crucial for maintaining overall structural integrity and optimal performance.

    • In other words, if you want to run fast, you need STRONG feet and ankles. This is a very targeted and direct approach to achieve that sport specific strength.  Remember, your strength work should complement your sport activities.

    • Only after a few sessions, I can feel my foot / arch getting stronger leading me to have better run foot contact, stabilize my hips and allow me to relax into more hip extension.  Hip extension is a key for run speed. 

    • This is also a pillar of Lawrence van Lingen’s program.  Cal and Lawrence are coming from two very different perspectives but arriving in the same place.

    • For full information on Cal Dietz, you can check out his Triphasis books. 

  • Sprint Training: The Missing Piece in Your Endurance Program

    • Steve Magness with a great explanation of why we do strides/pickups i.e., why even as long distance athletes from Ironman to ultra and marathon runners, why fast work is fundamental.  

    • Key point: Sprinting is key to train both your slow and fast twitch muscles. Effective training engages all muscles so that you have use of both types of muscles as you fatigue in long distance events.

    • You can apply this same principle to bike, swim and strength, too.  This is why we incorporate a lot of FAST 25s in our swim program and a lot of short sprinting in our Z2 Zwift workouts (among many training blocks where focus on very high end watts work on the bike).  

    • A key principle: Absolute power is the key driver of adaptation.
      Take as much rest you need between all out efforts.

  • Run Sat / Bike Sunday

    • Usually we say there is no magic formula and order especially in BASE season. This year, however, I’m putting more of a focus on run speed development for my triathletes. As such, we want to keep the main thing the main thing and that means putting the long run on Saturday when you have the most mental and physical energy to apply the best training stimulus.  Triathlon is most often a run race with a swim and bike as a distraction.

    • This means biking on tired legs on Sunday but that’s OK.

    • Caveat: unless we are specifically targeting the improvement of your FTP if we’ve determined that is the main limiter then we will bike on Saturday and run on Sunday.

    • Guiding principle: think about your main limiter and hit that workout first in your day/week.

Main Content 

  • You are a person first, athlete second.

  • 80 / 20 intensity distribution 

  • Honor the intention of the workout 

  • Stress + rest = growth

  • Keep the recreation in recreational athlete

  • Fueling and fitness are equal partners on race day (and in training) 

  • Nail the basics without getting caught up in the 1% (sleep, nutrition, consistent/structured training, etc.)

  • Injury prevention -- 1-2 days off can prevent 1-2 months off  

  • The magic of strength training

  • Outdoor durability and time in mountains, hiking, etc. as a way to become a better triathlete. Limit indoor cat time.

Listener Questions

Why is my HR higher in morning workouts than evening workouts?

  • A couple of possible reasons include: natural spike in cortisol (stress hormone) in the morning to help you feel alert, proximity to caffeine intake. 

  • If it bothers you, try delaying caffeine until after your workout (or just having a little bit of coffee or decaf). Definitely eat something before you head out too as being in a fasted state jacks up cortisol even more.

  • For all workouts but especially morning ones, be sure to gradually ramp up HR with Z1 walking, easy spinning, or tech swimming before your main set -- even if it’s just Z2 activity. 

How do I get a good run warmup in when it’s really cold out? 

  • Katie: My go-to recently has been:

    • Inside -- lunge matrix

    • Inside -- band work

    • If still not warm -- first mile SLOW SLOW SLOW but still jogging. You can also walk 5-10’ with a big puffy on and then dump it at your house/car 

    • We have even experimented with a 10-20’ spin on trainer inside before a run to get the muscles going! 

    • Jim: See above RPR Warmup

Challenge of the Week

  • Katie: Skip or modify one workout in your first week of training. For many people there is so much excitement and enthusiasm at the beginning that  you feel like you have to absolutely crush everything perfectly, but this mindset can lead to burnout down the line if you feel like you’ve created an unrealistic standard. Tell yourself at the get-go that it’s OK (and even encouraged!) to not be perfect, and flex that muscle!

  • Jim: Learn RPR!

Gear Pick of the Week

Episode 61: Goals and Intentions for 2025

We're kicking off the new year with an episode all about goals and intentions for 2025! Katie and Elena reached out to our community for inspiration about what's motivating them this year and came back with a ton of physical and mental goals that span endurance, self-improvement, and everything in between. We also did a deep dive on coaching and training insights related to "how to solve for the right race," how to process tough race days, and how to practice shame resilience in the context of sports. Finally, we cover some of our own goals and intentions for the coming year. Happy New Year!

Links

Our goal-mapping worksheet

Our values-identifying worksheet

Brene Brown books on shame and shame resilience — we recommend starting with The Gifts of Imperfection, then trying Daring Greatly and Rising Strong.

Challenge of the Week

Elena: try a new recipe!

Katie: Start the day (or week) with an intention. Example: being kind to yourself!

Gear Pick of the Week

Elena: Generic — cross country skis! Specific — Darn tough socks

Katie: Favero Assioma UNO power meter

Episode 60: Lessons from 2024 (Part 2!)

We’re closing out 2024 with a recap of some of our biggest lessons learned and some coaching and training innovations we’re looking forward to in 2025. We cover the importance of mindset, why belief is crucial for performance, how goal mapping has helped us and our athletes, why comparison is the thief of joy, how to modify under high stress, the role of everyday nutrition vs. sports nutrition, training with the seasons, and more. We also go over some fun coaching and training insights related to Zwift, FTP tests, nordic skiing, and strength training, and we reflect on what it means to have reached our big one-year milestone of the pod. Thank you so much to all of our listeners to this point — we’re so pumped to see what 2025 brings!

Intro banter

We have passed one year of the pod! 

The podcast as an individual, coaches collective and community created project. We are creating this together!

Coaching & Training Insights

Katie:

  • Zwift free ride vs. structured workouts vs. outdoor riding. In the spirit of trying to help athletes make choices and listen to their bodies, I’ve been reminding them that any time there is, e.g., a Z2 bike workout in TP, it is equally fine to do a structured Z2 workout on Zwift, free ride in Z2 on Zwift, or go outside if the weather allows. Many people think if they don’t do the perfect “Z2: High Cadence 20 x 1s” it will compromise their race. In reality, there are *many* roads to Rome and all Z2 is good Z2 at this point. When it’s really important to stick to exactly what the workout is (e.g. hard bike intervals later on), we will tell you! 

  • Substitutions for other activities. Also true in base season - a 30-45’ Z2 run is usually fine to sub for a 30-45’ Z2 XC ski, 30-45’ Z2 hike, 30-45’ Z2 elliptical, etc. You want to get some running in, but occasional swaps like this based on availability and interest are totally OK and encouraged. Always come back to the intention of the workout (during pre-base and early base, this is HR in Z1/2, aerobic foundation base building). 

  • Piece of evidence #900 that strength training is a hack. Ankle injury + death in family + gum surgery = very low volume in the last 6 weeks. Back on Zwift now and surprised to see really high power numbers. My hunch? Strength training, the one thing I have been consistent at (plus a lot of walking by nature of my city life) has kept fitness levels pretty solid in a way not reflected by TSS/ TP but that I can feel now that stress levels are down. And all the rest was probably good for me! Excited for what’s next now in 2025. 


Jim:

  • Nordic skiing for moderate aerobic development and multi-directional glute/leg strength. If you can get out of Nordic skiing this winter, go for it. It’s very much like trail running; it organically builds your aerobic capacity and leg and glute strength. Particularly helpful is that most runners and triathletes are ‘north’ oriented with all their movement (think of north on the compass, we rarely go east/west and south). Nordic skiing is all about north, east and west movements. And it’s another great way to get upper fitness similar to swimming. And don’t worry about staying in Zone 2, cross country skiing is usually Z3 and up!

  • Ramp test vs FTP test

    • Don’t do the ramp test, it’s the least effective way to obtain FTP. It has a number of issues that we don’t need to discuss. Just say no.

    • For the best indoor FTP test, do the 73’ Zwift FTP test which will use ERG mode for warmup and ERG mode off during the 5’ and 20’ test. The 5’ part is all out to burn off some anaerobic power so your 20’ power test is more aerobic.

    • Key point: During the 5’ and 20’ test, ERG mode will go off automatically which means you will need to change gears to increase the resistance and find the level of watts that are appropriate for you.

    • With the 5’ test, go all out. Hold back a little during the first 1 - 2 minutes (95% effort) and then just go all in on the last 3’ like you are trying to win a mountain top Tour stage and Team Jumbo Visma is hot on your tail!

    • For the 20’ effort, use the first 3 - 5’ to find what is hard but sustainable. Then start to see if you can increase your effort throughout the last 15’. With racing and testing, always start a little on the conservative side and then work into the effort.

  • Swimming early season; Technical 50’s and beginner swimmer focus areas. The Base season is the best time to work on the technical part of your swim stroke. If you are an intermediate swimmer, then do a lot of 50’s with plenty of rest. Pick a focus point and work that for 5 - 10 50s. Do enough of one thing / one focus area that you can say you made progress during that swim session. A common mistake made is working too little time on stroke improvement. Your brain needs a lot of reps and time in order to learn. Take your time. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Just one small improvement is all you need for a successful swim. Progress not perfection.

    • If you are a beginner swimmer, a highly effective way to learn proper body position and tautness is kick on back with fins. This is magic. Do 10 x 50 and then start doing 25 kick on back / 25 freestyle with a catch up stroke focus.  Here are two videos:

    • Focus early season on: catch up stroke, quiet head, entering in line with shoulder and pulling back in line with your shoulder.

    • Also, I highly recommend following these folks on Instagram: 

  • Don’t stress about fitness around the holidays. Have fun with family and friends. We have plenty of time to get fit. Miss some workouts!

Lessons from 2024 / Looking forward to 2025

Check out our first installment of this series—Episode 35: Lessons From 2024 (So Far!)—as well as our lessons episode from last year (Episode 5: Lessons From 2023) to hear about everything we have learned to this point!

Katie:

  • Mindset matters

    • Check out Episode 41: Recapping Katie’s Comeback Win at the Sea to Summit Triathlon

    • S2S: Why, on reflection, getting lost and having to actively choose to race for me without chasing any outcome was so powerful

      • N = 1, but I believe your very best races come from a position of racing truly for you and knowing that you are choosing to race and want to be there regardless of the outcome, and/or that your goal is to perform the best that YOU possibly can on any given race day. 

      • Will the mindset coach: “Can you replicate it?”

      • Goal for next season: be able to use that mindset (both in training and in racing) without being forced into it 

  • Related: cultivating belief

    • Check out Episode 51: Cultivating Self-Belief in Sport and Life 

    • Our expectations create our reality

    • This is true both in terms of mindset and physiology

    • Work with the Mind and Body Lab 

    • I have a hunch that this is true with how we perform in races, which is why cultivating a positive mindset and keeping up the positive self-talk matter SO much. Looking forward to building strategies to work on this with athletes (and myself) in 2025. 

    • Note also that I’ve increasingly seen my role as a coach to help athletes cultivate belief in themselves. *Many* of us struggle with feelings of worth in sport or life and/or low confidence especially going into races. Leaning on your coach or other members of your support community can often be an important stepping stone to developing belief in yourself 

  • Targeted goal mapping

    • Check out our Goal Mapping Worksheet and Episode 49: Setting Goals in Training and Racing 

    • (1) Big goals, loosely held 

      • Don’t be afraid to set a big and scary goal!

    • (2) Roll-down of A / B / C goals

      • Small sub-point -- many athletes have A goals related to place (e.g., top 10 in AG). I usually recommend mapping those goals onto some time (which you can do by looking up times for top 10 in previous iterations of the race), since we can train to perform at a goal pace but we can’t control who shows up on race day. Remember that you could have a “‘slow’ or ‘bad’ for you day” and finish 2nd in your AG, or smash a PB and finish 11th. Which matters more to you? 

    • (3) You don’t always have to be better than last year or a previous version of yourself; important to realize that when ‘life overhead’ changes, even just maintaining your fitness or hitting 6 hours of training per week can be a huge A goal when life overhead is really high. Be realistic about what your life overhead is in a given year/season (Are you moving? Starting a new job? Taking on new responsibilities at work? Starting a family? etc.) and then ask yourself what races and what goals are appropriate for a change in life overhead. Which segways into…

  • Comparison is the thief of joy

    • A common trope but SO true in the endurance context 

    • Part of this comes from comparing ourselves to others, e.g. on Strava or other social media platforms. When you catch yourself feeling bad about your own performances or stats relative to others, take a social media break.

    • An even bigger part often comes from comparing to previous versions of ourselves, which Strava has made easier and easier in what I think is a not so good way (e.g., reminding you what you were doing 1 or 2 years go or using AI to tell you that your run was slower than average). Remember that Strava never takes into account the life overhead or context of what is going on in life, even if it tries to with weird personal comments in the AI info. 

    • When this is coming up for you, I recommend:

      • Using less data 

      • Turning inward to ask what your body needs and what the intention of the workout is 

      • Coming back to the values of joy, community, etc. 

  • Stress is stress is stress / the body keeps the score

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

    • Increasingly seeing in athletes now and in my own life: the body interprets stress from life stuff, work stuff, training, racing, etc. in the same way 

    • There is only so much stress you can be under at a given time before the body starts to shut you down -- and if you push this to the extreme, it can really come back after you later in life with chronic disease, inflammation, etc.

    • When LSS is high, TSS *must* come down. Keep your coach informed and lower the volume and intensity until your metrics start to come back under control and even more importantly, until you feel better. This is the fastest way to get back on track!

  • Sports nutrition is the 1% / everyday nutrition is the 99%

    • Check out Episode 53: Performance Nutrition with Chef and Registered Dietitian Megan Chacosky and Episode 9: Nutrition for Athletes with Cate Ward, PhD, RD

    • A quick one, but something I see often in athletes (and an important point that came up in our episode with RD and Chef Megan Chacosky) is that as athletes, we spend a ton of time thinking about optimizing our sports nutrition with the perfect gel or carb max, but spend less time thinking about the other 99% of our fueling (i.e. everyday nutrition). Obviously it’s important to nail your fueling strategy for racing, but what you eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks should have an equal if not greater amount of intentionality and focus. From a starting point of eating enough, you should also be thinking about eating the rainbow, getting enough protein/healthy fats/getting enough carbs, etc. *This is not an instruction to try to eat as clean as possible!* It is just that not putting any intentionality into your daily fueling while thinking extensively about everything in the sports nutrition bucket will likely create some gaps in how you feel in training and how you recover.

    • In 2024, I was glad to see many of our athletes set up appointments with an RD to dial in their everyday and workout nutrition. Will continue to encourage athletes to do this in 2025!

  • Embracing the seasons of workouts/training/life

    • Reflecting on how my season and the seasons of many of my athletes have unfolded, I think there’s something to be said for working with the seasons to structure your training/racing and movement

    • Winter is an amazing time to hunker down from a training and work perspective, get a lot done, stack base miles, get “indoor fit.”

    • Spring is a time to get outside, get outdoor durability and learn how to ride, run, and OWS LONG, prep for races, dial in mindset. Very busy time for athletes and coaches. 

    • Summer is sort of a manic happy high intensity joyous celebration of racing that results from the work you put in during the winter and spring; the time we all have been waiting for as triathletes.

    • Fall is a great time to reap the benefits of summer fitness but transition into unstructured adventuring, and, once the weather finally comes back into winter, to rest and reset physically and mentally. I am way more okay with being less nomadic than usual and “nesting” inside during this time of year than any other time. No more scarcity mindset regarding outdoor time and full surrender to a slower and sleepier place as we build for a new season. 

    • All this is to say: I don’t usually intentionally plan for seasons to unfold this way, but they generally have in the past several years and it feels good. Looking forward to following a similar progression this year and helping athletes do the same as we kick off the season.

    • Also, if you have an A race that happens to be in, e.g., December (shout out to 70.3 Worlds racers, recent IM 70.3 Indian Wells, etc.), that is OK too! Just know that your season may be a little bit unconventional with respect to usual outdoor time and structuring of life. 

Jim:

  • Fueling: We always say. Fueling and fitness are equal partners on race day. And we’ll expand that to big training days. And expand it even further to always eat enough, always daily to fuel your training and recovery. 

    • The next boundary to push is high carb fueling during training and racing. I’ll use big training days / Race Sim days to encourage my athletes to experiment with hard carb fueling and train their gut to take in even more fuel. I believe we will see breakthroughs on our team in 2025 by fueling even more. 

    • Along this same theme, I will experiment with sodium bicarbonate in 2025. There is a lot of performance evidence that sodium bicarbonate works well. 

  • Heat training: Both active and passive. Heat and humidity is always a challenge and seems to be getting more challenging every summer. It’s a huge performance killer. We need to do more to address this leading into our races.

  • More moderate / Z3 / steady running: especially after speed work. In the past, speed work has just been speed work. Will experiment more this upcoming year with speed work (at the track, for instance) into some Z3 / half marathon/15K pacing.

  • Progression runs: Developing more progression runs for 2025 for all athletes. This is mostly influenced by the runners I coach. Adding challenge at the end of a run seems to be a physical and mental boost of confidence.

  • Even more hills. We are big fans now and will incorporate hills even more. Huge believer in hills and speed combination. Examples are 30” hill intervals into 5’ flat fast running.

  • Mental training

    • Intention of workout 

    • Mechanism to invoke parasympathetic nervous system - breath work, meditation, therapy, mindfulness 

    • New favorite mantra: “It will be hard but I am capable.”

  • Level 1 - 5 athlete model focus. Don’t rush athletic development. Set a context for new athletes coming into the sport. 

Challenge of the Week

  • Katie: Get some body work done! Sports massage, sports chiro, PT, acupuncture. Sometimes the latter three can be covered by insurance. All part of establishing your local network of care providers.

  • Jim: If you’re exercising a lot outside in the cold, it’s easy not to drink much as you don’t get the same thirst sensation as you do in the warmer months. But remember to keep hydrating. (And bonus focus on hydrating pre and post workout.)

Gear Pick of the Week

  • Katie: Morph Collapsible Foam Roller

  • Jim: If you are looking for a protein powder with some vitamins/probiotics/super foods, check out Kachava. Combine with greek yogurt for a protein bomb!

Episode 59: The Body Keeping Score, Practicing Self-Compassion, and Other Extended Insights

We’re in that awkward time between Thanksgiving and Christmas where life feels like equal parts joyful, dark, and downright weird, so Jim, Katie, and Elena sat down to chat through what’s been going on for us in coaching, training, and life in recent weeks. The result was a rich episode filled with our collective thoughts on topics that range from mechanical durability to fighting disconnection to grief processing to self-compassion to marathon pacing to mental health to super shoes and more! Come for these and other extended insights, and stay for two bougie gear picks of the week and one stocking stuffer. Check it out! 

Extended show notes:

Coaching & Training Insights 

Jim:

Time on feet; basic muscular endurance training

  • I just returned from a trip where I spent hours walking in a city. It was super challenging and I got really tired! Walking is a great way to test your durability aka muscular endurance. A simple test for durability is to walk (or hike) for hours and see how tired you get. 

  • The fundamental demand of many long distance events - ultra runs, Ironman, big hikes - are time on feet. If you are eating and drinking enough then mechanical load really becomes the main challenge. You must build muscular endurance to move for many hours on your feet. You do this in conjunction with speed training, strength work, easy runs, etc but the foundation is the ability to be on your feet.  

  • If you are thinking about an Ironman, the run portion will take you 4 - 5 hours (or longer). How would you feel if you just went into your backyard and stood around for this long? If you can’t stand, or walk around a city, or go for a continuous hike, for 4 - 5 hours then you aren’t ready for an Ironman yet. Better yet, exercise for 7-8 hours then try to spend another 4 - 5 hours on your feet - that’s an Ironman!

  • If you are a long distance athlete, a simple tactic to use during the Base season is to do very long walks / hikes. This will illustrate the importance of time on feet and provide a gentle way to test your durability limit. Come back to long walks/hikes every few weeks to test your muscular endurance. It’s simple, effective and a gentle test.  

  • In 2025, I’ll incorporate some long walks/hikes into my Level 1/2/3 athletes who are training for their first long distance event.

Sign up for races that are challenging but not overwhelmingly stressful

  • There is a lot of social media pressure to work and play at the extremes. But in your recreation, do you really want it to stress you out? No!  You want to find training and racing a stretch, a challenge, but not push over into stress territory.  

  • Training is like climbing a mountain; we want it to be challenging and learn new skills along the way that are appropriate for your current experience. Get familiar with that territory and then move up to the next level. If you were an aspiring mountaineer, think of climbing Mount Monadnock, then Franconia Ridge, then the Prezis, then something bigger out West, progressing to South American volcanoes, then an Alaska expedition into the Himalayas. This would take many years but you would have the thrill of new challenges along the way and building off all your past experiences. 

  • Think of signing up for an endurance event like climbing a mountain; it’s all about the process of climbing (and descending) as you only spend a few minutes on the summit (the race) enjoying the view. If the climb and descent is bare knuckle scary and stressful, was it really the challenge you wanted? This is a nuanced question; you need a certain amount of challenge and unknown for some process to be rewarding. It’s finding that sweet spot of challenge vs overwhelming stress.

  • When you sign up for an event for which you have no experience and context, you’ll probably end up in the daily overwhelming stress category. Who needs that as a recreational athlete?!

  • When you sign up for stretch events, the training is challenging but appropriate. You have some comfort, a level of context, and experience to grow your existing skills. 

  • We are drawn to endurance events partly due to their transformative nature. Ideally the training and racing will help us gain insights into ourselves and grow as a person. Transformation can’t happen when you are under tremendous pressure and stress. It can happen when you are feeling centered and somewhat in control of your inner life and circumstances. Stretch events are the perfect opportunity to transform, grow, exercise agency and build toward even more stretch events. It’s a long road; enjoy the process of building your capabilities and growing as a person over many years.

  • Even if I don’t coach you and you are trying to decide whether an event is stressful or challenging, please feel free to reach out. I’m happy to talk through that process with you.

Disconnection

  • Is the greatest dis-ease of our time, disconnection with ourselves and others. We are splintered at every opportunity by the news, politicians and social media.

  • I’m turning down the dial on news and social media and seeing how that affects my daily stress and mindset. Turns out, it helps a lot! I find that rumination and narratives start to get quiet in my head.

  • Our brains are not designed to handle this level of news and information. We have a very primitive operating system that is conditioned to interact in person with a small group of people.

  • After turning off the noise, one of the best ways we connect is through sports. Endurance sports in particular can be a very powerful gateway into tuning into your inner voice. When you find your voice, you can move from your center out to connect with family, friends and community. 

Katie:

  • Observations on the body keeping score of tough life stuff 

    • Grief as a kind of total body experience 

    • Workout HR, resting HR, HRV, sleep all wild 

    • Needing way more rest than usual to get everything back in line

    • Grounding in the intention of the workout:

      • Fresh air

      • Lower stress levels / optimize mental health 

      • Gentle movement for the body 

    • When in doubt, use less data:

      • Oura ring on “rest mode”

      • Unlogged workouts, going by feel, etc.

  • Quarterly existential crisis questioning my why

    • Happens when I’m in a funk with training, feeling burnt out, overtired, etc. 

    • What I do to get curious: turn off Strava; do stuff with less data; text a friend / do more social things 

    • Usually comes back to me realizing that joy/health/community are big why’s (and values), and that they should drive me year round 

  • Building out some training plans for 2025 -- kudos to athletes getting started early with “pre-base” seasons 

    • Focus: 3x strength per week

    • Return to swim/bike/run consistency (1-2ish/week of each sport depending on experience level)

    • Base foundation for base season (i.e. Zone 2)

    • Jim: Shout out to all the athletes who listen to the podcast. Our conversations are deeper and more directed as a result. 

  • Against all odds, I am back in the pool

    • Going for consistency over volume: 2k, 2-3x per week, only using watch sometimes to record it

    • Focus: technical 50s and a TON of gear 

    • No real workouts; if I feel good, throw in a few fast 25s/50s

Elena:

  1. Extending on the body keeps the score→ life stress adds up, so we can ask ourselves, where can I take some stress off? 

    1. I’m still rebuilding from my body struggling with too much chronic stress

    2. Setting reasonable expectations→ time blocks. Honoring a “workout” time block with whatever your body needs. Honoring a “work” time block even if you don’t get everything done

    3. Who can I ask for help? 

  2. Sincerely taking the stigma out of mental health → I started medication! And so far so good

    1. Connecting with others more→ being more open about the struggle

    2. Being ok with the fact that things are not ok and I need more help! I’ve always believed that I can push through anything and it’s all about my mindset, but when all of my energy is going towards getting through the day, that is harder. Utilizing many different tools in the toolkit

  3. CIM this weekend, so a note on pace-based goals→ definitely shoot your shot! 

    1. It’s magical when everything comes together, and we’ve talked before about how to control the controllables to make that most likely, but marathons are also full of uncontrollables as well. When planning paces with athletes, I want to start by lifting up the goals they have and my belief that those goals are achievable. Training helps us dial that in and have conversations if needed, but I often find that people sell themselves short when it comes to their best effort potential if everything goes well. If you have a pace goal:

      1. Definitely outline your A/B/C goals so you can adjust quickly as needed. “Big goals, loosely held”

      2. Start out at or slightly slower than your goal pace. This lets your body warm up and keeps you calm and comfortable. Then you can evaluate how you’re feeling and either keep it going & speed it up in the second half or make smart adjustments early. 

      3. HR can be a very helpful barometer but is not everything

Listener Questions 

How far out from your goal race should you get on a training plan? 

Katie thoughts: 

  • Ironman: 28-32 weeks (depending on experience level)

  • Half Ironman: 20-28 weeks (depending on experience level)

  • OLY: 16-20 weeks (depending on experience level)

  • Sprint: 12-16 weeks (depending on experience level)

  • Marathons - 20 weeks (Jim)

  • Ultras - Jim: for 50/100 miles, 5-6 months.   

  • Half Marathons 

Can I still do group workouts while I’m on a coaching plan?

  • Yes! A lot of our athletes have at least one group speed run per week. We encourage you to continue for the social and speed aspect. Your cup will be filled socially and it’s a great stimulus, better than doing speed on your own.

  • Many athletes also are in a Masters swim group which is an excellent motivation to get to the pool and have fun with friends while getting swim fit. When the weather warms next spring/summer, we can get you out in open water to work on specific race skills. Until then, have fun in the water with your friends.

How do I get faster at running? I’d like to qualify for Boston (or some other big running goal). I currently run 3X per week.

  • Jim: I get asked this question frequently, usually by runners who are on a minimum effective dose plan. While there is a time and place for a minimum effective dose, it’s very hard to advance in a sport (or any skill) when you only do it 3X per week. In order to bring out your potential, we recommend doing it 5X per week. The extra two times per week do not need to be killer workouts. In fact, they can be, and in many cases should be, very easy Z1/Z2 runs of even 30’. Frequency is your friend and a 30’ run, or exercise snack, added up over time, has HUGE benefits. 

  • Check out my blog post The Power of 5X

What are you excited about in 2025?

  • Katie: Return to routine and a plan! Excited about getting on a training plan and working towards new goals. The off season has been great but I’m actually feeling like I want to be on the trainer, in the pool, etc., which is a good sign.

  • Elena: getting back to myself! And UTMB fingers crossed

  • Jim: Getting super fit on the bike, return to running and mountains. From a coaching perspective, implementing new ideas we have learned about in 2024. 

Challenge of the Week

Katie: go to bed before 9pm ;)

Jim: On Sunday evening, go through your upcoming week calendar by the hour (or chunks of hours) and specifically schedule your workouts, work, family/friends time, etc. You will be more successful getting in all your workouts if there is a written timeline for the week. And you may find you have more time in the week for an extra 30’ run or spin. 

Elena: time on feet breaks! 10-20 mins walks

Gear Pick of the Week

Elena: I’m doing a bougie one this week→ Sweat Tent portable sauna!

Katie: Skida season is upon us! Check out their headbands

Jim: RitFit Smith Machine - if I were starting over to build out a home strength system, this would be the start. It does everything and it’s very easy and safe to use. 

Episode 58: A Day in the Life of a Race Director With Tim Richmond

In this week's episode, we are joined by Tim Richmond, the Head Race Director of Max Performance, to learn a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes at a triathlon race. Tim shares how he became a race director and grew his successful family-run triathlon business, how he handles gear and equipment, how he manages and organizes volunteers, how he responds to unforeseen circumstances on race day, and how you as a triathlete can have the best race experience. Jim and Katie also reflect on some of our most fun experiences on the Max Performance race circuit in our last decade of training and coaching. Finally, we cover some fun insights and listener questions related to injury recovery, grounding in the intention of the workout, threshold testing, and more. Check it out!

Max Performance - Races:

Coaching and Training Insights

Katie: 

Ankle on the mend (and hopefully fully better by the time this airs)! Some important lessons I picked up:

  • Once again, a few days off can prevent a few months off. Hitting recovery HARD allows you to hit healing HARD. The opposite approach (half-assing recovery) usually means half-assed healing and the potential for injuries to become chronic.

  • Positive reframing – one way to handle unexpected things / disappointment: 

    • This was a great opportunity for me to step outside my comfort zone (i.e. training a lot!) into something that felt scary (lots of rest) and realize it was OK! Next time I need to take a lot of rest, I will be OK and more resilient. Jim, wondering if you have felt this way as a result of your injury?

    • Also: great opportunity to (1) take a proper mini off season and (2) lean into some good bike and (begrudgingly) swim prep.

  • Get a good PT! I was very lucky to be able to see my PT the day after this happened and get immediate care and an action plan. It was also helpful to outsource some of the decision making around what I shouldn’t do. When in doubt, call in the experts and establish that local network NOW! 

Especially in this part of the season, recalling the “intention of the workout” and selective use of data.

  • This time of year, we are in pre-season and early base. It can be tempting to recall the power/pace that we could hit at our peak fitness in the summer and want to smash that right now. (I felt this way on a ride recently where I was trying to hold the normalized power that I could do right around Sea to Summit, but the reality is that this was keeping my HR in upper zone 2 when it really should have been in lower zone 2.)

  • Consider grounding in the intention of the workout and only using the data that is helpful to you. For example, if your goal is a 90’ Z1/2 ride, do you need to have the power on the screen? Consider just average and max HR and total duration. 

  • Related to this, for athletes who are struggling to stay in Zone 2 for running, I often will give them time targets rather than mileage targets (e.g. 45’ run, HR under 150, walk breaks as needed) so they aren’t chasing pace/distance and instead are focused on just HR and the goal at hand. 

  • There will be a time when we want to use pace/power etc., but that time doesn’t have to be right now. If it’s making you feel worse about yourself to see those numbers, drop it!

Jim: 

Share some of Mick’s training advice from his fast CA IM training/race: 

  1. I've been focusing a lot more on strength training. Nov 2023 I started lifting 3-4x a week and backing off from long endurance. It is so good for the athlete(or anyone) in their 40s and beyond. It made a difference yesterday. I noted my strength in the big gears felt great. I ran out of gears and was rolling along(with a tailwind) at 26mph and cadence of 65. It felt great and kept the HR low. 

  2. Having Jack (Mick’s young son) limits my ability to be all consumed by the training. The training schedule just isn't a priority. But I've been able to structure the day to get 1.5-2hrs of exercise in without taking away from time with him. Obviously early morning workouts. But a lot more late at night, weighted vest walks when he is bed. I think it is making a difference with "durability" and strength of the legs. 

  3. Standing desk. I think this is huge. I listened to an interview from Dede Griesbauer and her build for Ultraman. She mentioned how a standing desk made a difference and I agree. I set a PR at the Alyeska Climbathon this year as well and feel this only helps. Standing for 4-6 hrs a day at work is a great hack for the time crunched. 

  4. This isn't news to you, but I'm an Alan Couzens disciple. 90% of workouts at super low intensity. So many trainer rides at 120-140watts when IM effort was 220-230. Granted my sprint/Olympic speed is not great, but I can go all day and it again the next day feeling good. 

  5. IM CA was great for me in regards to limited swim workouts. The river swim at IMCA made it short so I didn't feel the pressure to get a huge swim block in and having a decent swim background I could get 1-2  swims a week and be good. I ramped that up to 4x a week the last 3 weeks, but I knew my focus needed to be bike/run workouts. Swimming just takes so much time. 

What would I do differently:

  • More long runs.

  • Bike more. I think 10hrs a week for 10 weeks prior to race day sets you up well.

  • Better sleep

  • Try to get a training camp in about 6 weeks out.

Listener Questions

When and how often should I do swim/bike/run threshold/FTP tests?

  • General advice: Start your Base season with some level of testing for each sport. This doesn't necessarily need to be a test but rather thinking through where you are at with fitness / motivation / goals and then set your thresholds based on those factors. Most athletes have a good sense where they are at.  For example, if your FTP was 200 outside during the peak of summer training but you are moving inside to Zwift in November after a couple months off the bike, I would take say 20% off your FTP number to account for current fitness and that inside FTP is usually lower than outside FTP.  As always you can reach out to us, we will be happy to help you gauge where you are at. 

  • Swim: I tend to adjust swim threshold times in TrainingPeaks as the athlete progresses. I can see the times getting faster and use 20 TSS per 1000 as a metric to gauge progress.  I’m yet to meet a triathlete who wants to do the 400/200 swim test!  If you wanted to do a CSS swim test, I would do this every few months as most triathletes don’t have enough time in the pool to move their threshold fundamentally every 6 - 8 weeks. 

  • Bike: This one is nuanced as FTP changes from inside, outside, bike type, etc. FTP is like playing centerfield; you know which ballpark and which position you are playing but depending on the batter you may shade left or right a little or a lot. My primary indicator of an improving FTP are comments from athletes about the ease or discomfort of workouts.  Bottom line: FTP is a moving target sometimes daily and you should have a FTP RANGE not a FTP number.   If you want to take a FTP test, I would do this every 8 weeks or so using the same bike and bike setup so you have an apples to apples comparison.  During race season, it’s important to do a FTP test on the exact same bike setup as you will race. For example, you should take a FTP test on your TT bike in aero if that is the tool you are using for the race.  Then we set race pace percentages based on that specific bike setup / gear / position.

  • Run: My favorite organic run test is the local 5K race. This will tell you a lot about where you are at.  You could do a local 5K every 10 - 12 weeks and you should see progress. 

Challenge of the Week

Katie: No screens 30’ before bed to improve sleep quality.

Jim: Start setting the expectation that the holidays are coming and the focus should not be on fitness but family and community.  We have plenty of time to get in shape for 2025.

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: JOLYN swimsuits - specifically Brandon 2

Jim: Light and radar mounts from Neat Components

Episode 57: Endurance as a Form of Spirituality

We are going full “woo woo spirituality” in this episode to talk about how endurance sports can operate as a spiritual practice. We specifically chat through why we are interested in the intersection between endurance sports and spirituality, how we define and conceptualize spirituality, spirituality at its best and worst, endurance as a vehicle for constant self-reflection, the pursuit of feeling “enough,” endurance as a way to give back to others, and how our own relationships with endurance sports have evolved over time. Our goal is not to have the final say on any of these big and complex topics, but rather to get the conversation going and “caveat the hell out of” our free-formed thoughts. We also cover some fun insights related to tempo training, the rule of thirds, and Katie’s recent ankle injury, and we share a lot of laughs about signs from the universe in the process. Check it out!

Resources we mentioned in the podcast:

Bravey by Alexi Pappas

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown

Rising Strong by Brené Brown

Episode 21: Leadership and Life Wisdom with Gina des Cognets

Gear pick of the week:

Katie: RockTape for little injuries and a little extra support
Elena: Squid Ice compression

Episode 56: Setting Yourself Up for Success Next Season

The start of the season is right around the corner, so this week we’re putting together an extended list of things that you can do to be ready to hit the ground running (and swimming and biking) once it all begins. We cover mindset and mental prep, balancing your nervous system, organizing your life logistics, hitting the gym, getting back into Zone 2 aerobic training, addressing recurring injuries, sprucing up your pain cave, and a whole lot more. We offer cover several coaching and training insights related to gravel biking, strength training, turning off Strava AI, days off, stress management, and the Ironman World Championships in Kona. This is a jam-packed episode — check it out!

Coaching and Training Insights

Katie: Gravel biking on some MTB trails as a great off season adventure

  • Zone 1 HR (at least in the trails I am on); often averages out 100-120 bpm for 1.5-2.5 hours 

  • Pace/power data completely thrown out the window which feels awesome

  • Enjoying fall weather, getting outside, exploration mindset

  • Mindfulness on technical terrain, similar to trail running

  • Focus on a new skill (very technical bike handling) which will translate to even better bike handling on road/TT later on 

  • Position of gravel bike doesn’t strain upper back in same way as aero position does 

  • Outside of comfort zone → flexing self belief muscle 

    • In the self-belief episode we talked about how for many people, self-belief is highest when you first start a sport; that has definitely been my experience. Giving myself a little “wow you crushed that!” when I eek out a 0.1 mile downhill scary section and make it through just fine. 

    • It has also helped that I’ve been doing a lot of this adventuring solo so I have really no concept of what it means to go fast or be skilled; completely on my own terms 

  • Broader reflection: If I had to sum up how I approached the off season, it was 4 weeks super chill into 8-12 weeks of mainly unstructured trail running and gravel biking Z2. Once it gets cold and I can’t get outside on trails as much, will be time to get on the trainer for intervals, get back in the pool, run on roads, etc., and I think it will be ready. There’s a lot of joy and power in letting the weather, seasons, and access shape your yearly calendar

Something else I am focusing on now -- hitting it HARD in the gym

  • “General prep phase” as part of a macrocycle 

  • Heavy weighted strength, where 2x per week in the gym is the big rock of a given day → all Z1/2 trail stuff otherwise since this is a hard and sometimes anaerobic stimulus that can leave me sore 

  • Some cool things I am noticing:

    • Strength gains happen fast and a little goes a long way. Two weeks in (total of 4 sessions) I was like “wow I have deltoids! And lats!”

    • Plug for doing this at the end of the fall to kick off your season → you will be bullet proof when it’s time to layer on volume. 

    • To progress, you need to do progressive overload: increase weight/reps over time. If you need help, work with a strength trainer, or there are many great programs online that can help you get started.  

    • Keep in mind that heavy lifting, while it doesn’t always seem like a huge stimulus, can rev your metabolism so be sure to keep up the great fueling if you want to get muscle gains 

“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good”

  • This came up in our nutrition episode with Megan 

  • Also relevant to training as many of us start to get back into it

  • The 20-minute bodyweight strength session that you do at home is better than the 60-minute heavy weight progressive overload strength session at the gym that you don’t do

  • The 20-minute walk that you do is better than the 4 mile run that you don’t do 

  • Don’t get paralyzed by not being able to optimize for everything all the time - if your schedule is too tight to make the perfect happen, see what you can fit in that’s still “good” rather than skipping perfect and good altogether 

A tip from J Smitty: We learned how to turn off Strava AI!

  • Go to the feedback page and hit “leave beta”

Jim:

  • Check out this latest article from Alex Hutchinson Aging Athletes Need to Stay Explosive. Here’s How.  Key takeaway from the study he cites: “A typical estimate is that you lose 0.5 to 1 percent of your muscle mass per year once you’re on the wrong side of 40. Strength generally follows a similar trajectory. In contrast, muscle power drops by 2 to 4 percent per year.”

    • Sports, in its simplest form, is the transfer of power.  Power is equal to force times velocity.  As Alex says, keep doing your hill sprints! 

  • On a Day Off, try to take a couple of walks and/or mobility.  I have found that the first walk / active recovery activity feels OK but the second one, later in the day feels fantastic. You can really feel the recovery happening. And that second movement of the day will help keep your recovery going through the evening / night as you roll into your next day activities. 

  • I came across these nifty eight strategies to boost your day-to-day well-being from NPR’s Stress Science 101 series. The 8 skills to manage stress are: 

    • Positive events: Notice when positive things happen in your life

    • Savoring: Relish the positive things in your life

    • Gratitude: Appreciate what brings you happiness

    • Mindfulness: Focus on the present moment without judgment

    • Positive reappraisal: Find the silver lining 

    • Self-compassion: Be kind to yourself

    • Personal strengths: Recognize your unique abilities

    • Attainable goals: Make plans that set you up for success

  • I didn’t intend to watch the men’s race at Kona but the timing worked out that I did!  It’s been a couple years since I really watched the pros race. It can be problematic to try to apply what the pros do back into age group athletes, particularly many of our Level 1 & 2 athletes (folks learning the fundamentals of the sport).  With that said, I did take a bunch of notes on what I saw which I will share below (in the show podcast notes) but not cover verbally now.  If you are curious, hit up our show notes page.  

  • T1 Transition:

    • Ice in helmet - Sam Laidlow. He started the race with a cool head, particularly after heating up the body in the swim. Smart.

  • Bike: 

    • Two bottles stacked on top of each other on aero bars. Filling the space between the hands/forearms and the body reduces drag.  They banned water bottles down the front of the suit so this is a smart adjustment.

    • Full forearm aero bars (probably custom for many) (Drag2zero)

    • Praying mantis arm position. Reduce space between hands and head.

    • Single water bottle mounted behind the seat for most. Note position.

    • Straps for water bottles (prevent launch of nutrition)

    • Stretched out to get more aero, less drop

    • Sam Laidlow with a near disc wheel. Light wind day.

    • Magnus Ditlev - deep disc rear wheel, 3 water bottles in the back. 
      Chevalier - deep disc rear wheel (HED JET 180)

    • Kona has very few turns. It is a pure aero test.

  • Fueling:

    • Carb bottle in T1

    • Importance of early carbs on the bike

  • Tri suits: 

    • White on top for most

    • Sleeves to elbow (skin is slower)

    • Aero calf sleeves (race leaders not wearing them)

  • Core body temperature unit on HR strap to control thermoregulation. 

  • Run: 

    • Ice chunks in hands, down front and back

    • Ice in headband

    • 1 gallon water bottle over head.

    • Jug of Coke drinking!  The pros know how to chug! Quickest endurance fuel.

    • It’s all about the run. Patrick Lange 8-9’ behind Sam Laidlow off the bike.

      • Many athletes ran themselves into the top 10

      • Run patience wins.

  • Here are interesting articles on the mental prep for Patrick Lange and Magnus Ditliev at Kona.  

  • Encourage everyone to check out Lawrence Van Lingen new runner / movement website.  I’m excited to re-invent my running this winter with his help. Lawrence has a holistic approach to running and overall well being. He works with many of the top pros in Boulder but more importantly he is very invested in bringing his run education to the masses. His approach is unique and goes well beyond a run form/drills approach.  His Instagram account is my top follow.

Main Content

How to set yourself up for success approaching a new season:

  • Now that you’ve had some time away from race season, what are the limiters / new skills you want to tackle this upcoming season? What are the things that feel sticky to you and you’d like to break through next year?

  • Develop a daily, nervous system management skill.  Examples are breath work, meditation and mindfulness. These are broad categories and each one has many variations. Explore which method resonates with you and develop the skill and habit of returning to your center throughout the day.  Some of my favorite methods are from the HeartMath Institute.  Kimberly Snyder offers a couple free heart aligned meditations.  Check out her book: The Hidden Power of The Five Hearts or free audiobook with Spotify Premium.

  • Get mentally refreshed → this can take many forms, but you want to prioritize self-care to the point where you are feeling really excited to get back into a structured training plan.

    • Related - settle your nervous system; if you are sleeping really well, that is a good sign. 

  • Get comfortable in the gym and develop your strength training routine.

  • Set up your Pain Cave:

    • Clean up your pain cave, make it super comfortable and a place you want to spend time.  If it’s in the garage on a cement floor, consider an indoor/outdoor rug to warm up the floor.

    • Get Fan(s)

    • Smart trainer / Zwift subscription

  • Set up your memberships and identify weekly schedule for, e.g., pool, gym, track, etc. 

  • Routine/baseline blood work and supplementation routine as needed: CBC, CMP, TSH, Vit D/25-hydroxy, Iron, Ferritin, B12, magnesium etc. Many of us have deficiencies that we may not be aware of and building stores back up takes time! 

  • Get your bike serviced post season, especially before bringing it inside for a winter on the trainer. 

    • If you have not had a bike fit, this is a good time of year to do it.

    • If you have a different bike in your pain cave than your normal training/race bike, ensure the fit is similar between the inside and outside bike.   

  • Get your gear in order. If you are planning to invest in, e.g., new bike, smart trainer, etc., now is the time (and you might find good end of season / Black Friday deals).

  • Have conversations with your primary support peeps about what the season is going to look like and manage expectations 

  • Goal mapping and identifying your purpose (see Episode 49)

Listener Questions

How do you maintain low HR zones on technical mountain bike climbs? My HR will spike pretty easily and I find it hard to mitigate unless I completely stop and let my HR come down. It ends up feeling like a high HR ride for the whole climb. What is the approach to improving this? Example: Hurricane mountain zone in North Conway.

  • Katie: For some grades of hills (and this is true for biking, trail running, etc.) it’s pretty hard to do the climb in Zone 2. While more Z2 is always helpful for building aerobic base fitness and the 20% of high intensity can help raise the ceiling of your threshold, I think my advice for technical and steep stuff like this would be to go in assuming that this ride is going to be an intense session/workout of the week that goes into the 20% bucket, and then you can balance out the rest of your week of training with easier terrain and gentler stuff that doesn’t spike your HR as much/ where it is easier to remain in control. 

  • Jim: On any bike climb, I focus on very relaxed feet/ankles and think about a very smooth pedal stroke.  The game is how little can I push to get up this hill while still moving forward and not falling off the bike. Practice this enough and you start to see hills as a place to relax and not feel like you need to push watts to get in the work. The hill is doing the work for you.

    • While your HR may be spiking during certain sections, check out your average HR at the end of such rides. You may be surprised that your HR averaged out to an aerobic ride.

Any tips for managing nutrition when you just can’t eat anymore? I try to eat a lot the first hour or two but then I am just repulsed by food for several hours. Sometimes it comes back but not for a while if I’m in a big effort.

  • Katie: Liquid is key. In every Ironman I’ve ever done, I have a plan for my run, but then I devolve into just flat coke by the end (which is an amazing source of carbs). If you are doing trail stuff/ultras, you can put coke in a soft flask. Also, plan to switch up your nutrition sources so there is something to look forward to. (Recalling Jim sending brownies/marshmallows to run special needs.) At a certain point, it is valuable to even just force yourself to nibble a little bit of something, and odds are your body will start to feel more energy and your appetite may come back a bit. 

  • Jim: The GI gods like to play tricks on us, particularly on race day. What was awesome in training is now repulsive at hour 4 of a long day.  I try to have a variety of foods with me (or in the special needs bag) so if sweet isn’t working, I go to savory.  A crushed bag of potato chips is a favorite go to for salt/savory.  In training, I try to eat a variety of foods, solid and liquid, sweet and savory, so I have many nutritional tricks in my bag on race day as there will always be curveballs.

Challenge of the Week

Katie: Thanksgiving is coming -- gratitude practice, endurance edition! Write down something you are grateful for in sport. I will share one -- grateful for the extended summer weather we have had and the ability to get outside and enjoy it!
Jim: Two walks a day, one morning, one late afternoon, on Day Off day.

Gear Pick of the Week

Katie: Assos UMA GT Spring Fall Half Knickers C2 (women); Assos MILLE GT Spring Fall Bib Knickers (men)
Jim: Lezyne Lite Drive 1200 - front bike light.  Highly recommend a Garmin Varia for the back light. It’s a light and radar system to detect approaching vehicles. Might be the single best investment you make after purchasing a bike!

Episode 55: Optimizing Wellness and Performance for Athletes with Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner Brittni Nicolodi

In this week’s episode, Katie and Elena welcome Brittni Nicolodi (previously Gorman) to the podcast to chat all things wellness and performance for athletes. Brittni is an Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner and a mountain athlete who combines her love for endurance adventuring with her passion for preventative wellness. She explains what Ayurveda is, her journey to becoming an Ayurvedic Practitioner, what imbalances and other health challenges she sees most frequently in the endurance athlete population, the importance of holistic health and trusting your gut, how to integrate eastern and western medicine approaches in a holistic care team, and so much more. She also shares several actionable steps that you can take today to reduce stress and optimize your own health and performance through the lens of preventative wellness. Check it out! 

Brittni’s website: https://mountainsforbreakfast.com/

Brittni’s Instagram: 

@mountainsforbreakfast.ayurveda

@mountainsforbreakfast

Gear pick of the week:

Brittni: Abhyanga - self oil massage with Sesame Oii

Katie: Patagonia Micro Puff and Macro Puff hoody jackets -- and a plug for Worn Wear by Patagonia for affordable gently used choices

Elena: Naked belt running band

Episode 54: How Trail Running Will Make You a Faster Triathlete and Road Runner

In this week’s episode, Jim, Katie, and Elena drill into why trail running will make you faster and stronger in all endurance and fitness domains, even if trail running isn’t your primary sport. We cover who should trail run, why trail running is such a secret weapon, how to get started (logistically, physically, and mentally), what data or metrics are most useful to pay attention to in trail running, how to make trail running part of your fitness routine as an urban athlete, strength training considerations, and our favorite trail running workouts, gear items, and memories. We also do a deep dive on why we (mostly) hate the new Strava AI insights and answer a listener question on how to approach racing at altitude if you live at sea level. Even if you have never set foot on a trail, this is a can’t-miss episode! Check it out. 

Intro Banter

We are dropping the knowledge with many coaches in the house! And we are bringing the heat about Strava AI!…

Katie:

  • My thoughts: really don’t like it, for multiple reasons:

    • (1) We do not need more judgment in this world about our workouts. The only people who get to evaluate your workouts are you and your coach. 

    • (2) More data/feedback can confuse us and gaslight us into adopting straight up wrong information about training.

    • (3) The algorithm is not very sophisticated! Some examples:

      • BoMF run 

        • “Your latest run was slower than usual, but you pushed hard and maintained an anaerobic effort throughout. Impressive endurance despite the challenging pace.” 11:37/mile, avg HR 105

      • Not taking vert into account 

      • Using info from your caption / sub caption to give you feedback and act smarter than it is

    • Big miss, Strava! I am doing my part by giving feedback on each AI insight as “unhelpful” or “offensive” until they shut it down ;) 

Jim - Reasons to ignore Strava AI: 

  • Humans have a negativity bias.  We tend to discard the positive comments from these AI analysis programs and instead focus, and hold onto, the negative ones.  We are rumination machines.

    • We generate enough negative comments in our own head, probably hundreds, perhaps thousand daily. The last thing we need is an outside source feeding us more doubting comments on how fit, strong or fast we are (or are not). 

  • No AI coaching app can take into account a complete 360 degree view of your life, mental and physical state and well being.  It doesn’t know anything about your Life Stress Score (LSS), it doesn’t know you are recovering from a cold, you had a bad day at work, you were up all night with your sick child or you woke up with a niggle in your calf. 

  • Strava AI isn’t there to improve your life or training. It is designed for you to spend more time in a social media app and  condition you to receive more addictive dopamine hits.  That’s it. Refuse to be a Pavlov dog!  We can’t find a deep and meaningful relationship with our sport If we need an AI dopamine hit after every workout.  No one workout is going to move the needle on our fitness and foundation.

  • What we can do instead:

    • We talked about this in Episode 20: Good data, bad data. We recommend turning off all auto generated training comments from Garmin. And now I’ll add Strava to that list.  And in general try turning off nearly all notifications on your phone and devices except for the critical ones. 

    • Do your best to hit the intention of the workout, make a quick comment in TrainingPeaks (or your training log) on how it felt and then move on with the rest of your day. As the band Boston said: Don’t Look Back!

    • Think long term: As we always preach, training is a long term commitment, not a transactional process. Long term fitness building is not extraordinary on a day to day basis.  Most workouts are just adding little bricks to your aerobic foundation.  Things like Garmin insights and Strava AI lead take us away from our greater mission of showing up, doing our best and thinking, big picture and long term gains.

Coaching & Training Insights

Katie:

  • How to approach feeling under the weather or tired within 2-3 weeks of race day / what it means to say “the hay is in the barn”

  • Updating my thoughts on the off season 

Elena: 

  • Building on our nutrition episode, checking in on carb intake relative to protein and fats. A lot of conditioning these past several years to increase protein intake and lower carbs, so good to get a sense of where you are. 

Jim:

  • Cooler weather = new PRs!

    • Safe to say, this was a tough summer for a lot of athletes. They worked super hard and were consistent at building fitness but many were not able to express this fitness on race day due to extreme heat.

    • As the weather has cooled we have seen some massive PRs in run races. 

    • This comes as a big relief to both athlete and coach.  When you work at something for months and don’t see a return, it can be hard to believe in yourself and the training. I’m super proud of all of our athletes who focus on the process, are patient and let the results come to them.  

    • One common theme running through the post race conversations was the comment I had made to the athletes pre-race that I believed they could go all in on reaching and exceeding their goal.  They said it was a very powerful reminder they can believe in themselves because they had put in the physical and mental training.  For more on that subject, shout out to Episode 51: Cultivating self-belief in sport and life

    • Another point on heat: Next year, I want to focus a lot more attention on heat adaptation and training.  I believe heat/humidity is the biggest “X” factor on race day if we have properly addressed physical and mental fitness, fueling and pacing.

    • For those who want to dive deeper into, here’s what the Norwegians have been doing in their run up to Kona:  The Norwegian Heat Training Method – Final Race Prep

  • Pre-race snacking

    • I had a call with an athlete running the New York City marathon. As we worked through the logistics of race morning, her race starts at 11am but she starts making her way to the race at 6am. This is reminder for a couple things

    • Pre-race jitters/adrenal burn a lot of glycogen.  It’s very common for athletes to feel flat and/or hungry early in races because they have burned a lot of sugar pre-race than they normally would in training where we don’t have the same nerves and extended logistics.

    • Bring lots of snacks and water bottle(s) and drink and snack as you make your way through pre-race logistics.   It’s easy to forget as there is a lot going on on race morning.  Be very cognizant that you need to keep snacking to show up 100% glycogen filled at the race start. 

  • Cold weather riding gear:

    • We were asked by one of our athletes to compile a list of colder weather riding gear we use and recommend. The list is quite long and well tested.  We won’t go into the details here but it covers gloves, shoe overboots, socks, tights, knickers (my favorite), leg and arm warmers, jerseys, jackets and headbands.  Here is the Google Doc link to the recommended products.

  • Precision Hydration Insta account:

    • This is a really helpful account for seeing brief case studies in fueling for different events. It summarizes the athlete, event and their target carbs/hydration/sodium per hour.  

    • I have not used their products so I can’t speak to that but they have been a major player in the race/training space for a time.  At the very least, you’ll learn a bunch. (And most of the information should not come as a surprise to our regular listeners.)

    • @precisionfandh

Main Content

Our agenda today is to convince you that a) trail running is the best and b) it’s a secret weapon to a faster half marathon, marathon and triathlon.  And c) maybe get you hooked on trail running at your main jam!

Who should trail run?

  • Runners

  • Triathletes

  • Cyclists

Why is trail running such a secret weapon? 

  • Organic strength, aerobic, tempo, threshold zones on nearly every run

  • Communing with nature, great for mental health

  • Super social, easy to do with a friend and people of various abilities

  • Exploration

How can someone get started trail running? What are the basics?

  • Mentally:

    • Just explore! It may be fast hiking at first, running only when it feels accessible to, but slowly you start running more and more.

    • The mental shift from hiking to trail running

    • Throw away any pace expectations. Maybe don’t even wear a watch the first several times

  • Physically:

    • For both uphill and downhill, short, faster strides

    • Agility→ look where you’re going, pick your line, trust your body

    • Strength & durability

    • Knowing when to hike vs when to run

Do you train with pace on trails, or effort/HR? What are the most useful metrics? 

  • Pretty much all perceived effort & HR, rarely ever focused on pace

  • Pay attention to a mix of vert, time, and mileage for training metrics

  • If you are keeping track in TrainingPeaks, use hrTSS and you can also add extra (10) TSS per 1000 feet of elevation gain and drop.

How much road vs. trail running should aspiring trail runners do? 

  • How do you improve technical skills on trails?

  • How to train for trail races if you live somewhere without great trail access?

  • Thoughts on, e.g., stairmaster, uphill treadmill, Harvard stadiums?

How should trail runners approach strength training?

  • Lateral movement is important! Core, side lunges, ankle stability

  • Squats & deadlifts always important for pure power

  • Weighted uphill carry (carry water uphill/mountain, dump on top if you don’t want the added eccentric load on the way down)

Favorite trail running workouts? 

  • Longer Hill repeats→ 2/4/6/8/6/4/2 mins up

  • Long adventure days!

  • 1-2 downhill stimulus workouts before big races

  • Sustained runnable uphill where you just focus on keeping running (can be done on road too!)

Favorite Trail Gear:

Elena: Salomon Adv Skin pack, Patagonia Houdini, Leki poles, Fenix headlamp, Patagonia gloves, On spandex pocket shorts, Coros HR armband, Nathan hand flask

Katie: Salomon 12L pack, Patagonia Houdini, Patagonia micro puff, Black Diamond Carbon poles, Leukotape, Skida headband, Craft hybrid weather gloves, Petzl Actik core headlamp, On running shorts, Distance spikes

Jim: +1 on the above.  A couple additions:  Bag Balm 2oz tube, Black Diamond Aluminum poles, Salomon soft flask water filter, Nathan Hipster Running Belt, Lightweight adventure medical kit

Favorite trail running areas / trails?

  • Elena: anywhere in UT (Wasatch Crest, Foothills, Mill Creek), Presi traverse, Vermont→ Mt. Mansfield, Lake Willoughby area. Seattle area→ Carkeek Park, Cougar Mountain. Basically I just am wherever I am, look at my trail map (Gaia GPS), and decide where I want to try exploring. 

  • Katie: Bay Area CA (Windy Hill, Wunderlich, Russian Ridge); Boston (Fells, Blue Hills); Upper Valley (Ballard/Bragg, Blue Ribbon, Union Village Dam); Camden Hills State Park in Maine; the Whites

  • Jim: White Mountain Pemigewasset Wilderness area (a lot of old logging railroad beds), Powerline Pass (and peaks) & Bicentennial Park - Anchorage, AK

Favorite trail running memory:

  • Elena: running down Mt. Mansfield with my dad; firstt 50K

  • Katie: So many! Fast Prezi on a bluebird 70 degree day in March 2021 stands out, also 100 MW Express (check out Episode 10: Durability)

  • Jim: Discovering my trail bliss pace in the Pemi / Owl’s Head hike. Skyline to Pacific (26 mile casual trail marathon in January!), 

Listener Questions (from AMA)

How do you approach training for races at altitude when living at sea level besides going to elevation? I’m interested in races like Hardrock or Highlonesome, if I ever get in the lottery!

  • Elena: heat training is probably the best substitute available, along with allowing yourself around a week of acclimation time if possible. If not, try to get a short but intense stimulus at altitude as soon as you get there (think 10-20 sec hill strides) to help your body adapt sooner

  • Katie: This is hard! There isn’t much of a substitute for altitude training other than an altitude tent which I have never used. Advice I give is: do a training camp, go out as early as you can (it can take a couple of weeks to acclimate), manage your expectations surrounding HR/pace and use a race strategy based on HR/overall pace, and any time you are at altitude, prioritize really good hydration, fueling, and sun protection.

  • Jim: Agreed with Katie, managing expectations is key here. For altitude races, your aerobic capacity could be reduced by 10% or more. That means your normal race pace will feel wicked hard and/or unattainable.  I would frame these races in more of ‘destination / bucket list’ race than a performance race.

Challenge of the Week 

  • Katie: Morning pages journaling exercise 

  • Elena: 10 min sun salutation

  • Jim: During off season, have multiple route options on your runs/bikes as you assess how you are feeling in real time.  Adjust your course based on what your body and mind are telling you.

Gear Pick of the Week