TriDot Podcast .212

Your Guide to Race Week Success

Intro: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses your training data and genetic profile, combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to optimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewer injuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire, and entertain. We’ll talk all things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join the conversation and let’s improve together.

Andrew Harley: Welcome to the TriDot podcast. So a little bit special of a show today. We are in Kona, Hawaii for the Ironman World Championship and while we’re here, you know, you’ve got to podcast. You’ve got to podcast from Kona. Why not break up the microphones and talk about swim, bike, and run. I just wanted to sit down with a couple of our women TriDotters doing this race and just talk about what does race week look like for an athlete getting ready for race week. We all have our races come up whether it’s a sprint or an Olympic or a half or a full. You’ve got to be ready for that race day. There's certain emotions you’ve got to go through. There’s certain foods you need to eat. There’s certain things you’ve got to do to be ready to start that race and so I’ve got three of our core TriDotters here to talk about just what does race week look like for you and some of that will be Kona specific, some of that will be just races in general. I actually for once, I do not really have my computer in front of me with proper notes for this episode. So we’re going to find out today.

Joanna Nami: What are you going to do!?

Andrew: We’re going to find out, is Andrew actually a good podcast host or is he just really good at reading a script because this is going to be probably our most organic episode to date. I’ve got a few questions jotted down for myself, but no proper intros, no proper anything. So I’m going to go one by one and introduce our panel to you today and it won’t be the full on proper script I normally do. So you already heard her voice, I have TriDot coach Joanna Nami with us here. She’s from Houston, Texas. Long time TriDot coach. She’s our director of TriDot Pool School and Coach Jo, what Ironman is this for you racing Kona tomorrow?

Joanna: #2000. No, it’s number 20 tomorrow.

Andrew: Alright. Ironman #20 for you tomorrow. We are excited for you. Your second Kona in a row.

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: We’re excited to see you. To my left here, I’ve got Cari Lubenow. Now Cari is a TriDot ambassador from Massachusetts. She is a Pool School Instructor. She is not a full on TriDot coach yet, but we’re all trying to talk her into going through the…

Cari Lubenow: Yes.

Andrew: …TriDot coach certification process. She would make an excellent TriDot coach and Cari, what Ironman is this for you?

Cari: Aloha. This is #3, hoping that three is the magic number.

Andrew: I mean, it’s in Kona.

Cari: Yeah, right. You can’t go wrong with that.

Andrew: How can it not be magical whatsoever. And to my right I have TriDot Coach Jenn Reinhart from Austin, Texas. Long time triathlon coach, long time director of Austin Aquatics in Austin, Texas. That’s when I first met you, that’s where you were, and you’ve done this race a few times. You’ve done a few Ironman. Coach Jenn, what Ironman is this for you and what Kona is this for you?

Jenn Reinhart: Thanks Andrew, It’s really fun being here with this table of athletes. This is #8 for me in Kona and #30 for Ironmans.

Andrew: #30 overall and eighth edition here in Kona. So pay extra special attention to what Coach Jenn has to say on the episode today.

Joanna: She’s crazier than me and that’s probably why I hired her as my coach.

Andrew: I did not know that. Usually I know what those connections are. I know you are Jeff Raines’ coach and that Jeff Raines is your coach. I love just in the TriDot coaching community–

Joanna: We keep it in the family.

Andrew: Yeah. Even our coaches see the value in having a coach themselves to just look at their own plan and give them feedback and that’s a whole other podcast episode in itself. We won’t go down that rabbit hole today. But very excited to learn from all three of you today as we talk about what it’s like on race week to go through the motions, properly making sure you’re ready to start that race. I do want to note, the day we’re releasing this podcast you will have just raced. But the day we’re recording this podcast, you all are racing tomorrow.

Joanna: Woo.

Andrew: You all came from– you just checked in your bikes. You’re coming from bike check in over to my podcast office for the week and we are podcasting the day before you’re actually racing.

Cari: We have the sweat stains to prove it.

Joanna: Oh yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. Everything we’re talking, everything we’re saying today, you have gone through all of this in the last few days and even today as we’re talking about some of these things.

So like we always do here on the podcast, we will start off with a warm up question, we will get into our main set talking about getting ready for race day, and then we will close things down with a Coach Cool Down Tip like we always do. Lots of good stuff. Let’s get to it.

Warm up theme: Time to warm up! Let’s get moving.

Andrew: One unique thing about Hawaii is it’s in the middle of the ocean so unless you are from the great state of Hawaii, most people travel a pretty good ways to race here. So I’m curious for our warm up question today, both from all three of you and then from our TriDot audience, what is the farthest you have traveled for a race? Is it Kona where you are right now? Is it somewhere different? We’re going to find out from our panel and we’re going to find out from our audience when we throw this question out on Facebook to the Facebook group. Coach Jenn, we’ll start with you. You’ve done 30 Ironman. You’ve done far more triathlons than that. You’ve done Kona a number of times. Is this the farthest you’ve traveled for a race, or is there somewhere a little bit farther?

Jenn: There is somewhere a little bit further from Kona. My furthest Ironman race would be Ironman Austria which I highly recommend, but I also traveled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when I was an engineer and did an Olympic distance triathlon there. So that would be the furthest I’ve traveled is Malaysia.

Andrew: What was the flight to Malaysia? How long was that flight for you? Do you remember?

Jenn: Ohhh, it was like a 17 or 18 hour flight.

Joanna: No. Nooo.

Andrew: That beats my longest. I’ll say my longest here in just a second when I give my answer. But Coach Jo, is Kona the farthest for you?

Joanna: Absolutely.

Andrew: Okay.

Joanna: Yes. I have a hard time sitting through a TV show on the couch so flying to Kona, I was walking the aisles and yes this is definitely my furthest flight.

Andrew: Cari Lubenow, is this the furthest you’ve traveled for a race?

Cari: This is the furthest I’ve traveled for a race, yep. It was two six hour flights to get here.

Andrew: Wow. Wow, wow, wow.

Cari: Luckily for me I have the ability to sleep. It’s a blessing and a curse pretty much anytime I’m on a moving object.

Andrew: Yeah, like that. Like that.

Cari: If I’m not driving it, I am asleep.

Andrew: Okay, that is… I wish I could do that. I’m not good at that at all. I was awake the whole way here. This answer for me if you’re a longtime podcast listener this will not be a surprise. Ironman 70.3 New Zealand for me was my longest, 15 and a half hour flight. So not quite as long as Coach Jenn was on her flight to Malaysia. For me it’s just like watch a movie, go to the bathroom, watch a movie, go to the bathroom, watch a movie, go to the bathroom, watch a movie, go to the bathroom and do that six times and you’re in New Zealand. So that’s kind of how it flowed for me. We’re going to throw this question out to our podcast audience. From all the races you’ve done whether it’s Ironman or a Clash or a Challenge family or a sprint or Olympic somewhere far away from home, what is the farthest you’ve ever traveled for a triathlon? Can’t wait to see what you, our audience, have to say.

Main set theme: On to the main set. Going in 3…2…1…

Andrew: Alright into the good stuff. Here to learn from our Kona athletes, what is it like getting ready for race day? Very, very often on the show we are approaching our questions, we’re approaching our content as triathlon coaches, coaching you in the sport and very specifically what I want to do today with all three of you, you’re in athlete mode right now, you are racing the Ironman World Championship tomorrow. I just want to hear from you personally, what do you do to get ready for a race? What are the motions you go through? Because here’s the thing, there are definitely some things to not do. There are some things that you should absolutely avoid at all costs or you will pay for on race day. There are some things that every body has to do, but from there, you can kind of choose your own adventure, choose your own path, do what works for you to make sure you personally are ready for race day. So I just want to listen and just get to learn from you and kind of get some ideas and just hear when Coach Jo, when Joach Jenn, Cari, when you are approaching a big race, what does the week leading into the race look like for you? Obviously you can share from your experience here on the Big Island and make it a little personal to this week and you could also just share just some things you’ve done at races in the past. So no wrong answers. Nothing is off the table. Just draw from all your stories and experience and we are here to sit and learn.

Before we get into that, I do have a couple questions just about the experience this week. Something very unique to the Kona race this week is it is an all female field which I love the vibe and the energy here has just been off the charts in a whole new way. So just share with us for a moment, what has it meant to you as an athlete? Has it felt different being in an all female field getting ready for the race? Is there a different buzz? Is it a more special of an event? Just kind of reflect on being a part of this historic event and what it means to you. Coach Jo.

Joanna: Definitely. I have noticed some big differences in the vibe I feel this week as I’ve been here. I did race here last year which was a male, female on two different days, but a lot of males on the day that I raced. It was highly intense last year. I have felt a more laid back vibe. I know there’s still nerves from everyone, but just for instance this morning I was just spinning my wheels out at my condo and I saw two girls on their bikes and I just stopped and started talking to them and this is their second or third Ironman and so I shared some thoughts from last year. I just feel like there’s a really sweet atmosphere that’s going on. It’s very collaborative. It’s very caring and it’s very– You know, there’s so many women whose dreams are coming true tomorrow after all different journeys in life and motherhood and just so many different stories that I’ve already heard this week. It seems to be a very, very, very special race tomorrow.

Jenn: I have to agree with Jo. It’s been a little less anxiety for me knowing that I’m not going to have a bunch of men passing me quickly on the bike because I usually get out of the water…

Cari: I love that. I love that.

Jenn: …before them and they’re not– I’m not saying you would do it Andrew, but they usually don’t give you much room because I mean, you can feel them brush your shoulder as they go by and I think us women, we’re kinder to our competition even if we don’t know them. So I have a little less anxiety there. I love that we’re going to be getting in the water faster because it’s only women and not having to wait for the other big World Championship 70.3 and the full when it’s been a men and women’s field, the women have kind of gotten the shaft and started much later. So I’m really– because the wind changes so much here, I’m really excited that they’re getting us all in within about 20 or 30 minutes. I have to say I keep meeting new people and old people. I mean, I’ve been coming to Kona since 2003. I had a big break, but I come and I see people that I used to race with and then with our TriDot Team Kona I’m getting to meet so many more of the women in the TriDot community face to face and we’ve just had such a good bonding experience those weeks building up to this.

Cari: Yeah, I have to agree. Obviously it’s my first Kona experience so I don’t have a point of reference specific to Kona.

Andrew: Sure. Yeah.

Cari: But I’ve participated in plenty of other races that have a male field. It’s been amazing just kind of connecting with other women. Everyone has been so gracious and welcoming and just like being out training. It’s also been really cool seeing, there are men on the island as well.

Andrew: Yeah great point. Talk about that.

Cari: Besides Andrew.

Joanna: We invited five.

Cari: We invited five, yes. But they’ve also been really supportive and it’s been cool to see them get really behind the women’s race and just being out there playing Sherpa and getting excited about watching the pro race and all that as well.

Andrew: And that is so true. It’s a really great point because I actually, Matt Bach and I are from TriDot staff and are sharing a room here and we were just talking about that. Because when you walk around you see men who are clearly triathletes, right? We have a look. We have a vibe. You know they’re out training, they’re out running getting ready for whatever their next race is and yeah. They’re not here racing. So they’re either supporting somebody or just supporting the event in general, but everybody has all eyes on the ladies. Everybody is all about it so that’s a really great point.

So Jenn, you mentioned to the Team Kona ladies and that’s something I wanted to ask about next before we get into kind of our main content because some of our listeners might not be aware of this, some TriDotters might not be aware of this, but I will give credit to TriDot Coach Mark Allen, six time Ironman World Champion. He was the one who came to TriDot and said “Hey guys, I can’t help but noticing a lot of my athletes who are women are qualifying. Their first time Ironman, they’re first time qualifiers. They’re going to the island with no idea what to expect or what to handle and there’s probably a lot of TriDot athletes like that it’s going to be their first time on the island, their first time, it’s going to be their first time in this huge atmosphere and what can we do as a training company to help them be ready? Help them to prepare?” And it launched this endeavor that we’ve called Team Kona. So we have something like 40 or 50 ladies who have joined team Kona and over the last four, five, six months there have been some webinars where Mirinda Carfrae and Michellie Jones and Mark Allen himself have hopped on and have talked about the course and have given some good nutrition chats and have really done everything we can to have some good webinars, some good get togethers. There’s a special kit that is pink with a pink floral print and a TriDot logo on the back for our Team Kona ladies and I’ve been wearing a Team Kona hat all week. So we’ve never done anything like this before and it has been so cool. Getting ready for this race, what has that added for your experience just having that Team Kona support and what has that just kind of meant to you as a participant? Cari.

Cari: Yeah, so I come from a synchronized swimming background.

Andrew: Okay.

Cari: And always thought of that as sort of an ultimate team sport.

Andrew: Sure.

Cari: You work as a team or you don’t work at all.

Andrew: Sure.

Cari: Joining TriDot initially kind of gave me a lot of that team vibe and connecting at races, but this has just taken it to the next level. So it’s really like warmed my heart bringing me back to like my synchro day, being part of a team. Everybody’s been so gracious with their time. There’s a lot of us on the team that are first timers and everyone has been so generous with sharing information, giving pointers, giving reassurance. It’s just been a really amazing experience months in the making and this week has just been sort of the cherry on top.

Jenn: To echo and not be exactly the same, it’s like you know you have this huge family now. Some of us come alone. Some of us come with a husband or a spouse or friends, but now we’ve got 50 other women that are our sisters and all of their support team and so you feel like you just have this cradle of support the whole week. If anything went wrong there’s somebody that’s going to help you fix that or talk you through it. You know, getting a picture with Mark Allen this morning, I mean, what other teams have Mark Allen heading up their training and giving free advice. You know, he’s the legend. So I just, you know, I have four older brothers. I have no sisters, but Team Kona has given me 50 sisters and it really feels good.

Joanna: Yay!

Andrew: Yeah that’s really special. Yeah, we did a photo shoot just this morning. We went down to the beach with some lava rocks and we took some pictures for all the Team Kona ladies with their bikes and the wonderful background and yeah, it’s cool like in the TriDot family now we’re just casually doing a team photo shoot and yeah there’s Mirinda Carfrae and there’s Michellie Jones and there’s Kathleen McCartney and there’s Mark Allen and they’re hanging– Like, you know, they come and take a group picture, they’re hanging out, they’re taking selfies with people and just there to be a part of it and yeah, definitely really, really cool. Jo, what has Team Kona meant to you?

Joanna: Umm, I think it’s been really special in that last year I didn’t have that. I came to it, everything I learned about the race I really learned on my own and having mentorship, it was Remi, it was Michellie, but it was also Jenn Reinhart, it was also Kurt Madden. It was people that have raced on this island so many times and I always tell my athletes to be a sponge. Like every tidbit of information think about it, take it in, write it down. Does that work for you? Is that what I should do? I think on all of the, we had a lot of webinars for Team Kona and I could hear the girls asking questions and like in the chats asking more questions. You know, I gave my experiences from last year, things that bothered me, things that helped me.

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: So I really liked that. It also helped me because this race I was coach role of four athletes on the island and racing. So it was family. I encouraged them to be part of all of those calls, all of the events here so that they could absorb all of that information. We had a great panel discussion from, you know, our celebrities and they were asking great questions. So I just think it was super special and it’s something that will continue for future World Championships.

Andrew: Yeah and we have to mention, I hosted that panel yesterday.

Joanna: Fantastic job.

Andrew: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. And honestly Jo, when we first started talking about that you were a leading candidate because we wanted to feature one of our female coaches. Okay, well Jo’s racing so we don’t want to put any more obligations on Jo. I’ll do it.

Joanna: What else could she do this week?

Andrew: What else can we make Jo do before she races the Ironman World Championship. Okay. So let’s get into the good stuff. Let’s get into the promised learning opportunity for our athletes and here’s where I want to start with this. I think back to when I was playing high school soccer, high school tennis, I remember like when it was game day I could be sitting in chemistry class, I could be sitting in biology, I could be sitting in calculus and like I wasn’t really there mentally. Mentally I was thinking about my tennis match that afternoon, right? Because that was the primary thing for me. So what I want to know is a race like this, that means a lot to you, right? A week ago were you fully just already thinking about this race? Was it already starting to consume all of your thoughts? How were you functioning at work this week trying to do the things that you had to do before you even got onto the plane, right? What is your mental state of mind? How much are you consumed by the race mentally a week out from the race before you even get to it? Cari.

Cari: Yeah, so I’ve been lucky. I’ve actually been here the last week.

Andrew: Yeah. Nice. Okay.

Cari: So I’ve gotten to focus on it. But prior to coming down I had got that question or similar question from a lot of people at work. “Oh, how are you feeling? Are you ready?” And I told them I can’t answer that yet. It’s still too far out. What I found really helpful is kind of breaking things down into manageable bits. So this week while I’ve been here, every day I kind of wake up and I think, “Okay, what are three things I want to accomplish today?” And even before coming down, “Okay, what are the things I need to do today?” I’ll get to tomorrow when I get to tomorrow, but what can I do today to set myself up for success. Then at the end of the day I’ve just kind of reflected on those things. Did I do them? How did it go? And what am I taking away from it?

Andrew: So wisdom like that is exactly why we’re telling Cari she needs to be a triathlon coach. Jenn Reinhart–

Joanna: I just learned something.

Andrew: Yeah, Jenn and Jo just learned something. But there’s so many, like if you think about all the different things you’ve got to do before you get to the start line it’s overwhelming, but yeah. If you get there early enough, three things a day, a couple things at a time, manageable chunks, yeah. Really, really good stuff. Jo for you, a week ago how much was this race consuming your mind?

Joanna: Well, distraction is good. Having teenage sons keeps you very distracted. Real life problems in general. I have to honestly say that in my early years of racing Ironman I would be consumed. I would be– there would be a month of thinking every single thing I did was going to effect or control what happened on race day and through years of experience I’ve realized, and my own belief system is that whatever is going to happen tomorrow is going to happen. I’m going to do my best. The three of us have trained for the race, but it’s not in my control and I handle the things I can, but then I just let it go. I pray on it and I let it go and that allows me to enjoy. I think I’ve told Cari and Jenn that my favorite races to date have been the championships because there is no expectation. You know, this is the victory lap. This is a gift, you know. So taking every moment and stopping periodically during the day, like I get goosebumps thinking of finding Jenn on the course or finding Cari on the bike.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joanna: My moments I’m thinking about are hugging them and walking with them and taking in some moments because we’re not going to get that back.

Andrew: Sure.

Joanna: So you’ve got to enjoy it and I did that last year. I had some really amazing moments. I think it’s going to be tenfold tomorrow.

Andrew: And we heard about them on the podcast a year ago.

Joanna: Yes! Yeah you heard about it last year.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joanna: Just with the amount of women that are on the course that I know, it’s going to be a good distraction from pain. You know, you’re going to be constantly seeing our TriDot people and the Team Kona girls. So that’s going to be really, really special. So I think I went off path there with the question, but…

Andrew: No. Totally good. All good stuff. All good stuff. When we did our panel yesterday I loved something that Michellie Jones said to the ladies where she was like, when it’s over, when you cross the finish line, be thrilled. Celebrate the race that you had. Don’t mourn the race you wish you had.

Joanna: No.

Andrew: You know, if it doesn’t go the way that you wanted and it might go the way you want it to and you might be thrilled. But either way. Whatever happens out there, whatever your finish time is at the end of the day, however your splits were when you came across, even if it wasn’t what you wanted, celebrate the race that you had instead of being caught up in what you wish had happened. So that kind of goes very much with what you were saying. Jenn, for you. One week ago kind of getting closer to the race, how much was it already in your head?

Jenn: Well, like Cari, I was here a week ago.

Andrew: Yeah. Nice.

Jenn: Especially any time I’ve come to Kona I really like to get here a week early. I love getting to do the practice swim just to get in that water. This is my favorite water anywhere. I have to say I’m pretty intentful as an athlete that I get up in the morning and I like to get my workouts done and then figure out– this is a first for me that I have four family members or athletes coming to cheer me. My husband after the first one here said “That’s enough. I’ll stay home with the kids. It was too much trouble.” So I’m just here mostly with myself and to have my daughter here and my daughter-in-law just really is special for me this year. So I’ve tried to make time for them to do things that I might not have done if I was here myself. Like we did the mantas night; seen the manta rays come up underneath you. Yesterday we did a four hour cruise for snorkeling and it was okay that I missed a 40 minute ride. I have done every other ride up until this week, but I keep telling my athletes and the other women that we’ve been talking with and everyone says, “Hay is in the barn.” You want to do a little bit, you want to move, but any big training events are not going to make you any better on race day. So having some relaxing time with my family has been really special this time.

Andrew: No. Love to hear that. Love to hear that for you. I’ve heard that that manta ray thing, I’ve heard it’s just absolutely spectacular. So maybe next year I can convince the fine folks at TriDot to “Hey, let’s stay a little longer and let’s do a little bit more than just recording podcasts and watching the race.”

Cari: Maybe you can have the manta rays on the podcast.

Andrew: Maybe. Maybe, I know what they’d say, but yeah we could try it. I’ll try anything once.

So, my next question I want to ask is just about like the logistics and the travel to begin with because there’s a lot of ways– whether it’s Kona or whether it’s a race closer to home, but when you are traveling for that race there’s different ways to handle logistics. Some folks fly in like Cari and Jenn; you got here a week ago, over a week before the race. There were athletes on my flight and we flew in on Wednesday and so they were just flying in right before they had to actually register for the event. So talk to us about for you personally, how far in advance do you like to be there for race day? Is it earlier for Kona than normal or do you always do it this early? Then in your accommodations, what are you personally looking for? Do you like to be kind of in the mix as close to the race site as you can be? Do you like to kind of separate yourself and be a little bit of a drive down the road? What does the logistics and the travel and the lodging look like for you? Coach Jo.

Joanna: Umm, I think for other Ironman races I’m a Wednesday traveler for a Saturday race and a Thursday traveler for a Sunday Race. I think a lot of moms follow that schedule when they cannot be away. I didn’t get here as early as Jenn and Cari due to kids and you know, this is a long stretch to leave those guys alone at home. Scarry.

Andrew: Sure.

Joanna: Umm, but you know, so I do think for Kona there is some acclamation to this island. Sorry Cari, we’re lucky that we’re from Texas and it’s hotter than hell and humid. So I don’t feel much difference. I actually felt like it was cooler when we got here the first day.

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: But I do feel like for my other athletes, I had one coming from Seattle, one coming from New York, I told them earlier is better if you can. As far as staying near, I like to stay a little bit– not 40 minutes out from Ironman Village here in Kona, but I did like to stay a little bit out. It’s kind of quiet and my condo is back over there. So you get in here, you do everything you need to do as far as expo, bikes, all of that stuff and then kind of just you need to have a place where you can just sanctuary and like chill out. You can sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep. So that’s kind of how I always do it.

Andrew: Cari for you, what’s your approach?

Cari: Yeah. I would say similar timeline for Jo for most races. If I have the ability to go a little bit earlier from like a work standpoint and travel standpoint, great. That’s just more time to learn about the course and explore the area a little bit. But oftentimes that’s not the case.

Andrew: Sure.

Cari: Ideal world there. And as far as accommodations, I like to be somewhere that I can have a kitchen leading into the race or at least some kind of ability to cook for myself.

Andrew: Yeah, it does help.

Cari: Yeah. Lake Placid this year I brought a rice cooker and was able to have a–

Andrew: Heyyyy.

Cari: We had a mini fridge and so I used my rice cooker, a camp stove out on the deck.

Andrew: And that will come into play when we talk about food a little later.

Cari: Yeah.

Andrew: Because we were talking just yesterday about what Cari likes to do before the race and so we’ll get to that; why the rice cooker comes in handy for Cari.

Cari: Yes.

Andrew: Yeah. Coach Jenn, what does this look like for you? Is it a little bit different every time? Is it a little bit different when it’s Kona? What does your rhythm look like when it comes to traveling for the race and then lodging yourself for the race?

Jenn: Kona I always like to come earlier. I mean, who wouldn’t want to come to Hawaii earlier? When I found out that they had the training swim like ten years ago, that kind of became my goal was to get here for that every year and just have that whole week where I could slow things down a little bit and just really focus on getting sleep. I really don’t adjust to the Hawaii time. I like to get up early. It’s going to help me on race morning that I’ve still been getting up. I don’t really like it at 4 or 5 a.m. I’m ready to get up here, but I keep saying that’s going to be really good on race day so just get up and especially on Alii Drive, it gets so busy with all the cars and the bikes and the walkers and the runners. So getting out early and getting my workout done. I like to stay close. Typically I’ll be just maybe a mile down Alii Drive in one of the condominium complexes because I have to have a kitchen. I don’t like having to eat every meal out, especially like tonight. We’ll cook at home. You know, I don’t know why, for this race I feel like I need all that extra time because for just a normal Ironman, Wednesday is my day to show up for a Saturday race, Thursday is my day to show up for a Sunday race and then for shorter races that I might travel to for like a 70.3 that even compresses one more day. If I can swing it and it’s a new place that I’ve never been and I just want to have time to explore, I like to do that afterwards once the race is over and I can not worry about training for a few days. But the Big Island is just so special. I love being here every morning and just looking out at the ocean and coming down to Digney Beach doing a short swim out to the Coffee Boat. There’s nothing better.

Andrew: Yeah, great stuff there from all three of you. I’m kind of like Jenn. I like to, if I can, be close and just for me on race morning that’s just one logistical thing to take away if you can just walk to everything if you can swing it. Some races it’s easier than others. But yeah, and again, some people like being further away, some people like being closer. That’s part of this conversation is just seeing what different people like to do.

The next thing I want to chat about and just see how you guys handle it is our triathlon gear. We’ve got to have the bike ready to go; to rock and roll. We’ve got to have our race shoes picked out. We’ve got to figure out which socks we’re going to throw on if we’re going to throw socks on. We’ve got to figure out what hat and sunglasses. Which different tints of goggles we have; which ones we’re going to roll with and get all of that stuff packed, all that stuff prepped, all your bags ready. We actually joked yesterday. We were on Alii Drive walking and there was like a part of the day where there was just very few people out for some reason and that made a joke. It was like, “Oh, all the athletes must be packing their race bags for tomorrow.” Because that’s the only possible reason why it’s so quiet right now on Alii Drive and that’s probably the case. So just talk us through from getting off the plane to getting here. What are the things you do to make sure your gear is ready, to pack those bags? What does that rhythm look like? Do you do it all at once? Do you chunk it up each and every day with Cari’s three tasks a day strategy? You guys just came from bike drop off. What does that whole flow look like for a major race? Coach Jo.

Joanna: I am so giggling over here because I think when we air this podcast we need to show a picture of me and Cindy Reeves checking our bags in for Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Like 14, 15 years ago.

Andrew: Your very first Ironman 14, 15–

Joanna: Our very first Ironman. I think we were wearing loafers and like walking shorts. But I have no idea what we checked in in those bike and run bags, but they look like the size of a comforter. Like a comforter that you buy at the store. I mean, like I think we had a dolly that we were hauling all our gear. I was laughing just now as I checked my bags in. I mean, I have so little in there. It’s just bare minimal.

Andrew: Wow.

Joanna: I think Jenn will probably agree. After so many Ironman it becomes such a rhythm of packing. In my first Ironmans years and years ago I probably would have spent weeks putting stuff together. I encourage my athletes to get a big plastic bin weeks ahead. When you know you’re going to take stuff, just start throwing it in. Start throwing it in and then as you pack in the week before you start to organize. For me it’s gotten simple. I’ve done the same thing over and over again so I was literally doing it the night before we flew out. I think that the more and more people using their own bike bag now is…

Andrew: Yeah. True.

Joanna: …it’s been a game changer As far as flying with gear. I can bring a yoga mat, a foam roller. All of that is in that bike bag now and it cushions the bike.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.

Joanna: So I’m staying with a girl who said, “Man, that’s really smart.” because I wrap my bike in a yoga mat. Things I’ll need while I’m here and you can put quite a bit in there as far as nutrition and everything else. So travel has become, I feel, easier if you’re bringing your bike. I think TriBike Transport is amazing as well. That makes it very convenient and easy. But I think it is over time become a simpler process of gear. And what we wear, now as girls we have more options now to look a lot cuter on the race course. I remember my first Ironmans that was like are you going to wear black this or black that? There was no option. I think they were male kits. I’m not sure what they were.

Andrew: Sure. Yeah.

Joanna: So that has changed quite a bit. So it’s going to be a spectacular day tomorrow as we see every color and every bright and every floral print we can imagine on the course.

Cari: The Hawaii rainbow.

Joanna: Hawaii rainbow.

Andrew: There are plenty of male triathletes that want to make sure they too look cute on race day, myself included.

Joanna: Oh yes. Yes.

Andrew: So I just want to throw that out there. We also care what we look like.

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: Some of us.

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: Most of us, maybe, perhaps. Yeah, it was very easy for me when I did my one Ironman I’ve done so far because I was staying in the same rental house as Coach Jo. So when Coach Jo packed her transition bags, I packed my transition bags.

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: When Coach Jo was putting the numbers on her bike and on her helmet, I put my numbers on my bike and helmet.

Joanna: I’ve never seen him so quiet in our entire friendship. He was like a little mouse and I would just watch him and I would do something and then he would do it. Then I would eat something and then he would eat something and I was like, he’s got some nerves going on.

Andrew: Yeah, no joke. No joke. Happy to have somebody to just copy. Yeah, definitely made it a little easier on me. Coach Jenn Reinhart, what does the gear prep look like for you?

Jenn: I, like Jo– I did pack my bike on Wednesday, I flew out Friday, but on Thursday I was packing everything else. I’ve packed for so many races that it’s not– I don’t have a checklist. It’s in my brain. I go, well this is what I need for swim, this is what I need for bike, this is what I need for run and I throw it in the suitcase. I have athletes that I coach that I say, “Okay, you need to have that checklist and you need to be making sure that you’ve got everything you need and make sure that your bike has been tuned up. It’s in good shape. Brakes are good. Tires are good.” And I do do that. I mean, I took my bike in to the bike store about ten days before flying out so that I had plenty of time to get it back if there was anything they needed to do substantial to it. I guess that’s probably my biggest worry is packing my bike because I do it myself. I put it back together myself. I actually figured out how to fix my disc brakes myself this time because they always rub even though I put the little spacer in there. I tend to over pack so I have a big, huge suitcase. I have multiple kits; the really cute new pink one and then Team Zoot one, and then you know different shoes. Do I want to wear these shoes or those shoes? It’s like I’m going to such a special race, I’m going to pack a little bit extra so I can decide. But as far as those bags we just checked in, I tell my athletes to keep them as simple as possible. I’ve never had the big suitcase bags, but one year I went down to Ironman Texas to spectate and watch my athletes race and I was helping one of them turn in her special needs bags and this thing, it could not have gotten a penny in it. It was so stuffed. “Well, coach. It has everything I might need.” Luckily this was back in the day where you still got your special needs bags back, but it’s like at that point I had probably done 20 Ironmans and I had never even used a special needs bag and I’m going “What the heck is this?”

Joanna: She had a quilt in there.

Jenn: Yeah. So you know, my advice to my athletes and people I talk with is keep it simple. I want you to have what you need, but if you have too many choices in those bags it’s just going to take you longer to get through transition. So simple. You narrow down what you want and that’s what you pack in that bag. It’s the things that you know you’re going to need. That way you don’t get there and just kind of go, “Oh no!”

Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Very good. Very good. All sage advice from all three of you. Our next topic for race week, talking through all the things we have to consider and take care of, this one is the last few workouts. Now, our TriDot athletes will know TriDot assigns you a certain order for here’s your kind of race week run, your race week this, your race week swim and then you get closer and it becomes your taper workouts. You’re just kind of spinning the legs and I remember the moment where I first started traveling for TriDot to some of the races and I was with TriDot Coach John Mayfield. We were putting on our At the Races events for some Ironman Arizona athletes and I knew from my own workout order that TriDot has you do this shakeout run on this day and this shakeout on that day and I noticed that the events we were holding for the athletes at that race were in a slightly different order. So I asked John Mayfield, my coach, about it and he was like, “Well, the important thing in those final few days is to keep the body moving, to keep the body fresh.” So TriDot, yes, gives you an order, but really do what makes sense for your body and I’ve seen over time being at the races with all of you, Coach Jo does not like running on race week. There’s certain coaches that don’t want to put that pounding even if TriDot says “Hey do a 20 minute zone 2 run today.” No, I don’t want to put that pounding on my body today. I’m going to skip that one or do something. So I’ve just seen even within our very experienced TriDot coaches and athletes, everybody kind of does what they know is best for their own body. Because, Coach Jenn to your point, the hay is in the barn. At this point we’re just keeping the boy parts moving, right, and remembering how to move. So tell me for you specifically, what workouts did you do this week? How do you kind of like to play those last final things to keep the body moving leading into race week? Is there any intensity in there? Is it all at zone 2? What do you like to do? Cari.

Cari: So I got in on Friday and Saturday morning we had a big group ride and that was kind of my last longer bike session. So we went two to three hours depending; different athletes went different lengths and that was great because I was able to get out on the bike course and do a little recon and connect with some of our Team Kona athletes. So that was wonderful. But that was really the last like long session and then I have done some running, some swimming, some shorter bike sessions this week. TriDot has for me on the schedule today a bike. However, talking to my coach Ryan Tibball, we decided no that probably– today’s a busy day.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cari: There’s not really a lot of time for a bike.

Andrew: Today’s the day where you’re supposed to be checking in your bike as well.

Cari: Exactly and wanted to have plenty of time to like clean it up, do any maintenance, get it race ready. So I was able to do that yesterday and not fuss with it today which was wonderful. So just talking to my coach about okay, how do I stay loose and stay race ready even if it’s maybe a little different than what TriDot prescribed.

Andrew: Yep, yep. All great stuff. Coach Jo over to you on this one.

Joanna: My coach would be very proud that I ran two times here this week.

Andrew: Your coach Jenn Reinhardt.

Joanna: That’s a first.

Andrew: Yeah. Is that an adjustment you made because Coach Jenn prompted you to?

Joanna: Umm, I’m staying with one of my Betty Sisters and she was having some nerves and so I did a run with her to kind of talk her through some things. She was, you know– and so that was helping her out and the Underpants Run, you’re not going to miss. So it forces me to do it.

Jenn: That’s not really a run Coach Jo.

Joanna: It was kind of an Ironman shuffle. We call it the Ironman Shuffle. I think location is very interesting on race week and this. The ocean is always calling here is what I feel like. So even for people who do not prefer swimming as their best discipline, it’s so pretty…

Andrew: It is. Yeah it’s great.

Joanna: …our swim and it’s so iconic that I think people tend to want to do it more and you don’t have to swim far. You can just– you know most of the time the Coffee Boat is not that far so I think I’ve swam three times this week. Biking is trickier here. I do find that…

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: …and there is a tremendous amount of people and traffic on the island right now. Roads are a little bit sketchy sometimes. So you know, this week I got in one good ride and that was enough for me. You know, I try to conserve energy and nerves are high when you’re doing some of those activities. So I agree with what Cari said and Coach Ryan is that, you know, being active every day. Being moving and we’re active anyway.

Andrew: Sure.

Joanna: We end up walking a tremendous amount you know.

Andrew: Sure.

Joanna: So that’s enough and I’m like sleep, rest, feet up. So that was this week.

Andrew: Yeah, those workouts aren’t making you any faster.

Joanna: No.

Andrew: Yeah. So that’s really good stuff and I’m curious Jo, because was it different here in terms of– So I know for me like when it’s race week I want to do that one bike workout to make sure the bike’s working properly.

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: I want to do one run. I want to do one swim.

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: And it’s like I check those things off and I feel like if I do any more than that, I’m just giving my body one more chance for something to go wrong.

Joanna: Exactly.

Andrew: One more chance for my bike to breakdown.

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: One more chance for me to twist an ankle stepping off a curb on a run. So it’s like– Jenn is raising her hand and she has done that.

Joanna: Yes it is. It’s very much so. I mean, like this morning and I’ve talked to a bunch of the ladies on Team Kona. We all had this bike ride that’s on the schedule and my whole thought process was, “You’ve ridden that bike this week. You’ve had the bike checked out. It’s working. I want you to get to the start at transition and make sure that gears work and then I want you to drop it.” We know it’s good. So that’s– I agree with you on that. You know, god forbid we don’t want to turn an ankle or you know. So I agree with you on that.

Jenn: I’m just laughing because at the end of the Underpants Run, Cari and I were very lightly jogging back around to the swim start and I did a Superman, skinned up my palms, my knee, my hip, and it’s like, that’s the last thing you want to do a day or two days before the race. At least I didn’t break any toes because I’ve done that a lot in Hawaii. I think TriDot does a really good job of race week workouts. They’re short. They’re kind of specific. You know, you do some little builds. I’ve done most of them this week. I would say that I’ve followed it more closely than I have a lot of times and I feel good about that because I feel like I didn’t do too much. I rode with Cari and the group on Saturday. We had really nice turnout for that ride and we got out past the airport, came back, did our little transition run. TriDot did have me swimming three times in a row, but that was my own fault because I moved my Friday swim to Sunday for the open water swim race, but then it had me swimming for an hour on Monday and Tuesday. Saltwater gets me a little chaffed and when I started feeling that I said, “You know, that’s enough swimming for today” because I don’t want to make that bleed and just you know, really have any sores before heading into Saturday. So that was probably one of the biggest changes and then I wanted to go with my daughter and daughter-in-law snorkeling so I blew off a 40 minute ride, but I had done two hours. So I did do the little 20 minute ride this morning just because it had been since Saturday that I had been on my bike and I just wanted to–

Joanna: You were good. You’re good.

Jenn: So I did that little ride this morning, but I think everyone just needs to listen to their body at this point and if you’re tired, don’t do it. Just rest. But if you’re tired and you skip your workout and I see you walking up and down Alii Drive or shopping in the expo, then I want you to go home because if you’re not going to do your workout, I don’t want you spending all that energy. I mean, we can walk 20,000 steps here if you’re walking in from your condo and up to the King K and then back down to Lava Java and then back– Just all that back and forth really adds up so you have to be really careful race week to not over do the walking and looking.

Andrew: Yeah, and that’s exactly true. Along those lines, we’ve got two questions to go here on our kind of race week “how do you handle it” conversation and the next one kind of gets at that. It’s that mix of– Kona obviously is in a whole other level. When it’s the Ironman World Championships there are so many events to go to. Ironman Florida doesn’t have an Underpants Run. You know. Ironman Texas doesn’t have a Coffee Boat to swim out to. Right? There’s not a parade of nations in Coeur d’Alene. It’s just like, you come here and it’s just–

Joanna: That would be odd. There’s four people in it.

Andrew: Yeah. So it’s just another level here.

Joanna: It’s one nation.

Andrew: But even regardless, even at a normal sprint or Olympic a lot of these races have expos, they have packet pickups, they have bike check ins, they have gear drop offs. There’s all sorts of things to navigate and you compound that with needing to eat and needing to get your workouts and needing to– So talk to us, for you and you can share certainly for Kona, but just for also races in general. How do you balance kind of taking in the scene and going to the expo and shopping around and doing all those things that are fun, but also staying off your feet and kind of keeping your body ready for race day? I’m curious to hear, in Kona, what activity did you do as a part of this answer and what did you just kind of say no to because you needed to stay off your feet just a little bit? Coach Jenn, I’ll hand this one to you first.

Jenn: Awesome. So I have two favorite things that I do almost every time I come here and that’s the night swim with the manta rays and then some type of snorkeling. You used to be able to get in and swim with the dolphin and they’re my animal I love, but Hawaii does not allow that anymore. So we went snorkeling. I want to have at least a few fun things especially since I came early I felt like I had time to fit that in. I think if I had showed up Wednesday that it would have just been strictly my workouts and getting my mind ready to race, but since I had that almost ten days before the race, I got to do those extra things. You just need to really be careful and time those. Again, get out in the morning if you’re doing those things because we’ve been really lucky that all the afternoons have clouded up, but that’s not normal. I mean, usually that sun is just beating down on you from one o’clock to five o’clock. So getting out of the sun. Getting your feet up. But you’re in Hawaii, you’ve got to add in one or two special things. One thing I’m missing right now is, they’re all sitting at a tiki bar drinking tiki drinks and I’m– not that I don’t love you all, but–

Joanna: Sunday my friend. Sunday.

Andrew: I appreciate your presence here on my podcast instead of drinking from your tiki. I will buy you a tiki drink before this week on the island is done to make it up to you. I promise.

Jenn: I’m going to hold you to that.

Andrew: Yep, you’ve got it. Absolutely. Coach Jo, over to you on– It’s so funny, Jo. Because earlier in the week we were chatting and I recall– and correct me if I’m wrong– I recall you telling me you were going to skip the Underpants Run because you just wanted a little bit more time off your feet. You did that event last year and then Matt Bach and I were walking down to Lava Java for breakfast the other day and the Underpants Run hadn’t started, but everyone was walking toward the Underpants Run and there’s Jo with all her Betty Sisters heading to the Underpants Run and I was like, “Oh, I guess Jo decided she didn’t want to miss out on that.”

Joanna: No. I won’t miss that. That is one of the best Betty Squad events we do…

Andrew: Okay.

Joanna: …every year. I will say because I was repping two teams, I work staff for Tridot Team Kona and then being on Betty Designs Team there was a lot of events. I think I had over 12 events in the 6 days before so there were things that I did choose not to do. I chose not to do the Parade of Nations. I chose not to do the Welcome Banquet just because I was going to a lot of things and I have to be smart about that and so I’ve done that at all of my Ironmans though. You know, I’m one that likes to– I tell my athletes when you were talking about how busy the expo can be and registration and check in. I’m like get in get out, get in, get out, and I will tell them that over and over again. Do not lollygag. Do not hang around talk to a bunch of people. You know, get in, get out and get off your feet and that’s every day leading up to the race. Because you do get tireder than you think. It’s the day before the race and you’re like, “Man, we’ve done a lot of things.” You’ll be fine on race day. You will.

Andrew: Yeah. Absolutely.

Joanna: But it’s very important to look at the schedule. I wrote my schedule out for this week and I asked my athletes– Like their task about three weeks out from race day is to go ahead and write out what their week’s going to look like. Kind of like Cari was talking about. I’m going to accomplish these three things, but I like them to put it on paper because they realize things and then they go, “Well, this is too much.”

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: “I don’t like this.”

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joanna: Or “I’m not going to have any time to do anything with my family now that I’ve scheduled this and this and this.” So if they can plan it, they’ll feel more secure, more confident, less anxiety when it comes to race week. So that’s an important thing to do.

Andrew: Yeah, I’m somebody that like even not racing this week, like I skipped the Welcome Banquet last night.

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: I had worked all day. I had some podcasts today. We had a photo shoot this morning. I had to have my camera settings dialed in for that. So, like hey…

Joanna: Too much.

Andrew: …I had a blast with that last year. It was a really, really cool event, but I need to skip it this year to be ready for the next day.

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: And that’s as a spectator. That’s somebody who is here not racing on tomorrow like you guys are and you’ve got to know yourself. We talked and we joked about it in Waco, I was just a little mouse following Jo around doing what Jo did. I’m an introvert and people are surprised to hear that who listen to the podcast, but I enjoy people in small groups like this, but the more I talk, the more I’m expressing, the more I’m going, going, going. I wear down very quickly. So when it’s me racing, yeah. I just kind of quietly go through the motions because the more I’m talking with people and the more I’m putting myself out there, the more I’m just depleting my energy bank account.

Joanna: Yeah.

Andrew: And you don’t want to show up on race day with that empty, right? So Cari, kicking this over to you.

Cari: Alright, I like Coach Jo, also came up and made my own schedule ahead of time and sort of categorized things as like “have to do” and “want to do” and…

Andrew: Yeah, that’s nice. Yeah.

Cari: …maybe, right? And then also just made sure not to schedule every bit of time. So I had a couple things on the schedule for each day and then also just tried to like put in some time. Okay, this is where I’m going to go back to the condo and I’m going to sit and rest and maybe later in the day I have some “interested in doing” items, but we’ll see how I feel. It also helped to have flexibility because there’s new events being kind of added to the Ironman schedule…

Andrew: Sure. Yeah.

Cari: …for race week all the time. The schedule is constantly evolving. Then also our team members we have a Facebook page, people would post “Hey, I’m about to go for a run” or “Does anyone want to go for a swim?” So having a little bit of flexibility. Again, coming back to okay, what are my three things I need to get done today and then add on what I can. Just balancing enjoying– this is my first time in Hawaii, my first time at Kona. Enjoying ticking the boxes for all those big events that sort of have– I’ve been dreaming about for years and years, but also balancing that with knowing okay, I’m going to be racing and I need to take care of myself.

Andrew: Yeah. I really like what you said there. Like for my wife and I, when we take vacations our approach to planning our vacation is okay, you have this five day trip, this six day trip and we like to have like one scheduled thing that we know we’re doing every day and maybe one scheduled meal. Oh, we know we’re going to try having lunch at this cafe at this cool location, but then we try to keep the rest of it a blank slate because once you get to a new location, you don’t know what you’re going to want to– you find things that look really intriguing to get into and if your whole day is planned, you don’t have the flexibility to get into some of those things. So yeah, applying that mindset to your race week of okay, here’s my essentials. I have to do these things, I want to do these things, and let’s see what else evolves along the way” is a really good approach.

Our final question. We’ve got to talk about food. We’ve got to talk about Cari and her rice cooker. We’ve got to talk about what are you eating on race week? Obviously here on the island there’s a lot of great seafood. I just had firecracker shrimp. I’m sure the shrimp was caught fresh from the water we’re looking at right now right before I ate it. I’m sure the waiter dove in there and picked it out for me. But yeah. There’s a lot of great food here and wherever an athlete travels for a race there’s great food options there. There’s different approaches you can take there, right? You can do more buying groceries and cooking your own meals. You can do more eating out and trying the food that’s there. There’s certainly certain things you need to get in your system. There’s certainly things you need to make sure stay out of your system. So just walk us through what your race week looks like in terms of your approach to food and then we’ll ask one final question and shut this down for today. Coach Jo, talk to us about food.

Joanna: I am a creature of habit. So the first thing we did was go to the grocery store. I’ve eaten the same breakfast. Everyone knows how disgusting it is and Jeff Raines likes to tell me how gross I am because I put eggs in my oatmeal.

Andrew: Eeewwww. Eeewwww!

Joanna: So that’s been every morning. My husband laughs at me because I can barely make it out of the bed, I’m so starving. Like people will drink coffee or whatever and like he won’t eat until a little bit later. Like he’s got to wake up and I’m like eyes barely open I’m making the eggs and oatmeal. So that’s been every day. I have eaten a lot more carbs this week. I’ve been buying cereals and other things at the grocery store and pretty, pretty clean foods. We did eat out at a pasta restaurant last night and it was delicious. Still ordered very safe. I have found out– this is a fun fact– there is a shortage of chicken on the island. There is no white meat to be found on the Big Island as of right now. My husband went to two grocery stores this morning, said there was only dark meat just to let you know.

Andrew: Wow.

Joanna: So I won’t eat that. So I might be eating scrambled eggs tonight.

Cari: Scrambled egg club. I’ll be eating scrambled eggs and rice. That’s my– very, very, very plain, very light dinner and I’ve done that for every Ironman, that exact same meal.

Andrew: Cari, for you, why do you travel with a rice cooker?

Cari: Well, I didn’t bring a rice cooker here because my condo has a rice cooker.

Andrew: Heyyyy.

Cari: So that worked out nicely.

Andrew: What a find.

Cari: Uh-huh, right? So I did get here early enough to buy some of the chicken. Sorry Jo. It’s all in my fridge. So I kind of cooked up a big batch of that a couple days ago and have been eating that. I just had the last of it for lunch before coming down here. I early in the week got to be a little more adventurous with food, try some of the things on the island, had some ascii bowls and Hookah bowls and all kinds of delicious stuff, but now I’m again going back to those more basic foods. For me, race dinner, this has been refined a bit over the years. I learn on the run when it works and when it doesn’t. But this dinner has worked for me the last few races, so fingers crossed. I just do white rice from the rice cooker and scrambled eggs and mix them together.

Joanna: Girl!

Cari: Jo and I can eat together tonight.

Jenn: I don’t have any white meat chicken at my house.

Joanna: No. She took it.

Jenn: I made the mistake of going to Costco on Sunday thinking I could find things that I wanted. It was so overwhelming. Everybody in Kona and their families must have been at Costco. I ended up picking up an over 2 pound piece of Steelhead trout...

Cari: Oh, yum.

Jenn: …and a package of prime rib strip steaks and everything else. I didn’t want 10 pounds of potatoes. I didn’t want five pounds of limes. I’m going, “Why did I come here?” The lines to check out. Anyway, I had already made a grocery run before that to a smaller store when I first got here. But I’ll eat breakfast at the house every morning. I do have my coffee first and then I have my bowl of cereal or oatmeal. I stay with foods that are just my normal although normal at home I do like having a poke bowl occasionally once a week or so, but here we have had poke nachos almost every day.

Joanna: Oh, I had them.

Jenn: We’ve tried like four or five different restaurants now. The Harbor House has the best, but they’re only on Friday and Saturday. Usually I eat salmon or chicken with a baked potato or rice the night before, but I’ve got that package of steaks and I’ve got enough people at the house now, we’re having steak. I just won’t make a pig of myself. It’s good protein. We kind of ate out last night. I ordered a bunch of sushi. My friends had just gotten in so you know, you’ve got that you’re ready to go to bed at four o’clock in the afternoon when you first get here from Austin. So we just went back to the house and ate that and they went and crashed. So you know, I think I’ve eaten out a lot for lunch, but not too much for breakfast or dinner. We’ve been cooking.

Andrew: Alright and I Jenn, kind of like you, I used to be like a pizza the night before kind of guy and then I switched over to– and sometimes it worked well, sometimes I didn’t feel great and some pizzas are higher quality than others and you never really know for sure unless you’ve had that pizza place before. So I’ve just been doing different proteins. Sometimes it’s chicken.

Joanna: Chili. Have you tried chili?

Andrew: Oh my goodness, Jo. Why would you even say that? What? I just threw up a little bit. Do chili and then go race an Ironman. That’s–

Andrew: That sounds like a bad dare.

Jenn: Let’s try it.

Andrew: By the time it’s your 31st Ironman you might as well try this; have some chili and go do the thing.

Cari: A chilli tri.

Joanna: See how it works for ya. It’s a chili challenge for TriDot.

Andrew: Oh man. So I’ve done steak and potatoes, I’ve done chicken and potatoes, but yeah I just– Any basic protein with a basic carb and just a small side of vegetables and I usually do just fine the next day.

So my last question for all of you and then I will keep Coach Jenn for just two minutes for the cool down, for our Coach Cooldown Tip as our most tenured Kona athlete. We’ll get a nice cool down tip from Coach Jenn. For any of our athletes listening who maybe aspire to qualify for an Ironman World Champion, we’re going to get Coach Jenn’s insights into her recommendation on kind of going through those journeys and trying to get your own slot to a race like this. But before we do that, you all are taking to the course tomorrow. You’re all racing tomorrow. I can’t wait to cheer you on and see how it goes and we can’t wait to celebrate with you as you hit that finish line. Just tell us, in this moment, where are you at mentally? Where is your head with this race? Are you excited? Are you afraid? Are you pumped? Are you trying not to think about it? Just give us your kind of day before thoughts on just where’s your head at? Cari.

Cari: I’m very excited. The race I qualified at, Lake Placid, was the week that would have been my grandmother, my Nanny’s, 101st birthday and so I had this ring made up with the coordinates of our family house.

Andrew: Very special.

Cari: And she got me my Kona qualification.

Andrew: Wow.

Cari: So I had some rough things during that race, some blisters, and you know, every time I would start running again I said, “Okay Nanny. We’ve got this. Let’s go.” and just kind of like hold the ring and go. So I’m just really excited to bring her out on the race course with me and to be here and celebrate. I think where better to celebrate her life than in the first ever all female Kona.

Andrew: No, absolutely love it.

Joanna: I’m crying now. I mean we’ve got to follow Cari on that.

Andrew: I’m going to make Jo go next and best of luck to you Jo. Where is your head at for this Kona?

Joanna: My head is– I don’t want to– I’ll get choked up talking about it, but I had some health issues in the last week or so.

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: Sorry. But I’m feeling much better, but a friend of mine, Ms. Cindy Reeves, sent me a text message and said “I’m praying that you feel better, but I’m praying that you find God’s purpose for you there.”

Andrew: Wow.

Joanna: And I really have thought on it all week and a number of people have needed my help this week and I think tomorrow is my day. I’ll have a great day and I will finish and I don’t care at all about the time, but I really want to spend some time helping people on the course tomorrow and making– There’s been some negativity talked about about this race and the amount of women and the spots that were given and all I want people to know is that why can’t there be more joy…

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: …and more light and more happiness…

Andrew: Yeah. Thank you.

Joanna: …and more dreams for these women because everybody’s Ironman journey has been different, but everybody’s life journey has been very different and all of these women are deserving of being here. So tomorrow I just want to help some of those people that may have not had as much time to prepare and to just be a light out there and be a guide and to help people as I come across them and I thank Cindy for sharing that with me because it really resonated.

Andrew: Yeah, no. Thank you for sharing that and I think it was Michellie Jones yesterday in our panel who very specifically looked at all the ladies and said, “I want all of you to know, however you qualified, whatever your time was when you qualified, whatever the field was like when you qualified, you deserve to be here.”

Joanna: Absolutely.

Andrew: And I could not agree more with that notion. This is the top 2200 women in the world. Like if you’re telling me…

Joanna: It is.

Andrew: …that’s a watered down field. Absolutely not. Every athlete here earned that slot, finished that Ironman and Michellie said it so well yesterday and definitely echo your thoughts there. I agree with you there. Coach Jenn, where is your head at? How are you feeling going into tomorrow’s race?

Jenn: It is just such a privilege for me to be here again. I really, really wanted to be able to do one more Kona since having my knees replaced and then maybe listen to my body and back off a little bit. But getting that spot, the only reason I got it is because of this lady sitting next to me, Jo. Coach Jo. I was going to leave the awards banquet at Ironman Texas because I was 10th. You know, I don’t really deserve to be going to Kona. She’s going, “You just need to wait a little bit longer. You just need to wait a little bit longer.” because they were giving out the slots. There were six in my age group and I was 10th. They got down to 8th and there were two slots and Jo’s going “You’re going to get it. You’re going to get it.”

Joanna: I was like, you’ve got it girl. I was already crying.

Jenn: Eighth took one, ninth didn’t so I got the– As tenth I got the sixth spot. So I think it was just meant to be able to be here with this group of women to race the women’s only race for my last Kona. I may be back to cheer, but I don’t know if I’ll be back to race. I’m just going to take each part of the race tomorrow. I know I’ve done it. I know I can do it again. Will I be as fast as I was? No, but that’s not the whole point of it. It’s not going to give me a big paycheck if I go fast. I just really want to enjoy the day and like Jo said– I might be struggling and I know that somebody will help me because it’s happened on other Ironman courses. The Ironman journey is about the friends you meet along the way and so I’m hoping to make a lot of new friends tomorrow.

Cool down theme: Great set everyone! Let’s cool down.

Andrew: Closing down today’s episode with our Coach Cooldown Tip. Normally Vanessa hosts these, but she’s in Canada. She’s not in Hawaii right now and we are podcasting from Hawaii for today. So I am very thrilled to keep Coach Jenn on for just a few more minutes and Jenn, specifically the tip I want you to share with our listeners is for anybody out there who has listened to this and yeah, we just talked about it. There’s more athletes that have access to– there’s more slots going around for both the men and the women. Those races are split for both genders. Next year, in 2024, I can’t do math right now. Next year for 2024 the men will be in Kona, the women will be in Nice, France and for either party listening today who has those aspirations, who says, “Man, I really want to be one of those athletes that gets a slot and is a part of that for 2024.” You’ve qualified for this race many, many times. You were able to qualify for it again this year. What is your advice, your Coach Cooldown tip, for an athlete listening who maybe wants to target the World Championships next year and qualify. What would you say to them today?

Jenn: That it’s possible. I mean, Ironman tells you “everything is possible” and it’s picking the race that suits your strengths. You know, if you’re a strong swimmer you don’t really want to go to a race that has a current aided swim because it’s going to take away some of your advantage. If you hate riding hills then I wouldn’t go to Coeur d’Alene or Lake Placid. You know, pick something flatter like Florida or Arizona. Do you want to travel? How far do you think you can travel for that race?

Andrew: How well do you race when you travel away from home.

Jenn: Yeah, exactly. Because travel adds a lot of stress.

Andrew: Sure does.

Jenn: Versus if you can, you know, Ironman Texas is three hours from my house. I can throw my bike and all my gear in my car and drive there versus packing that bike up, getting on the airplane, putting it back together. But really it comes down to looking at the races available, what suits your strength. A lot of us through TriDot have a lot of experience so ask away on I AM TriDot or…

Andrew: Absolutely. Yeah.

Jenn: …if you have a coach, for sure talk with your coach about where they think the best race for you would be. Then, just you’ve got to follow the plan. You’ve got to do the training and then execute on race day.

Andrew: I’ve just noticed Jenn personally, just talking with athletes and just hearing our coaches talk. It seems like, not all, not everybody, but it seems like there are more athletes at these calibers of races that have a coach than that just use TriDot training on its own. TriDot training on its own is amazing. Not everybody has the budget for a full time coach; I know I certainly didn’t for a very long time in my tri career and so for some people that’s just not in the cards, but for people who maybe have the budget and again just really want to qualify, how much do you think a coach adds to that journey when you’re trying to get to a race like this?

Jenn: I think we as coaches add a tremendous value with the TriDot training program.

Andrew: I agree. That’s why I asked so you could say this.

Jenn: Yes. Not plugging trying to get more athletes right now or anything.

Andrew: Absolutely.

Jenn: But just you have more accountability because that coach is watching what you’re doing. A lot of our coaches have just a really broad base of knowledge whether it’s nutrition on the bike, race day nutrition, what bike is going to fit you best, steering them with equipment. There’s just so many things that go into– We’re not just saying “Oh, well, you need to go run five miles.” We’re really talking and going into helping them improve, addressing weaknesses. Hey, you really need to go to Pool School. That’s going to help you so much in your swimming. I mean, we’re already talking about Nice next year for the women, 2024, and how important bike handling skills are going to be.

Andrew: Absolutely. Yeah.

Jenn: And the setup on your bike, the gear ratio. What’s your front crank? What’s your cassette? What are you running in back? Making sure that those women are ready to tackle that course. I think a coach is going to add a lot of value for that, especially that experience in Nice. And same here in Kona. It’s just a different beast; the humidity, the heat, the wind. You know, I was talking to someone this morning about the climb on Hawi. It’s not that it’s that steep of a climb and it’s not that switchbacks, but if the wind is up…

Andrew: It’s long and it’s windy.

Jenn: …you’ve got to really plan your nutrition. You know, I always tell my athletes to– I love my aero bottle. I don’t know why all triathletes don’t use aero bottles. You only have to reach for the bottle once and squeeze it in there and you’re good for 30 minutes.

Andrew: I’m with you.

Jenn: And especially when you hit that climb to Hawi, you want something right there to be able to keep up with your hydration and your nutrition. You don’t want to have to be reaching lots of different places because for the most part you’ve got to have both hands either on the bull horns and your triceps are starting to cramp, but so many things Andrew. So many things.

Outro: Thanks for joining us. Make sure to subscribe and share the TriDot podcast with your triathlon crew. For more great tri content and community, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Ready to optimize your training? Head to tridot.com and start your free trial today! TriDot – the obvious and automatic choice for triathlon training.

‍