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 show today everybody.  Today is episode 75 and we are dedicating this one to you all, the audience that drives this show onwards and upwards.  Today is an athlete question and answer day where all of the questions on the show come straight from the podcast audience.  The last time we did this was episode 50, so excited to see what questions we have on tap for our coaches to answer this time around.  First up joining me today is Coach John Mayfield.  John is a USAT Level II and Ironman U certified coach who leads TriDot’s athlete services, ambassador, and coaching programs.  He has coached hundreds of athletes ranging from first-timers to Kona qualifiers and professional triathletes.  John has been using TriDot since 2010 and coaching with TriDot since 2012.  John, how’s it going friend?  

John Mayfield:  For me it’s going just fine.  So I’m going to sell out Andrew here for a second.  It is currently 8:35 in the morning.  

Andrew: Yep.  Let’s talk about it.  

John:  I’ve been awake for about 3-½ hours now–  

Andrew:  Yep, let’s go there John.  

John:  As normally I would because I’m an adult.  I get up.  So Andrew here has now been awake for a matter of minutes and had to actually set an alarm to get up just so that we could start recording at 8:30 in the morning.  I’m doing better than Andrew.  

Jeff Raines:  And he’s wearing a robe currently and slippers.  

Andrew:  The robe part isn’t true.  The me just waking up part is true.  Look, I come as advertised.  I’m not a morning person.  It’s not a slam dunk on me to make fun of me for getting up late.  A lot of our athletes will make fun of me for the 10:00 am Zwift rides.  Sometimes I’m just not up in time to jump on Zwift at 10:00 am on Saturday.  At the Harley household we have no kids and we can do that.  We haven’t ruined our lives yet with children that make us get up.  So anyway.  Next up joining us today is pro triathlete and coach Elizabeth James.  Elizabeth is a USAT Level II and Ironman U certified coach, who quickly rose through the triathlon ranks using TriDot from a beginner, to top age grouper, to a professional triathlete.  She’s a Kona and Boston Marathon qualifier who has coached triathletes with TriDot since 2014.  She also is the least likely in this group to take a dig at the host during the intros.  So Elizabeth, thank you for joining us.  

Elizabeth James:  I am happy to be here.  You bet.  I mean, I really enjoyed episode 50 where we got together and answered some questions from athletes and I know this is going to be another good one.  

Andrew:  Last, but not least is TriDot Coach Jeff Raines.  Jeff is a USAT Level II and Ironman U certified coach who has a Master’s of Science in Exercise Physiology and was a D1 collegiate runner.  He has over 30 Ironman finishes to his credit and has coached hundreds of athletes to the Ironman finish line.  Jeff, thanks for coming back on the podcast today.  

Jeff:  Thanks Andrew.  Gosh, 75!  Time flies when you’re having fun.  I love you guys.  

Andrew:  For some reason they just keep bringing me back to host these things.  I’m Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People and Captain of the Middle of the Pack.  As always we'll roll through our warm up question, settle in for our athlete question main set conversation, and then wind things down with our cool down.  Lots of good stuff, let's get to it!

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

Andrew: Recently in the I AM TriDot FaceBook group a single Tridotter named Mike Loftis threw this post out to the group

“It is time for TriDot to expand its offerings!!!  The problem with being a single person who does Triath-a-lons is that it would be a HUGE help to find somebody else who also does Triath-a-lons so they understand the travel and workouts that eat into a "normal" schedule.  Given the far-reaching venue of TriDot, and according to their established naming convention, I offer DateX.”

It is already in my eyes a candidate for best post of the year to our Facebook group, and it received a lot of enthusiasm from athletes making jokes about what a TriDot DateX app could look like and could offer athletes and it got me thinking.  Now all four of us are happily married with amazing spouses.  SOOOOO, for our warm up question, taking inspiration from Mike, if TriDot could help you optimize another aspect of your life… What would it be?  And what would it be called?  Jeff Raines, let’s go to you first.  

Jeff:  First of all, Mike is one of my athletes.  He’s a good guy.  He lives locally near me.  

Andrew:  A good single guy.  

Jeff:  Yes.  And he’s hilarious.  He’s a great guy.  Hilarious, great sense of humor, and just a huge advocate, and new to the sport.  So I love you Mike.  That was hilarious watching that post and the responses on the page.  But yeah, if I could create some sort of optimized app for life, I don’t know.  ParentX, KidDot, ParentDot?  

Andrew:  What’s your KidDot score?  

John:  Some days are higher than others.  

Jeff:  It’s not one that ranks you on how good of a parent you are.  But something of the sort maybe of helping me optimize my day-to-day kid caos.  Like where’s the shoe?  It’s in this room.  The other shoe, what?  It’s on the trampoline in the backyard.  Gotta get this bag ready and this snack for this kid going this… So some way to help organize kid life.  I don’t know.  ParentDot.  

Andrew:  Yeah sure.  

John:  So actually kind of a thought I like where TriDot came from was originally when Jeff Booher set out to create what would become TriDot, it was a deal where there was all these experts, all these books, and a lot of times they said different things.  And one expert would be in total conflict with another expert.  And like, yeah I’ve been there and read the parenting books and who do you listen to?  Because one book says this and the other book says this absolutely don’t do it.

Andrew:  Spank your kid.  Don’t spank your kid.  Early bedtimes.  Not an early bedtime.  

John:  Yeah.  So maybe it’s kind of like that.  What does the data actually say?  Instead of like that.  So kind of a parallel to the origin of TriDot.  

Andrew:  Optimized parenting.  Interesting.  Interesting.  

John:  We’ll have to get on that.  

Andrew:  Elizabeth James, you are not a parent.  I am not a parent.  So we’re going to get a different answer from you.  What would you want TriDot to optimize?  

Elizabeth:  I feel like that’s kind of a hard thing to follow because I’m trying to think of my life and where can I optimize it and the first thing that I thought of was like dining out.  We can go with something like EatX.  So you’re optimized decisions about where to go out to eat.  I mean Charles is always asking…and he’s great about where do you want to go for date night and I don’t ever know.  So we need like an EatX or maybe like a DineX and it can give us those.  

Andrew:  Yeah, it can maybe know the cuisine you already like.  It can know some of your go-to restaurants.  

Jeff:  You’re peaking on your TexMex it’s time to…

Andrew:  You need a salad.  We’re going to kick you to Bread Zeppelin for a salad.  Yeah, no, that's super intriguing.  Obviously there’s some nutrition benefit there as well as athletes.  

Elizabeth:  As long as it still prescribes dessert.  

Andrew:  Coach John Mayfield, what would you want TriDot to optimize next?  

John:  This is kind of more of the things we’ve actually said in the past.  When we started this software company and created it, there’s not a path to follow.  One of our core values is we find a way or we make away.  Because again, we’re kind of figuring out things as we go and I can’t tell you how many times over the years when we’ve been trying to make even business decisions and that sort of thing it’s like, man I just wish there was something like TriDot that took the guesswork out and it would just tell us what to do.  Just like our workouts.  We don’t have to figure out or guess what our workout is.  We just– there it is.  You go and you do it.  It’s super easy.  It takes the guesswork out.  Can we optimize TriDot as we’re developing and growing this business?  Like all these things we have to…Can we make a TriDot for TriDot?  We’ve actually had that multiple times through the years.  

Andrew:  So you would want to optimize the business plan?

John:  Yeah, the business side of it.  Again, it’s not as clear cut as the training.  We don’t have the objective data to look back on.  So yeah, it would be nice just to help with some of those decisions sometimes.  

Andrew:  Okay, alright.  And the application, once you’ve done it for TriDot you could conceivably take it to other growing companies and say hey we can optimize your growth as a small business.  This is Small BusinessX.  Business GrowthX, whatever you want to call it.  For me, I’m going to call it Triathlon and ChillX, kind of playing off of the Netflix and chill phrasing.  Imagine for all of the indoor trainer rides, indoor strength sessions, indoor stretching sessions, indoor treadmill sessions that you do as an athlete whether it’s in your home pain cave or down at the gym.  You’ve got to kill time.  You’ve got to have something entertaining you or you will lose your mind in those environments, particularly the longer runs, the longer rides.  Zwift can only be so helpful if you’re even on a platform like that.  So anyway, if we could optimize your indoor training entertainment.  If it could know maybe your entertainment preferences– here’s the kind of movies I like, here’s the kind of shows I’ve watched, here’s the music I enjoy listening to.  If it could know your next workout– Okay, Andrew has a threshold and hold bike workout coming up.  It’s an hour and 25 minutes, here’s where his zone 4 intervals are, here’s where his zone 2 intervals are, and if it could optimize my entertainment during that session to where in zone 2 maybe there’s a podcast on that I would enjoy or maybe there’s a TV show on that I would enjoy.  Maybe when I hit those zone 4 intervals it automatically pauses my Netflix and fires up my Spotify and cranks some pump up tunes to get me through those zone 4 efforts.  So if we could optimize to your workout and you can push it to your device, like we do the bike workouts and run workouts.  I am proposing that as Triathlon and ChillX as a way to keep you properly entertained no matter what session you are doing.  

Jeff:  You put a lot of thought into that one buddy.  

Elizabeth:  That was good.  I’m reflection and now I’m like man my answer sounds stupid.  

Andrew:  We’re going to throw this question out to our listeners in the podcast audience.  Make sure you are a part of the I AM TriDot Facebook group.  This question will be there.  We are proposing that TriDot could next optimize either your eating or your parenting or your small business or your triathlon training entertainment.  Mike Loftis, the muse for this post, is proposing that we optimize dating which…wouldn’t that be something?  What aspect of your life would you most want to see TriDot optimize next?  

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

GARMIN:  Our main set today is brought to you by our friends at Garmin.  In the fitness and multi-sport market, Garmin products are the gold standard.  Known for their compelling design, superior quality, and best value.  As a triathlete, Garmin can be and should be your very best friend.  They offer best-in-class GPS watches that can track your every swim, bike, and run with ease.  When you are out on the bike, Garmin’s Vector Power Pedals can measure those all-important watts while their Edge cycling computers conveniently display all your data in real time as you ride.  You can also bring Garmin into your pain cave with their Tacx indoor trainers and accessories.  I tell everyone who will listen that my Tacx FLUX Indoor Smart Trainer is the best investment I have made in my own triathlon training.  The best part is Garmin is fully integrated with TriDot.  So your Garmin Connect and Garmin health data seamlessly streams to TriDot and your training is continually optimized.  So head to garmin.com and check out all the cool tech they have to offer.

Andrew: Triathlon is a complicated sport and you guys, our TriDot podcast audience, are so great about sending in questions all the time.  I get questions from you guys on Facebook.  I get questions from you guys in the podcast email, podcast@TriDot.com.  I get questions from you guys on our podcast voicemail.  If you go to TriDot.com/podcast and click on leave us a voicemail you can record your voice for the show asking a question.  We store up those questions.  Sometimes those questions turn into full length shows and we’ll camp out on an episode just talking about something that you guys asked.  But a lot of times it’s a simple question, it’s a short question, and I save those for episodes like today where we’ve got three of our coaches in the room and we are going to go through question by question and get you guys the answers to questions that you specifically asked.  So let's dig in, everybody!  Our question #1, this came from Joe Chew.  He’s from California and on Facebook he said, “Episode 75 already?  Wow.  I've got a question.  What bike maintenance things should every triathlete know outside of changing a flat tire, especially things that can go wrong on race day?”

John:  So first, shoutout to my man Joe; Chewbacca.  

Andrew:  Also known as Chewbacca on Zwift.  

John:  Chewy.  Always great to hear from Chewbacca.  I’d say a clean bike is a fast bike.  When it comes to maintenance really I think that is the most important and there’s not a ton to taking care of your bike.  If you take care of it, keep it clean, that’s going to be huge and specifically the most important thing to keep clean is really the drivetrain.  So the chain, your chain rings, your pulleys.  That’s where most of your drivetrain loss comes from.  So keeping that clean, keeping it lubricated it’s going to extend the life of those components.  It’s going to reduce the amount of friction.  You’re going to reduce the amount of chain loss.  So a clean bike is a fast bike.  Take care of that.  There’s some real simple tools.  It’s not complex.  It’s not complicated.  

Andrew:  How often should we be cleaning our chains?

John: I would say as often as it gets dirty.  Your chain should stay a nice silver color assuming that’s what it was when it started.  So when it starts to get dark and dingy.  Sometimes it’s every ride depending on how long it is and where you’re riding.  But again it just takes a second to wipe it down and freshen up on the lube.  Again, not complicated.  It doesn’t require anything special.  Even an old rag to wipe it down and then some good lube to freshen it back up.  Then on race day I think a major issue that can come up are brakes.  Oftentimes if you’re using different wheels or if you’ve traveled with your bike it’s potential that your brakes may have moved a little bit.  Or if you’re racing on a wider rim than what you train with there’s potential that those brakes could be rubbing.  Sometimes they get banged around on the racks, but that’s something for race day just to make sure that you know how to adjust, if those brakes are rubbing, that you’re able to remedy that.  Because if you’ve got 80% of your bike leg left and you realize your brakes are rubbing, you’re really going to want to make sure you can fix that because that’s a long way to ride– any distance is a long way to ride when your brakes are rubbing.  I’d say that’s probably the most important thing to know how to do on race day outside of being able to change the flats.  

Andrew:  Yeah.  Quick follow up question along those lines.  Again thinking of race day, bike shops will often market they’ll have tune ups; a basic tune up, full tune up, intermediate tune up.  Different levels of service anywhere from 60 bucks to 200 bucks.  Is it advised to get your bike to a bike shop before your major A race or can you save the money by just cleaning your drivetrain and heading into race day from there?  

John:  It depends.  Certain things like shifter cables and all, you’re going to want to be 100% sure that those are going to last through race day.  I remember years ago I think it was Chris McCormack who was racing in the World Championships in Kona and shifter cable broke.  So there goes his day.  It could have been a $20 repair that had he replaced that cable then who knows what would have happened.  Another Ironman World Championship for him potentially had that cable not snapped.  For him, it was Kona, a World Championship, but for a lot of athletes they train for years for that one race.  So I can only imagine the disappointment and all if you’ve trained for months and years with the goal of going and finishing Ironman and you snap a cable.  Again, it’s so avoidable.  It’s so easy.  So whether you do it yourself or have a professional do it, things like that are important especially as you head into those A races.  Spend that money.  It’s really an insurance policy and if you find that one thing one time you know it’s going to be money well spent.  

Jeff:  Just a quick follow up to answer Joe’s question.  Your chain can stretch out, your cables can stretch out over time, and a good practice that I do and have my athletes do as well is every four weeks we benchmark test.  We complete a new bike assessment to update our fitness and our zones every four weeks.  So the week of a bike assessment I have my athletes make sure that they clean their chain, tune up their bike so hopefully maybe they have less friction and issues and maybe they get an extra watt or two on their test.  So that’s just a good practice; is every four weeks when you do your bike test, tune up your bike.  One kind of last quick thing here is– I get this question a lot is, “I haven’t had a flat tire in four months.  My Ironman is next week.  Should I go out and buy new tires or new tubes?”  You know it’s a big race and I don’t want to have issues.  I had a professional bike fitter, Team USA’s bike mechanic– excuse me not bike fitter.  Bike mechanic.  He told me that you actually don’t want to change your tubes the week of a big race.  If you’ve gone a good amount of time– two, three, four months.  Six months even and those tubes are fine, don't mess with it.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  Because going in there manipulating things, something could be pinched or something like that.  I just thought that was cool, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  If it’s race week and you maybe haven’t changed those tubes in a while…

Andrew:  I’ve heard the joke that race week comes and all of a sudden we all want to become bike mechanics and fiddle with our bike that has been working just fine for months.  Just leave some of those things be.  Make sure it’s clean and ready to roll and leave the rest be.  Alright!  So Mark Cicero from Illinois gave us our next question.  He said, “How can we tell if a particular product is safe to use from a doping perspective?”  So this is a great question.  We’ve talked a lot on the podcast about different nutritional products we use, different nutritional products we like.  We have episodes with Dr. Krista Austin about just different sport performance supplements.  So when we’re looking at a product on the shelf or something that maybe is marketed to our Facebook, Instagram account how can we tell if that product is safe to use?  

Elizabeth:  Yeah Andrew, as you said this is a great question here as it is an athlete’s responsibility to know what is allowable or legal to consume in and out of competition.  Since it is our responsibility there are a couple of different resources that I always point athletes to to help them know kind of what they can consume.  You’ve got USADA and WADA; the US Anti-Doping Agency, the World Anti-Doping Agency and they have a list of prohibited substances there.  You can always check that list.  That is your responsibility as an athlete to look for those updates.  I know that it was just updated again recently.  So making sure that everything that you are consuming is in compliance with that.  Probably the best resource that I point athletes to is Globo DRO which is the Global Drug Reference Online where you can type in a prescription, a supplement and you can see if that is allowable in and out of competition.  So that’s a great reference there.  The other thing I’ll say is that I always look for products that are NSF certified and batch tested.  I know that’s something that Dr. Austin has talked about on some of her episodes as well.  You want to make sure that even if that product is allowable it’s one that has been certified and batch tested so you know that there aren’t any maybe trace products or maybe trace substances that would be in an approved product, but just kind of inadvertently made their way in there in the manufacturing.  

John:  I think something else that’s important to just be aware of is that there are a lot of, especially medications, that are on these lists as banned substances, but some of them are very common just in the population where doctors are prescribing these for legitimate reasons.  There’s nothing wrong with some of these medications and drugs, but they are on the banned substance list.  A classic example is testosterone.  That’s something we see popping up all over the place are these low T centers and seeming like it’s obvious; it’s a big deal that lots of men over 40 have these declining testosterone levels.  So it’s almost like a new fringe industry popping up of these places that specialize in prescribing testosterone to men.  

Andrew:  And their television commercials are horrible.  

John:  But, testosterone is a banned substance.  So you may have a legitimate need.  You may have a legitimate prescription from a legitimate doctor for that testosterone, but that is on the banned substance list.  So you’ll need to work with your doctor around that.  Just be aware that just because it is prescribed to you by a doctor with a legitimate reason for a legitimate medical condition, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re off the hook.  You still need to check that the substance or the medication, the prescription isn’t on that banned substance list.  

Andrew:  Our next question comes from Jason Raff from Utah.  He asked, “How often, and how soon after a workout should we use some of the recovery tools mentioned in a previous podcast, such as a massage gun, recovery boots, foam roller, etc?”  So this is a great question.  It goes along with one of our podcast episodes with Dr. BJ Leeper talking about which recovery tools are beneficial to use.  His question is how soon after a workout should we be using these tools.  When is it most beneficial to use them?  I reached out to Dr. BJ Leeper once I saw this question and had him record an answer for us.  So we’re getting this straight from our expert in this area.  Dr. BJ Leeper, take it away.  

BJ Leeper:  That’s a really great question.  I mean, ultimately the goal with a lot of these recovery tools and techniques is to diminish DOMS so we feel fresh and ready to perform for our next activity.  Obviously the level of DOMS will vary based on the intensity and duration and the repeated bouts of these activities.  But the reality is that the research is not very clear that anything can truly mitigate DOMS.  So we’ve got a little bit of evidence that’s marginally promising for some of these treatment options we tend to go with including vibration massage.  However, there’s not really anything substantial.  So when you look at the actual science you tend to get the old hashtag, it’s complicated, right?  However, recovery might be more about our neurology than our actual mechanical factors that we’re influencing.  Translation– your perception tends to determine your reality of what you actually feel.  If we take that further you’re just basically simplifying it saying if it feels good to you, it’s probably worth maintaining.  If not, don’t waste your time.  As a result the timing of these modalities can obviously be different for different individuals based on how their body tends to respond.  Some will say wait up to one to two hours post activity so that your body has time to do it’s natural recovery first.  Then others tend to swear by just trying to administer these techniquest as soon as possible while the muscle temperature is still elevated.  To answer the question, is there really a more optimal time?  The simple answer is we don’t really know.  Most research states that DOMS will still be inevitable and it’s most significant 24 to 48 hours post activity.  So does foam rolling, vibration, and all our efforts even with recovery boots, does it really even matter?  Well, we don’t really know.  Maybe.  Again, your perception tends to determine your reality.  So from our own anecdotal experiences working with athletes we tend to administer right after activity within the first hour and most athletes tend to say they feel pretty good afterwards and they like it.  Ultimately we tell our athletes that proper nutrition and sleep is obviously going to be the best form of recovery, but then if we can actually throw in some other tools to get that extra boost into our parasympathetic state we’re obviously going to try whatever works.  Generally we apply them within the first hour.  I haven’t really found it to be detrimental immediately following activity.  However, after really intense sessions or longer duration sessions I would probably follow up with 10 to 15 minute bouts of some vibration or compression or even massage within the next 24 to 48 hours when you have the chance especially after these longer sessions.  But remember, ultimately regardless of the science when it comes to recovery perception truly is reality.  With recovery science it’s bottom line in my book, if it feels good and it feels like it’s working for you, it probably is.  

Elizabeth:  Yeah that’s awesome.  I loved doing that episode with BJ and he is just a wealth of knowledge in terms of all things in the physical therapy industry and recovery tools.  I know just myself, in my experience as an athlete I would say that my post workout routine is I do my cooldown then I’m starting to stretch a little bit with some refueling, recovery drink or so.  Then I’ll shower off and then I kind of get to those recovery tools.  But throughout the rest of the day I’m still kind of utilizing those as needed as well.  I may be using a recovery tool 30 minutes after I’m done with my session after I’ve showered off, refueled a little bit.  But then I might hit the foam roller again a couple hours later especially if I’m feeling a little bit sore or I know what’s coming up the next day as well.  

Andrew:  Yep, no.  Great notes Elizabeth.  Thanks for that, too.  Question #4.  This comes from Corey Jenkins.  He’s from North Carolina.  He asked, “When running on a treadmill, should I be running with an incline and if so, what should the incline be?”  Treadmill running.  Great question.  It’s a simple thing to do, but it’s complicated to do it right.  Coach Jeff Raines, what would you say to Corey here?  

Jeff:  The whole treadmill accuracy debate is a big deal.  It’s an ongoing one, but typically the consensus is that– it’s called “energy cost,” right?  The ground is moving for you so the way that your body kind of reacts and gets propulsion from the idea of inertia on a treadmill is a little bit of a help for you on the treadmill.  So the consensus is typically to match running outdoors you want to have the treadmill incline at approximately maybe 0.5% up to 2% grade.  So in doing that– my default and go-to is just 1%; 1% grade treadmill.  

Andrew:  I don’t think my treadmill does 0.5%.  

Jeff:  Yeah, I guess the quality of your treadmill, but 1% is kind of an understood consensus in that what it does is it takes into account maybe indoors there’s lack of wind.  So you’re not having to run against wind.  Road quality.  It may be flat terrain outdoors in your neighborhood loop, but you could have caliche, pebbles, slight undulation that isn’t considered incline or total feet elevation gain throughout that run.  So it’s kind of understood since the ground is moving for you, it is a perfectly kind of “flat” surface that you want to hold an incline of about 1% to somewhat match some of those external factors of outdoors.  

Andrew:  While we are talking treadmill running… I have also seen athletes post about treadmill speed and this is something, Jeff, that I have even wondered myself a little bit.  Just in terms of effort, is it easier, harder, or about the same, in terms of holding a certain pace on the treadmill versus holding that same pace outside?

Jeff:  I’d say this is even a bigger debate and it’s one of those things that you… Let’s just say we asked this question on social media.  We got 500 answers, 250 would lean one way and 250 would lean the other.  It’s interesting.  Now I would say that stride length has a lot to do with this and also the pace that you’re running at on the treadmill.  So at faster speeds and greater stride lengths that delta or differential is going to be greater in my opinion.  But what I’ve seen the most is that you’re typically running faster.  So you talk about effort.  That’s the key here.  Running at a certain effort.  Let’s just say you ran a mile on your treadmill and your treadmill said you ran an 8:00 minute mile.  I find that even with your watch in indoor mode it might say 7:50.  So typically for the most part you’re running faster than you think you are on a treadmill.  So if the treadmill says an 8:00 minute mile, your watch on indoor mode may say 7:45, 7:50, but I actually find if you had that exact same effort let’s say on a track in good conditions and all that you might even be closer to 7:30.  I find that most people are faster at the same given effort.  In terms of effort they would be faster if they were to give that mile effort on an outdoor track.  

Andrew:  And that matches my experience.  Because my zone 2 is exactly what you’re talking about; 7:50 to 8:00 minute miles is my zone 2.  So outside I am very comfortable at an 8:00 minute mile pace on a track.  I can just hold that indefinitely it feels like.  On a treadmill, I feel like I’m working at an 8:00 minute mile pace on the treadmill.  So just to make sure my heart rate stays in zone 2 I have to back off a little bit on the pace on the treadmill.  But I think it’s great for people to keep in mind.  What you’re saying, your stride length matters, the paces you’re running matter, and so that experience might be different for everybody.  That’s a great time to invest in maybe a running power meter if you’re really concerned about that or to double check what effort you’re actually putting out with heart rate.  Great notes there Jeff.  

John: I think a couple other considerations is 1- what treadmill are you running on?  A lot of people like me, I have a treadmill at home that stays out in the garage.  It’s not probably the best environment for that laboratory grade…  

Andrew:  It’s not?  Outside in Houston?!

John:  And then the other thing is a lot of people run in gyms, maybe at a hotel workout room.  Who knows when the last time those things were actually calibrated.  So I don’t think we can– most treadmills, especially those that are maybe not owned in your own home you probably can’t rely on the pace it says.  A game changer for me was, as you mentioned, adding the power meter.  I’ve been able to rely on that and I’ve seen very tight correlations with pace, effort, heart rate all that lining up using the power meter for that.  But consistently my experience has been kind of the opposite where as the treadmill says I’m running a faster pace based on heart rate, effort level, and the data from the power meter.  It’s actually I’m not going as fast as what it says.  So for me I have a little bit of the opposite experience, but as you mentioned that power meter is kind of the great equalizer for that.  

Andrew:  It’s the truth teller.  

John:  Yeah.  So for me that’s been a great aspect.  Just consider– I would say be very skeptical of really any treadmill, but especially those that are at the gym, in the hotel.  Who knows.  Yeah.  

Andrew:  Bunch of liars.  I guess we’ll tease a little bit.  We actually have a podcast episode coming out in the near future where John and I sit down with Evan who is on staff with Stryd to talk about running with power.  Very excited about that episode.  So if you are using Stryd power meters or you’ve been interested in a Stryd power meter, hold onto your butts and be on the lookout for that episode coming your way in the near future.  Okay, next question comes from Olaf from Frankfurt, Germany.  He says, “What do you think of HRV?”  Which is heart rate variability.  “Is it relevant?  How important is it?  What can it be useful for and how can we use it?”  

John:  So heart rate variability is exactly that.  It measures the amount of time between the heart beats.  You tend to think of your heart beats as relatively uniform as a steady, even amount of time between those beats.  In reality there is variability in there so it does require a more sophisticated measuring system to see what are those fine deltas between the heart beats.  But that is very valuable information and what it does is provide objective feedback as to what’s going on in your nervous system.  So your sympathetic, parasympathetic nervous system.  It’s a good indication of how recovered you are.  It is a good way to track and monitor and see how well you are recovering.  I think it certainly is relevant for that.  I think something I’ve seen where there’s been a little bit of I think confusion with it is they’ll take that heart rate variability measurement and decide what I’m going to do that day solely based on that in regard to their training.  But something to consider is certain training sessions are prescribed to be started in a fatigued state.  

Andrew:  Yeah, great point.  

John:  There’s training adaptations to that that’s intended.  Not every session is intended to be started 100% fresh and there’s training value in starting those sessions in a semi-fatigued state.  

Andrew:  When you start that run on race day, you’re already in a semi-fatigued state.  

John:  Very much so.  

Andrew:  I remember, and Elizabeth might have experienced this as well.  I remember soccer practices back in high school where our coach would run us into the ground for the first hour of practice and then make us scrimmage a half so that you felt what is it going to feel like to have to play soccer already fatigued.  Because in the second half of a game that’s where you’re at.  

John:  Yeah.  So it’s a great metric, great feedback as to how well you are recovering, absorbing your training, but that’s also something to be aware of is that just because it’s saying that you’re maybe not 100% fatigued, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you skip a session or back off the intensity, back off the duration.  It may very well be the intent of that prescribed session to be entering into that session with that certain amount of fatigue.  

Andrew:  Our next question comes from Shannon Rogers.  Shannon is from the Maryland area and Shannon went to TriDot.com/podcast, clicked on leave us a voicemail and recorded his voice for the show asking his question.  Guys, this is the best way to get your question on the show unless it is just a really, really dumb question.  If you record me a voicemail asking the question, I love putting athlete’s voices on the show.  I’m going to do it just about every single time, so thanks Shannon for going this route.  Here’s what Shannon wants to know.  

Shannon Rogers:  Hey Andrew and the TriDot podcast crew!  Love what you guys are doing.  This is Shannon up in Bel Air, Maryland and I had a question about broken intervals.  I heard a couple of pros speak about this.  Most recently I heard Lionel Sanders mention the idea of it’s easier to wrap his head around a difficult workout when he thinks of it in terms of total minutes of work versus total minutes of recovery.  And really, that’s kind of how TrainX looks at it as well.  When you scroll down to the bottom you’re looking for a certain number of minutes in zone 4 even though maybe it’s a 2 x 16 threshold and hold workout, but you’ve also got that balance at zone 2 on the back end of things.  I wonder.  Sometimes I will admit I struggle wrapping my head around those 19 minute zone 4 intervals and I start to maybe add those three one minute zone 4 in warmup and think, well now I only have to ride 16 minutes and in the end the TrainX score is still high because I still rode the total required at zone 4, I just took a few breaks here and there.  I wonder if I’m doing myself a disservice or how that actually factors into doing the right training right.  As long as I hit the total minutes of work required and the total minutes of recovery, is it still the same net gain at the end?  I think this actually could end up saving my ego a little bit when I’m not feeling it on one of those long rides and I think, oh man I’ve got to do another one of those 16 minute, 18 minute, 19 minute intervals and maybe I sprinkle in some zone 2 to recover and maybe do 5 minute stents or 6 minute stents or 10 minute stents at zone 4.  What are your thoughts on this?  Of course, if it works for Lionel Sanders, who am I to debate that right?  Thanks guys!

Elizabeth:  I did also see the clip he was referencing with Lionel Sanders so I think it’s fantastic that he kind of throws that in there too and says, okay I know I’ve done this.  I’ve seen other pros that are doing this.  What’s the take here?  I guess just kind of backing up a little bit when he’s talking about the length in the intervals and the rest period.  There’s a lot that goes into that and he references doing the right training right.  The right training is what is there prescribed for you on your TriDot calendar and that workout structure is specifically designed for a certain training response.  So the intensity of the interval, how long the duration of the interval, the rest period between them.  That’s all designed to produce a certain physiological adaptation and that adaptation can be best achieved by following the interval intensity and the rest periods that were prescribed for you.  This goes even further, but you’ve got your training stress profile, your current level of fitness, your genetics, other biometric factors, whether you’re in a development phase where you’re focused on increasing your functional threshold or you're getting closer to race day where you’re working on building your stamina.  I mean, that’s all going to influence the type of interval and the length of interval as well.  So it is very purposefully prescribed for you.  Are you short changing yourself in tweaking the rest period?  Are you short changing yourself in breaking up the intervals?  Yes.  It’s designed that way to be done for that specific duration and that specific intensity to produce your best results of the workout.  Now, have I extended my rest before?  Yes, absolutely.  Have I also broken down intervals into two or three pieces?  Yep.  Have I gotten to the last couple minutes of an interval and was like oh thank goodness I have those zone 4 in the warmup because at least my TrainX score won’t look as bad because I’m just absolutely dying now?  Yes.  I mean, I’ve done all of that too.  But I would just encourage athletes; do the best that you can.  It is prescribed for you and other outside factors may inhibit your ability to be able to do that session perfectly that day.  We’ve talked about perfection is not required, but do the best that you can.  Don’t break up the interval unless you’re really falling apart.  

Andrew:  Unless you have to.  Yeah.  

Elizabeth:  But if you are falling apart, then yeah.  Take a break.  Regroup.  Get in the zone 4 work, the threshold work that you can.  

John:  So I think a simple illustration to look at this is the more difficult sessions is that 20 minute power test on the bike where you’re seeing what you can do.  What is your max all out you can hold for 20 minutes.  That’s a very difficult set.  That’s very different than doing 20 one minute efforts at even a similar intensity level. If you’re looking to hold 250 watts for 20 minutes and that’s all you’ve got and that last 17, 18, 19 minutes you’re dying, that’s very different than holding 250 watts for one minute and then taking a one or two minute break and then doing it again for one minute.  I think that’s kind of where you’re at.  You’re going to feel much fresher, much less taxed at the end of the session where you did 20 x 1 minute than one 20 minute session.  That’s because the training adaptation is different.  The training stress is different.  That’s going to be indicative of your NTS that comes out of that session as well.  You have that exponential increase in training stress the longer you hold an effort and as Elizabeth stated that’s all part of the training that’s all in there.  But again as she said, the important thing is to set yourself up for success.  Do the best you can and if that means modifying or extending a recovery, yeah.  You want to stick to it as best as you can, but do what you can to be as good as possible.  

Andrew:  I feel like the days I’ve had to amend a little bit, for me it’s runs.  I don’t think I’ve ever had to give myself more rest on the bike, but on runs sometimes you have those six intervals of five minutes or four intervals of eight minutes and you’re in zone 4 for a long time.  Sometimes I hit that last one and man I’ve got to get myself one minute, or half way through the last interval.  Some of those days when you’re running at threshold pace for a long time and you only have one minute recovery in between.  Days I’m just not feeling it, I’ll give myself an extra 30 seconds and rest 90 seconds instead of one minute.  

John:  In that extra 30 seconds or minute of recovery if that sets you up to nail that next interval then by all means, do it.  

Andrew:  Our next question comes to us from Matt Ireson from Ontario, Canada.  On Facebook he wrote:

Mr. Andrew Harley, I think a good question or podcast topic needs to be about the two zone 3 sets closing out the threshold and hold workout.  During warmup in zone 2 or zone 3 I have no problem holding 90 rpm, but after lengthy zone 4 portions of threshold and hold, those zone 3 sets are a life changing experience.  Demoralizing as I have to fight like hell to get close to 80 rpm and then elation when I focus on spinning form and see the cadence climb to around 80.  I’d love to hear the coaches perspective on the benefits of these zone 3 efforts.

So just for context for folks listening, Shannon actually also referenced this set, threshold and hold.  It’s a very typical for a harder bike session in the week, one of the bigger bike sessions is that threshold and hold where you’re given a couple zone 4 intervals that are really taxing and then after those zone 4 intervals are done you have two zone 3 intervals where you hold 10, 15, 20 minutes of zone 3 for a few intervals.  So zone 3 when you’re fresh doesn’t feel that hard, but after you’ve gone through the zone 4, suddenly it becomes a little bit more challenging.  So Matt is specifically wondering what is the purpose of doing that zone 3 training after the zone 4.  

Jeff:  Great question and it’s kind of funny because we see the Big Gear Workout on TriDot a lot on the social media pages people kind of saying “uh-oh!  I’ve got the big gear workout.”  Where you get off the bike and do a bunch of squats.  I would say that’s arguably the hardest Monday through Friday hour workout you’ll see in TriDot.  So Big Gear Workout is arguably the hardest day-to-day workout, lets say.  But those kind of longer, harder, bigger Saturday rides, I would say this workout is arguably the hardest Saturday workout in TriDot.  It’s tough because we want to nail our zone 4.  That’s the real kind of intensity there, the threshold adaptation.  So you’re like, “Oh great!  My zone 4 long set is almost over.  I’ve got my recovery coming up.”  Before the workout starts you kind of treat that zone 3 as a recovery off of the zone 4.  So the torture here. I think we can all agree, is that we treat the zone 3 as a recovery, but in the moment that zone 3 like Andrew you just said, zone 3 is not hard fresh.  So you think of it as kind of a recovery.  Zone 3 is arguably also what you will race a half or full Ironman at, right?  So no matter who you are your anaerobic threshold will fall somewhere in that zone 4 range.  Your aerobic threshold will fall in that zone 2.  Typically for half and full you will race somewhere in between that.  Maybe upper zone 3 for a half Iron.  Mid to lower zone 3 for most for a full Iron.  So you could arguably hold zone 3 all day, 112 miles.  So what’s 10 minutes of it in the middle of an hour and a half workout?  Nothing, right?  But doing it right after a hard zone 4, there is a purpose and a reasoning behind the madness.  We still have to train zone 3 a little bit.  It’s kind of known or thought of kind of sort of as the dead zone.  It’s fighting two energy systems, let's just say.  So you typically see a lot of zone 2, zone 4.  In TriDot you’ll see a little bit more zone 3 mixed in as you get closer to race day because that’s what you’re going to race at.  You’ve got to get a feel for that.  We still have to train that system a little bit as well.  So doing it right after a zone 4, there is method behind that madness.  It simulates all sorts of things, but we want that training adaptation, that training effect and doing it fresh you’re not going to get that.  But also it simulates a number of different things as well.  Maybe you do a little attack or you have a hill where you push a little bit harder on race day and you’ve got to settle back into that zone 3.  So we don’t just want to stop in the middle of your race and get that recovery.  So there will be instances where you will jump up into zone 4 and you’re going to have to settle back into that race effort.  

Andrew: Our next question comes to us from– now this came on Facebook.  It was an account, Joshua-Jen Hughes.  So one of those spousal accounts where the spouses share a Facebook account.  So not 100% sure if this is from Josh Hughes or Jen Hughes.  That’s the mystery here.  But either way, they’re from  Washington State and they want to know.  Any tips on how to prevent goggles from fogging up in open water swims?  Now this is like a fear of mine every time I have an open water swim race.  I’ve only had my goggles fog up one time during an open water swim race and ever since that happened I’m always afraid it’s going to happen, and somehow seems to not and I’m not sure how.  So great question here because being able to see on the race course is just pivotal.  So what do you guys do to prevent your goggles from fogging up before those open water swims.  

Elizabeth:  Yes, as you mentioned we definitely want to be able to see.  That’s a critical part of this here.  I’d say first thing if your goggles are really old, a new pair is probably absolutely worth having for race day.  Very low cost and if you can get yourself a new pair, obviously not to be worn for the very first time on race day, but something relatively new versus a pair you’ve had for a year or something would be worth it.  Most goggles are going to have an anti-fog coating on them and that gets worn down by the chlorine.  So if you’ve had those goggles for a while, you’ve used them for a bunch of training sessions in the pool, it might be time for a new pair that has a fresh, anti-fog coating for race day.  I know with my go-to pair of goggles I’ll usually purchase two to three pairs each time I buy them.  One to use in training, one to cycle through as I’m getting closer to a race, and then I have a new pair ready as a backup for racing as well.  Beyond the goggles themselves, there are some anti-fogging products that work pretty well.  I know for me I just have used like a thin layer of baby shampoo so it doesn’t burn your eyes.  That also works.  The best solution literally can be your own spit.  So just spit into the lenses, wipe it into a thin layer.  You’re good to go there.  That can help prevent fogging.  Then I guess just one other tip that athletes could look at too to help prevent fogging, is that a lot of athletes will tighten their goggles too much or they’ll have their goggles not get a full seal against their face because the edge of their goggles is either on their eyebrow or on the edge of their swim cap.  

Jeff:  Trim those eyebrows Andrew.  

Elizabeth:  Yeah, making sure that you’ve got a nice seal there against your face can also prevent the fogging.  

John:  So I recently started using a product called Foggies.  It’s from the same people that make the TriSlide lubricant and I will say it works fantastic.  It’s like a towelette kind of like you’d get if you eat buffalo wings kind of thing.  

Elizabeth:  A little lens wipe.  

John:  Yeah, and you just wipe your lenses before.  

Andrew:  On the inside?  Inside lens?

John:  Inside, outside and I’ve done lots of hour long swims and have had zero fog.  So I’ve been real impressed with that and something I’m looking forward to testing out once I get back out on the road is it’s also supposed to work for keeping your glasses from fogging up as well.  I ride in a very humid environment and there are times where I can’t even wear my glasses because they fog up.  So great product.  Foggies from the same folks that make the TriSlide.  

Andrew:  I’ve seen that.  You see stuff like that and you’re like, “Does that really work or not?”  So it’s great to hear that works because now I’ll buy it and try it out myself.  I traditionally, Elizabeth, kind of like what you said.  I’ve always just set aside a pair of goggles and I just save them for race day.  You know, use them in the pool once or twice to make sure that the fit is right and then just leave them in the case until race day and then use them for a race or two and then they become training goggles and I buy a new pair.  

John:  And scuba divers have been spitting on their masks for decades.  It works for them.  

Andrew:  Next question.  This is from Jeff Garrett from Mississippi.  He wants to know, is heart rate important on the bike if you have power readings?  So obviously with run workouts we talk about zone 2, heart rate is all that matters.  Anything with quality, go by pace.  But for the bike, at the point you have power, does heart rate matter even for the zone 2 or do we just go by power all the time?  

John:  Yeah, so this is a– I think it’s somewhat of a common misconception.  So yes.  The power is kind of our gold standard for measuring intensity on the bike, but even as you mentioned those zone 2 sessions for the same reason as the run we need to do those at a zone 2 heart rate.  The intent of those sessions is to develop the aerobic efficiency, to develop mitochondrial density within the muscles and that’s only done when the heart rate is at or below the zone 2.  So even if you’re holding zone 2 power, but if your heart rate crosses over into that higher zone, you’re not going to get the benefits of that zone 2 session.  So 1- that’s one aspect of it.  So it is still important, especially on those zone 2 sessions to still follow heart rate for that.  But even on the higher intensity sessions it’s still important to monitor heart rate.  What I tend to look at it as power is your input.  That shows the amount of work that you’re doing.  The work that’s going into the session is measured in those watts.  The heart rate is more of an output.  It’s showing what the body– how the body is responding to that input.  So it’s important to know.  It’s good feedback.  You have your heart rate zones and your power zones.  They should largely be correlated.  You should know what your heart rate is for a given power.  You can now see is my heart rate elevated and maybe it’s why.  Is there a known reason for it, or is this cause for concern kind of a thing?  Whereas maybe I didn’t sleep well last night.  Maybe I’m high on caffeine.  Lots of reasons why that heart rate could be elevated.  It’s a hot day.  It’s a humid day.  Those are all within our understanding.  We expect that, but it’s still good to know.  But if I’m in a cool environment and I slept well and I’ve not just had a massive dose of caffeine, but my heart rate is 10 beats higher than it should be, that’s good and valuable feedback that needs to be taken into consideration.  Whereas if you weren’t monitoring your heart rate you may not know how your body is responding to that if you’re just watching your power.  So it’s a good secondary metric.  It tells you how your body is responding to that power that you’re producing and I think too especially on race day it’s critical information where you may be following your power based pacing protocol, but again it's going to be a long day.  You’ve got to go run off the bike and if your heart rate is 10, 15, 20 beats higher than what’s expected then you’re going to need to back off those watts because your body is not going to be able to still execute that same plan if you continue in that elevated heart rate.  That’s showing signs of fatigue or something else is going on.  So again, it’s just valuable secondary information to have that really allows you to kind of– I guess a little pun– keep a pulse on what’s going on within your body.  

Andrew: Yeah, look at you!  Spectacular.  

John:  I’m like Jeff Raines here making all these puns.  

Andrew:  Spectacular.  

Jeff:  I’m proud of you John.  

Andrew:  That wasn’t like a typical Dad pun though.  That was like a smart pun.  There was academic depth to that pun.  

John:  I learned from the best.

Andrew:  Yeah.  Well done.  Well done.  Last question for today.  This is kind of a fun way to wrap up the main set today.  This came from Ryan McGrath.  He’s from Atlanta, Georgia.  He said, “I would love to know what all the contributor’s dots were when they started the program and what they are today!!”  Now this is on TriDot we all have our swim dot, our bike dot, and our run dot scores that measures where your fitness is at relative to other people your age, etcetera.  Kind of a measure of your current fitness and so I’m going to let you guys know you don’t have to share what your exact dot scores are.  Some people are more private with that information.  Some people have no problem sharing.  I have no problem sharing mine.  So feel free to share as much as you’re comfortable sharing.  You could even just kind of say, “My swim dot has improved nine dots since being with TriDot.”  Just kind of share what improvement have you seen since you’ve been with TriDot.  So, Coach Jeff Raines, let’s start with you.  

Jeff: I’ve been doing the right training right on TriDot.  This is my sixth year now.  So I’ve been on the dot, as I call it sometimes, since 2015 and I’ll say that all of my dots now are currently upper 70s, low 80s, but they’re all within a 5 dot window.  

Andrew:  What a well rounded athlete.  

Jeff:  It’s just so cool to see some of this stuff because I started off basically in the 60s for all of them and just seeing how they’ve grown.  And what’s really interesting for me is I come from a running background.  I considered the run to be my strongest discipline, but actually my run dot has the greatest growth of all three disciplines which is 13.  My run dot has grown 13 in six years, my bike dot 9, and my swim dot 9.  Currently actually, my swim dot is the lowest of the three and I never would have thought that.  I would have thought my run is the best and I’ve always thought maybe my cycling fitness is the least experienced.  So now to see actually my swim, I didn’t really think of it.  Is my swim the weakest of the three disciplines?  It’s just cool to see how your fitness changes and then having these numbers gives you confidence in different areas where maybe six years ago I didn’t have that.  

John:  So just a little commentary on that.  Part of the training that is prescribed for each individual using this data of these dots is it identifies those strengths and weaknesses.  So your training is going to focus on where those opportunities for improvement.  That’s exactly what Jeff has demonstrated.  The other thing we look to do is, as Jeff has experienced, is we want to have eventually a nice tight pattern of these dots showing that we’re strong in each of the swim, bike, and run.  So it’s going to vary by each individual, but we’re really looking to do– one of the focuses of the training is to improve on those weaker disciplines.  There is, as even Jeff mentioned, that weakness but you’re strong and proficient, fit in all three.  

Andrew:  For me, my dots, I am not in the high 70s, low 80s.  Again Andrew the Average Triathlete here.  On my swim when I first came on TriDot, I’m just now starting my third year on TriDot training.  My swim started at a 56.  I am now… I’m currently at a 61.  I was at my highest about a year ago.  So two years into my TriDot journey my swim had gone up to 63 and then COVID kind of shut all the pools down.  Didn’t swim for eight or nine months.  I was inconsistent with the dry land tubing admittedly.  So I will say that and so I’m just now working my way back to where I’m at a 61, just a few dots shy of my best there.  My bike dot, it started at 59 and now it’s up to a 67.  So that’s the one where I’ve really been focusing.  John’s been coaching me and we’ve been really focusing on my bike the last few months so I’m currently up to a 67 on the bike dot.  My run dot started at a 62.  It started as my best.  It continues to be my best.  It currently is sitting at a 71.  For me, my swim is up five dots with room for growth.  My bike dot is up eight in my time on TriDot and continually get better.  My run dot is up nine.  Kind of what you said Jeff, it was my best coming in and it’s the one that has grown the most.  So yeah.  Really enjoying the training and really excited to see how high I can climb in my mediocrity.  Elizabeth James, pro triathlete, what do you want to share for us?

Elizabeth:  Well, as you guys have kind of started this question I was pulling back threshold history, looking at assessment results from years and years ago.  This is now my seventh year using TriDot for my training and I only pulled back far enough to go back to 2016.  But I’ll at least share that from the last five years.  My swim has increased 9 dots in the past five years and the one that I’m most proud of that I had a lot of opportunity for growth as I was getting started was the bike.  I have increased 27 dots in the last five years.  

Andrew:  27 dots!

Jeff:  Wow!

Elizabeth:  I’m not going to lie.  I’m kind of proud of that.  I didn’t realize that it had been that much so kind of looking back as you guys were starting this question I was like, huh.  That’s cool.  

Andrew:  That’s like if you take the dots I’ve gained and the dots John has gained and the dots Jeff Raines has gained and put them together.  That’s like how many dots you’ve gained in six years.  

Elizabeth:  Yeah, it was cool to look back at that.  And then the run was a great increase too.  I’ve increased 20 dots in the last five years there as well.  

Andrew:  Wow!  Bananas.  Coach John Mayfield.  

John:  So as you mentioned in my introduction to the podcast I’ve been using TriDot since 2010.  So for me to go find out my original dots I’d have to go back and pull out a binder that has printouts of Excel spreadsheets.  But that was TriDot in 2010.  So I don’t know exactly what my dots were when I started.  I can say I’ve obviously come a long way in my decade plus of training with TriDot and I am now higher than I have ever been.  So ten years older, ten years experience, but still making gains throughout the training which is super exciting.  It keeps me motivated to continue to push and see how high I can get even after ten years.  So there’s more meat on the bone and always pleasantly surprised to find that and see that.  I am currently a 61 swim, 79 bike, and 62 on the run.  

Andrew:  Geez that bike score man.  Can I give you some of my run dot for some of your bike dot?  Can we trade?  Does that work?  

John:  I wish!

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

Andrew:  Today we’re going to close with some athlete shoutouts.  We love interacting with athletes in the TriDot family and we love sharing in your tri journeys and tri successes.  Each of us is going to take a quick second and just give a quick shoutout to an athlete that is just killing it right now in some way.  Coach John Mayfield, I’ll have you go first.  What athlete do you want to give a shoutout to today?

John:  I’m going to do two because I just can’t pick one.  

Andrew:  Cheater!  Booo!

John:  Yeah, okay.  Penalize me or whatever.  The first one is Misty.  I’ve been working with Misty for five or six months now and just continue to be impressed with the high quality training that she does.  She’s a mom; super mom like so many of ours are and she doesn’t train on the weekend because she’s got high school kids and she wants to really value that time.  So we kind of pack seven days worth of training into five and a lot of people struggle with that.  Misty just nails it.  I’ve always been impressed with her consistency, her execution.  A lot of times her TrainX and her weekly TrainX puts me kind of to shame.  I’m a little embarrassed to compare hers to mine.  And even immediately right out of the gate when we first started I think like her second week her TrainX score was like 90.  Usually it’s like there’s a ramp up period.  They’re learning.  They’re getting adjusted to the training and all that and it takes a little bit of time, but yeah just from like week two she was at a 90.  She’s there just doing fantastic.  Another athlete that I’m really impressed with and really proud of, Jerry up in Chicago.  Same thing.  He’s got big lofty goals and he’s just nailing the training.  He asks super intelligent questions.  He follows the advice.  He follows the training.  Just been a pleasure to work with and one of those, he’s super coachable.  He works super hard and he’s really seeing the benefits of it.  So super excited to see both of these guys out on the race course soon.  

Andrew:  Elizabeth James, who do you want to give a shoutout to today?

Elizabeth:  I want to give a shoutout to both Carolyn and Nicole today.  So Carolyn Wilson, she is training for her first Full Ironman at Lake Placid and just already making incredible progress.  In all of her last assessments some great gains and I know that she’s going to have a fantastic race later on this year.  Similar with Nicole.  Nicole Montgomery.  Her first race of the season is going to be St. George 70.3.  She’s got an Ironman kind of later in the year as well and just want to give her a huge shoutout especially with her swim progress.  That’s something that we have been in contact with frequently.  Really looking at some analysis of where the opportunities are for some technique improvement and she is just making fantastic progress.  I’m really excited to see both of these ladies race.  

Andrew:  Great, great, great.  Coach Jeff Raines?

Jeff:  You know, I’m going to give a fairly unique answer.  This one’s a tough one.  Athletes that I want to give shoutout to are those who are recovering from testing positive for COVID.  It’s controversial even, so obviously I’m not going to give names.  But a handful of athletes that I coach as well as tons of others that I’ve communicated with in the past year regarding how to bounce back.  Just motivation, morale, how to be safe, how to talk with your doctor, and just how to do all that.  It’s so different.  It’s scary even.  

Andrew:  It’s different for every athlete even.  

Jeff:  Exactly!  So I’m going to give a shoutout to every athlete that is in the process or has recovered successfully and is back into their training.  Making that comeback.  That comeback athlete recovering from COVID.  

Andrew:  Well that’s it for today folks.  I want to thank TriDot’s very own Jeff Raines, John Mayfield, and Elizabeth James for answering some audience swim, bike, and run triathlon questions today.  Enjoying the podcast?  Have any triathlon questions or topics you want to hear us talk about?  Head to TriDot.com/podcast and click on leave us a voicemail to get your voice asking your question on the show.  We’ll do this again soon.  Until then, Happy Training!

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.

‍