Your Questions Answered: Overcoming an Injury, Ramping Up Strength Sessions, Bike Cleats, and More

TriDot Podcast Episode 275

Your Questions Answered Overcoming an Injury, Ramping Up Strength Sessions, Bike Cleats, and More

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: Hey everybody, welcome to the TriDot Podcast. This is episode 275. If you are a regular or a long-time listener of the show, you already know that every 25 episodes we shut down our regular programming, and we do an episode where we ask your questions to a panel of our coaches. And today, I have a wonderful panel here to answer our audience questions. I've got Elizabeth James from Wiley, Texas. I've got Jenn Reinhart from Austin, Texas, and I've got Jeff Raines from Midland, Texas. So a lot of Texas coaches, all IRONMAN U certified coaches, all TriDot neck-deep coaches. I love all three of these coaches near and dear. They're frequent podcast contributors. Elizabeth, how's it going?

Elizabeth James: It is going so well. Yeah, as you said, what a great crew we have here today. I'm really excited about this one.

Andrew: And Coach Jenn, good to see you. Welcome.

Jenn Reinhart: Thank you so much. I feel really privileged to be on the podcast with EJ and Coach Raines.

Andrew: And Jeff Raines, how's it going, friend?

Jeff Raines: Doing well.

Andrew: I am Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People and Captain of the Middle of the Pack. As always, we'll start with our warm up question, settle in for our main set conversation where I ask these three wonderful coaches your questions, and then we'll move into hearing from a different coach, with Vanessa, for the cool down. Lots of good stuff. Let's get to it.

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

Andrew: Alright. This is our last show of 2024, and I always like having a warm up question that just lets us reflect on the year in triathlon. So for all of our listeners and all the coaches on the show today, here's what I want to know as our warm up question: what was your favorite moment from the 2024 triathlon season? Now, this can be a moment from your own personal triathlon journey. This can be a moment from the journey of an athlete that you coach. Or, this can just be something from the pro field, or a moment that you watched on the broadcast, or that you witnessed firsthand at the races. Whatever it is, I want to know what your favorite moment of this season was. Elizabeth James, let's throw this over to you first.

Elizabeth: Okay. Well, it's hard to pick one moment. I will say that. Because we love the sport. Everything going on in the sport right now is super exciting. But this moment just absolutely stands out to me, and it's for a number of reasons. It happened in Taupō, New Zealand, and I was standing in the IRONMAN U booth at the expo. One of my coached athletes, who I have not seen in so many years, was racing. And we were able to reunite there at the expo, huge hug. Her aunt got this, just, amazing picture of the two of us joyfully hugging. And it sticks out to me for so many reasons because, as a coach, I had a goal to get back to more races and see my athletes compete in person. And so to be there in New Zealand, watch her at the World Championship event, was amazing. Just also all the work that we've done this year with IRONMAN U, and getting that program up and going again, and engaging with all the coaches – she happens to be a coach, as well. And so for me, that moment was really just kind of the culmination of a full year of hard work on both the coach education side of things, my personal coaching, getting back to the races, and being in an amazing location.

Andrew: Coach Jenn, what was your favorite moment from the 2024 triathlon season?

Jenn: Well, I really wish I had been in Taupō like EJ, but I, unfortunately, had a family wedding to go to in California, which ended up being a lot of fun. But one of my athletes has been prepping so diligently for 70.3 Worlds. And I was just ecstatic to follow him all day, and see him nail his race plan, and to just be overjoyed with his finish there. Because how better do you end a season than by having the perfect race that you train for and really just put everything into? Big shout out to Chris Prescott for his finish at 70.3 Worlds.

Andrew: Yeah, shout out to Chris Prescott. I know you qualified for New Zealand and we're going to go race, if not for the wedding to go to. This might be a little bit recency bias, but so far, two of the four of us on this show are shouting out to 70.3 New Zealand this past weekend. Jeff Raines, is that your answer, or do you have a different favorite moment from the season?

Jeff: I have a lot of favorite moments, but I have to say Kona, Hawaii, so shifting continents a little bit. Believe it or not, for me at least, that was my first time on the island. Coaching full-time for 16 years, I have never been to Kona, Hawaii, and I've never experienced the true Ohana right in person. And being there on the island, I told myself going into it, I was going to attend absolutely every single event and thing that I could, and I did. The coffee boat tour, or the swim, and the Bob Babbitt “Thank God I'm Not Racing” party, and the opening ceremonies – just everything. So being part of it all, putting a picture with it – not just on social media, let's say – it was just amazing. And seeing Patrick Lange make his move on the run, right after that little, kind of, rain storm – or not necessarily a storm – but he kind of emerged through that and became victorious. And seeing that in person. I was rooting for him the weeks leading up to it, and to see him victorious, and how he did it, and be there live. And I was there when he made the pass, the actual pass, and it was just amazing.

Andrew: Really glad you got to go, Jeff – as long as you've been neck-deep in the sport of triathlon, for you to get to go to Kona, finally, is really, really cool. I'm going to say Kona as well, for a different reason. I was at home. I didn't go to Kona this year, so I'm watching the broadcast like everybody else. And to me, from the time that the IRONMAN and TriDot partnership-relationship took off, about a year or so ago, till now, just watching – like, our presence at the race has grown, our relationship with IRONMAN has grown. So it was the first time we had a worldwide IRONMAN event broadcast that, it just seemed like TriDot was everywhere – on social media posts from IRONMAN, from TriDot, from athletes. I saw TriDot logos all over the place. On the broadcast itself, there were TriDot logos all over the place. Elizabeth and I worked on a commercial for TriDot, where Elizabeth is running on camera doing a TriDot workout, and watching that commercial being played on the IRONMAN World Championship broadcast, and me and Elizabeth made that together – it was just really cool to see how our relationship with IRONMAN has flourished. And it's been flourishing all year, but to watch it on the broadcast really take-off like that was really, really cool to see from home. So that's my answer. We got four of us here on the show, and we only shouted out to two races from the calendar year, so we're going to throw this question out to our audience, like we always do. Make sure you're a member of the I AM TriDot Facebook group, and make sure you are in the community hub, if you are a TriDot user. In both of those places, we will pose this question. What was your favorite moment from the 2024 triathlon season? Was it one of your races? Was it the race of a friend, the race of a colleague, the race of an athlete you coach? Was it the race of your coach? Was it the race of one of the pros that you happen to watch in person or on TV? Can't wait to see what you have to say.

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

Andrew: Alright, let's get to what we came here for today. We are shutting down the year, episode 275, by asking Coach Jenn, Coach Jeff, and Coach Elizabeth questions from you, our audience. Thank you for everybody who submitted a question. We're going to try to get to as many of them as we can on our sheet today, and I'm going to throw the first one here to Coach Jenn. This comes from an athlete named Jordan: “How do you deal with the mental setbacks when a training week doesn't go to plan, or when you can't fit in all of your plan sessions for one reason or another?” Coach Jenn, how can we as athletes deal with that, navigate that, and not mentally fall apart when that happens?

Jenn: First, I'm going to start with the holidays because we’re–

Andrew: We're in it. We’re in it, Jenn.

Jenn: We’re in it. We’re in it. So, I've been talking with a lot of my athletes to not stress over missed workouts over these next 2 weeks, to focus on what they can do. And, you know, maybe it might not be a swim, bike, or run, it might be a family hike that you’re going to say, “Well, that was my easy Zone 2 ride or run.” But I do know that I do feel better – and I think most athletes do – if you fit in a little bit of your quality work, because that high intensity work tends to give you a nice buzz when you finish, feeling successful, even if it has to be shortened up. So over the holidays, enjoy your family, your loved ones. Don't miss anything that's holiday related because you got to get that bike ride in. Look at your windows of opportunity, look at your schedule. Don't always pick the easy ones, don't always pick the hard ones, get a mix. Get a little bit in there, but enjoy the holidays. The other times that I find this really difficult is when someone is either ill or coming back from injury. And the first thing you have to do there – and I know it's mentally hard – but you've got to rest and recover. You've got to get to the point where you can start working out again. And then, as you can start working out again, you want to start with the easier Zone 2 workouts, just getting the body moving, see how the body reacts, and then slowly build back into that. There's a ton of community out there on our social media apps that will help you stay motivated, help you feel better about what you’re going through, so don't ever feel that you can't reach out to any of us coaches, or any of your other athletes, to get through those tough times.

Andrew: I've found – just personally, for myself – for a lot of athletes, if it's in the budget, this is where working with a coach is invaluable, helping you navigate session by session. Once the week starts getting kind of crazy, they can really help answer a lot of the questions you have about how to navigate those types of weeks, whether it's a holiday or just a week getting away from you. But if having a coach is not in the budget, you can look at your TriDot training, and every single one of your sessions in TriDot has an XP score. And the higher that XP score, the more valuable and important that workout is to your week. And the lower that score, the less important that workout is to your week. And so for me personally, when I'm looking at my app and I just know, “Oh man, I can't get a workout in this day, this day, and this day. I got to move some things around.” That's kind of a nice, helpful guide as to, hey, whichever sessions have the highest XP value, try to get those in, and just don't stress about maybe some of the lower ones when the week starts getting away from you. Our next question, we're going to throw this over to Elizabeth. This question came from Scott Steiner, TriDot ambassador, who I know has had some injuries lately. And he asked this: “How can you stay mentally resilient when you're injured and unable to train?”

Elizabeth: I've struggled with injury for about 2 years, something more significant. And so, this is something that I've – fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it – had a lot of experience with. And one of the things that I have really, just like, banked on and come back to over and over again, is what can you work on? There is something you can be doing no matter if you're injured, unable to train, and for whatever reason that might be. If you can do some sort of physical activity – so, like, if you have a lower leg injury, if you can still be doing some swimming, then fantastic. Let's look at that. Let's become excellent at swimming during that time where maybe you couldn't bike or couldn't run. But if you're unable to do any sort of physical activity, whether that be for a short while or a long while, let's think about some of the other aspects of training. Here's where looking at quality nutrition or mental preparation can come into play. There were two books that I've read recently about coming back from injury, and both of them were fantastic. I want to definitely put those out there as resources for other athletes right now. One of them is called Rebound, and it says, "Train your mind to bounce back stronger from sports injuries." I love this book because, not only was it a great book, but it had accompanying resources. It had some worksheets that really made you identify, “Okay, what is my injury? What am I not able to do?” But then, “What can I do?” They also have an ‘Injured Athletes’ club on Facebook and some of their social media. We have a great community within TriDot, but sometimes, I found, that it was like, “Oh man, everybody else is training. I want to get connected with other people that aren't able to train right now. Let's celebrate going for a walk today.” Now, I encourage athletes: still post that in TriDot. We can celebrate those things too, but sometimes it's nice to talk to other athletes that are in the same situation. The other book I read is called The Champion's Mind. This was really focused in on the mental preparation, looking at resiliency, and what positivity can we take from this little setback, and thinking of it as, “How is this setting you up for the future?” Like, what can we outline? What does that look like when you come back? Maybe let's plan the race schedule. Let’s look at what the nutrition is going to be day-to-day, or think about your pre-race nutrition and how we can work back into that in the sessions when you can get back. So focusing in on what can you do, even if it's not physical activity, I have found to be very beneficial, and I've encouraged athletes that I've worked with to kind of do the same.

Andrew: Yeah, very, very good. Dr. BJ Leeper – who comes on our show and talks about injury prevention, and handling injury, strengthening your body, functional movement; he's an expert in all of that – he definitely wants to have a community like that within TriDot, right. Where it's kind of like ‘the place’ for athletes to come and talk shop about what's going on in their bodies and what can you do. And we'll see what kind of form that takes place in the future. I know for our TriDot athletes, we're trying to foster more and more of that type of community in the TriDot community hub. So if you're a TriDot user, join the TriDot community hub for groups like that, that will be formed as we get into 2025. I don't want to say too much about that because there's a lot of cool things coming, but Jeff Raines, let's get a question over your way, buddy. This comes from an athlete named Joe who asked, “When should I start my training season?” Really good question here. I see this one a lot. He says, “For example, I have a couple of short course races and a half Ironman planned. How early should I start training? Months? A year?”

Jeff: Joe, this is the perfect time, the perfect question. I think everyone is here enjoying the holidays and thinking a little bit about, alright, 2025, the season's here. IRONMAN's having their commitment, their big commitment, campaign going on right now. What are you going to commit to, and what are your big goals? And so it actually kind of coincides, Joe, with what, kind of, EJ just said. If you're not training right now, or following structured training, you can still focus on the things that you still can do that aren't super training related. So I'll take a step back. There's kind of three main ways to capitalize on improving, maybe season to season or getting faster. Let's say, “How can I get faster this season?” You can increase your fitness, improve upon what is your functional threshold. So you're going into each season stronger, fitter, faster, so to speak. You can increase your watt per kilo, so the weight that you're carrying, while improving upon that fitness. Fitness gains, or speed, can come from carrying less weight. Also, you can improve upon any inefficiencies, or deviations, that you have biomechanically. There's always something to work on, and the answer is you should start now, Joe. But I'll add in this: if it's December/January, 2025 is starting, I would recommend – and I recommend for all of my athletes – you spend an absolute minimum of four to six months in that precious developmental phase. Podcast 10 – we reference it so much – the power-stamina paradox, fast before far, strong before long. But what we should be focusing on now, there's no real ‘off-season’ – and I’m doing air quotes – it's all pre-season work, cause there's always something to work on. But we want to focus on raising that long tent pole absolutely as high as we can now. And that is our functional threshold. And to truly do that, to truly peak, if you want to go into that A-race and you have that super high performance goal, I recommend a minimum of 4 to 6 months in developmental before you start that race-prep stamina phase. And if you think about it right now – if your half Ironman, Joe, I don't know which one it is, but let's just say it's all the way out in October towards the end of 2025, and you started right now, perfect, as best you can, structured training, you would probably start race-prep stamina in that June/July. And that kind of gives you only about five to six months of that precious developmental, if you started today. And so I would get in there now, and what you can do in that. And the reason why – and I'll end with this – the reason why that I recommend a six-month minimum developmental phase is because you can really see good trends. You're looking at your average heart rate, your max heart rate, and, obviously, your performance outcome during your assessments. But seeing the trends of your fitness improving out of five or six assessments, let's say, inside of that six-month period, but looking for trends in the data – of average heart rate, and max heart rate, and strength gained, and all these things, weight loss, and stuff like that – six months will give you a really good insight of, are you truly peaking or not?

Andrew: We're going to move on to our next question. This is going to be for Coach Jenn, and this is from Todd. Todd wants to know: “How to prepare for open water swims with limited access to open water?” And, oh my gosh, is Coach Jenn not a great person to answer this with all of her time spent teaching triathletes how to swim at Austin Aquatics? Coach Jenn, what do you say to this?

Jenn: I absolutely love open water, but you can really set yourself up for a good open water swim in the pool – just getting to the pool, working on your swim, working on your swim fitness and technique. But to actually try to simulate open water at the pool, there's a number of things you can do that we have done with athletes. Push off the wall with your eyes closed and swim 15 or 20 strokes, or until you run into something. It's a great tool for seeing if you swim straight, kind of give you that image of if you're swimming in really murky water and you can't see anything, so it’s nice and dark. Another thing we like to do is practice sighting while you're swimming in the pool. Set a cone, or if there's a lifeguard chair, or just something that you can use at the opposite end, you want to go through that pattern of slightly lifting your head forward, glancing at that object, and rolling right into your breath, getting that motion down, that pattern down – being, as I like to say, crocodile eyes, not lifting your head all the way up – but you can do that in the pool. You can practice that motion of sighting on that object. If you have a couple of friends, you can all push off in the same lane, giving yourselves a little bit of contact and combat like you might – now with the time trial start, there's a little less contact as you swim, but you're still going to have some. Great to practice drafting in the pool. If you have some athletes that are similar speed to you, or maybe you go to a master's group, all of you taking turns leading that pack. Again, if it happens to work at your pool, if they don't have lane lines in all the time, and you could take like an inflatable inner tube – I take a 5-pound hand weight, and tie it to it, and drop in the pool, I can set up a buoy to practice turns. I can use that buoy to fight on, as well. Other thing I strongly recommend if you don't have access to open water and you're going to wear a wetsuit on race day, is go ahead and wear that wetsuit in the pool, practice getting it on, practice getting it off, making sure you don't feel constricted while you're swimming with it. Give it a good rinse once you get out to get the chemicals off of it, but you don't want to put that wetsuit on for the first time on race day. He does say, “limited open water,” so anytime you can get to open water, it's going to benefit you. Even if you're not an anxious person, but just getting in and swimming for a straight distance without a wall is just, you know – the first time each year I do an open water swim, it's like, “God, where's the wall?” I can feel it in my hip flexors because they're just being opened up and they've been short and tight. If you have a friend that lives 45 minutes to an hour away and they have open water, get out there on the weekend. If you don't have access at all, I highly recommend getting to your venue a little bit early so that you can check out the water there and get as many touches in it as you can. So if you can be there two or three days early, you should be able to get at least two short swims in to check it out, and check out your wetsuit, and be ready to go on race day.

Andrew: Yeah, absolutely agree with everything that Jenn said. One thing I would add, Jenn, is just kind of the reminder that you can be ready for a triathlon event, sprint to Ironman, regardless of how much open water you can get in. And so don't let it be a stressor. Don't let it be like, “Oh my God, I've got to get in the open water before race day.” There are people who – there are PRs, there are podiums, there are first-time IRONMAN finishers, there are sprint PRs that, people accomplish those feats without getting in open water one time before race day. And like Coach Jenn said, is it beneficial? Absolutely. Do you get more and more comfortable with the differences, the nuances, the pacing of it, the more you get in there? Absolutely. But don't let that be a stressor. Our next question, I'm going to throw this to Elizabeth. This comes from Alexandra, and it's got a core question with a couple of follow-ups. So we'll see how well Elizabeth does here, with her education background, on tackling these questions. Alexandra wants to know, “How to adjust training if I'm aiming for three strength sessions per week? Which tri workouts could I replace? Would cutting the easy sessions be too much stress on the body?” Obviously, for Alexandra, she's wanting to get in three sessions, but Elizabeth, kind of do your best to make this general for any athlete targeting a strength training goal. What does it look like for you as a coach, EJ, when you're talking to one of your coached athletes about trying to fit in more strength training?

Elizabeth: This is a fantastic question. It's a little tough to answer in general terms because I feel like I have so many questions that I want to follow up on. She's got her follow-up questions, but so do I. I'm like, “Okay, why do you want three sessions per week? Is that because you have specific workouts outlined, or is that you think you need three sessions per week?” And then, “Has range of motion been assessed, and is there good movement before we start that moderate to heavy loading?” She mentions heavy loading. “Are we ready for heavy loading? Is the body moving in a functional way, that putting that extra load, and that heavy load, is going to be beneficial, or are we asking for trouble? Are we really looking down at a potential injury by loading a movement that hasn't been well assessed and established yet?” So, I've got my follow-up questions, as well. Let's go ahead and assume, just for this and kind of answering the question, that like an athlete is moving well, and we are going to move forward with three moderate to heavy strength sessions per week. If we're going forward with that, some of the things that I've worked with my coached athletes on, that they have found to be very beneficial, is to lower their overall training volume preference to low in each discipline while adding in this focus on strength training. So within TriDot, we can go and say, “Alright, we're going to make swim, bike, and run low because we really want to prioritize the strength in this portion of the training phase.” And by lowering that volume preference, it helps prioritize those key sessions. So kind of back to what Jenn was saying earlier about what do you do when you can't get all of it in? Well, let's look for those key sessions, and let's make sure that those are still prioritized. This is going to be helpful because – as Alexandra talks about, like, which sessions can you remove – if we have it down to low volume, TriDot has already done that for you. You're not looking at a full training week with a standard volume, or high volume, going, “Ah, which one should I not do? Which one should I delete?” TriDot is already telling you these are the priorities for each week. And then, let's put the strength training in parallel with those sessions that are already identified as the highest priority. Keep in mind – you know, when she's asking if I only do the high intensity sessions – that those easier sessions do still serve an important purpose. And so, yeah, we do want those high intensity sessions, and we do want to work on raising the functional threshold, but those easier sessions, or those aerobic sessions, are important for increasing the mitochondria, improving our aerobic efficiency. They can help the body recover from those harder efforts. They may even help reduce some of the soreness that could be associated with heavier strength training. And so it's not necessarily just going in and saying, “I'm only going to do hard workouts and strength training.” We still need to have a balance of which intensity Zone we're targeting, and have that active recovery, so that we have a well-rounded training plan, as well. And it doesn’t have to be a long session. There's great benefit, even from a 20-minute easy run, and we're getting those benefits of that Zone 2 training. So I know I've said a lot there. Kind of as a quick recap, first thing would be: let's assess movement and determine if heavy strength training is appropriate. Dr. BJ goes in and talks a lot about this with the movement patterns, and how do we progress forward with strength training. So let's look at that. And then if we are putting strength training in, consider the volume preferences that you have on your training plan, and maybe lower those to help accommodate for additional strength training sessions so that you're getting a well-rounded week.

Andrew: Really good question from Alexandra; really good answer from Coach Elizabeth. And our next question comes from somebody who does quite a bit of strength training himself. He is Coach Matt Sommer. He’s a personal trainer himself. He’s a very fit young man, Coach Matt Sommer. And he asked this question: “How about tubeless versus tube in your tires? And then how do I decide what cassette to use for what course?” Great question from a very good racer, that is Coach Matt Sommer. Coach Jeff, I know you know a lot about this, kind of, bike gear choices. You get into this with your athletes quite a bit. What would you say to Coach Matt about whether they run tubeless or tubes in your tires, and how to decide when a cassette swap is right for you?

Jeff: Quick answers: hands down, tubeless all the way. I'm sold. I've done the old butyl latex. I've done the skinny tires, the wide. And I switched to tubeless about 2 years ago. You can hold a wider rim, you can hold a lower PSI, the better rolling resistance. It saves a little bit more on flats. People are – I understand – can shy away, or “I'm not quite ready for that yet. I don't want to switch yet. All that sealant in there, and that's just too much for me.” Actually, tubeless – there's not as much maintenance as most people think. Every two to three months, you just need to put a little more sealant in there. So unscrew the cap, put a little sealant in there, close it back up, you're good. But after about two to three times of doing that every two to three months, you are supposed to go in, take that tire off, and any dried crud, or anything that's inside, you're supposed to kind of scrape it off and kind of do a reset, but your local bike shop can do that. So kind, of sort, of every nine to twelve months, you probably would take that tire and wheel in to get serviced, but everything else you can do it on your own. And it has saved me so many – I’m doing air quotes – ‘little flats’, whereas normally, with the butyl or a latex, I'd have been out. Down and out, or had to change it, or maybe three or four times in a ride you get a flat, and you only have one spare, or two, and you got to call in somebody. A sealant will save a lot of that. So sealant all the way. I’ll just say this, and we got to move on, on this – but if you're buying new wheels, it's the new season, it's off-season – if you have an opportunity, I should say, and you're in the shop, you're getting your wheel serviced, or you're buying a new bike, or you have the option, right, or your current wheel is tubeless compatible, but you've never actually made the full switch, I would go ahead and do it now. Just do it and see if you like it. I was a little hesitant at first, but once I did, I will not go back. Gearing ratios, Matt, this is an awesome one. It’s a deep one. It can be a long one. Gearing ratios are the million-dollar debate, especially now. It's a new season, you got new A-races, new courses. Most tri bikes kind of come with a 52-36 front, right. The front big ring, 52; the small ring in the front, 36. 52-36 is kind of safe. It's good for some hilly courses, kind of hard, but also you have enough gears on flats and some downhills to still work. So that's a when-in-doubt, safe. 52-36 front, and an 11-32 rear. That's just a very common – most people, if you don't know what you have, that's probably what you have, or close to it. Your harder gears will help you if there's a tailwind or downhill; your easier gears will help you if you're in a headwind or going uphill. So if your front is 52, is the biggest ring in the front, and that 11 in the back is actually your hardest gear. The smallest cog in the back is your hardest; the biggest one in the front is your hardest. So in this case, your hardest gear would be 52 on the front and 11 tooth count on the rear. If you divide 52 by 11, you get 4.7 is your magic number. So what that means is that's your hardest gear. For every one spin of the pedals, your tires will spend 4.7 revolutions. That's a really big, or really hard, gear. And then the opposite – 52-36 and 11-32 – your easiest gears would be the small ring in the front, 36, divided by 32, the biggest gear in the back. That equals 1.1. So you're looking at those ratios, and the closer you are to 1.1, the easier that the gears are. And your goal, in your next upcoming race, is to find a gear where you're not cross chaining. So you're in that sweet spot. Let's say it's a flat Ironman course, not a lot of hills, and you're going to hold, I don’t know, 67% of your FTP. So whatever those watts are – whatever that effort, that speed, the watts are going to be for 90+ percent of your race – you're going to be largely in the same one or two gears for almost the whole race, so to speak. So you want to look down and know what gear that is. If you're cross chaining, or that chain is diagonal, then the gear ratio is probably not perfect. So you want the gear that you're going to spend the most amount of time in to be straight – maybe gears 3 or 4 from the inside of your bike frame to where it's matching up with that front ring, and the chain is the most efficient possible. I'll end there. I could go on and on, but you want to find your sweet spot, at your effort, for your A-race, and your particular goals. Start doing a little bit of math, and kind of know what your ratios are, and that will help you out.

Andrew: And even going to what Jeff said, where, kind of, the safe ground in the middle is 52-36, 11-32, and if that is working for you around town, and you know that it can work on most flats, it can work on rollers – if you have a super hilly course coming up, okay, well, maybe you go to your bike shop and say, “Hey, I need my cassette to be a notch or two easier. I've got this hilly thing coming up.” And if you have something like a Galveston coming up, where it's really flat and there's going to be a lot of tailwind, okay, maybe you go to your bike shop and say, “Hey, I got this race coming up. Can you give me something with a little more kick to it?” And that can be the guide, I think, probably, for most people. For really competitive athletes, like Matt, who chimed in here, to me, this, Jeff, this is kind of the importance of getting outside from time to time, and riding, and kind of just paying attention and assessing, “Okay, when I start hitting the hills around town, do I have all the gears that I need? Or are there moments going up a hill where I wish I had one more gear easier to kick into?” And if so, okay, maybe consider adding one more easier gear for a hilly course, and vice versa for the hard stuff in the downhills and the flats.

Jeff: I was just going to throw out that we're seeing kind of a trend, at least in the pros, going the single speed fronts, and we're seeing those huge chain rings. If the trend, or idea, is when-in-doubt, it seems like – and this is the pros, we can't compare ourselves – that bigger is better. You also got to – and like I said earlier, per 1 revolution of the pedals, if you're going three to five spins of the wheel, you want to make sure, also – you're in the right gear, you're not cross-chaining – but that your cadence, your sweet spot of cadence. So you don't want to be too big of a gear, where your cadence falls and you're going too anaerobic. So you've got to know your sweet spot of cadence, and how it matches up, and all of that as well.

Andrew: Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Jeff. I don't know if people realized how much science and math they're going to get in on this episode, but we got into it there. Coach Jenn, next question comes from Gary: “Should I touch my bike with my helmet strap undone?” Coach Jenn?

Jenn: Well, the only time you should touch your bike with your helmet strap undone is if you're getting on your trainer and you want to wear your helmet. That's fine. I don't care. Or if you're doing some kind of maintenance or cleaning of your bike. But if you are getting ready to go for a ride outside, or you're getting ready to take your bike off the rack at a race, your helmet should be on and fastened. I’ll even go as far as, when I'm doing long unsupported rides, and I might stop in a convenience store to grab some more water or Gatorade, I leave my helmet on and fastened. I go in with it on, come back out, hop back on my bike. You do not want to get caught at a race taking your bike off the rack with your helmet strap not fastened. I also see people – I've worked the knot line, this knot line a bunch – and riders will undo their chin strap as they're still running their bike up to either go re-rack it or have somebody take it. You can't undo that chin strap until that bike is out of your hands.

Andrew: Yeah, a very common penalty that people, both beginner and experienced athletes, sometimes, just get caught up in the moment, trying to save a few seconds, trying to get a step or two ahead of themselves in transition. Before they know it, they've got a penalty from something they did in transition. Next question is going to Elizabeth. This comes from a TriDot athlete named Ronnie who wants to know, “I'm considering racing a 70.3, but have only ever raced in olympic and sprint distances. What should I anticipate in training, and what areas of my training do I need to look at more intensely,” and giving the example of nutrition being one for sure. Really good question. And there are so many people every single year, as they look at the next season coming up, they're asking themselves, “Is this the year I'm going to take the plunge on going longer than I ever have before?” Ronnie is representing that cohort of athlete very nicely here. Elizabeth, what do you say here?

Elizabeth: Well, first I'd say, “Ronnie, yes. Do it.” Same for those other athletes that are considering it. Let's put in a little positive peer pressure here, and say, “Yes. Here's your nudge. Sign up. We'll support you in that.”

Andrew: It will be fun, at least some of the time.

Elizabeth: Absolutely, and especially once you're done and you say you've done it. But no, in all seriousness, this is a fantastic question. And there are a number of athletes that ask this every single year as they consider, “Is this the year that I'm going to put my name down and really sign up for that 70.3.” Moving up in distance from an olympic to a 70.3 does require increased stamina to cover those longer distances. Especially the jump in distance on the bike and the run. The swim is a little bit longer, but by comparison of the distances from the olympic to the 70.3, there really is a bigger jump on the bike and on the run than there is even on the swim. Now that training volume increase, to account for the stamina that's needed, is really going to be dependent on the current fitness level of the athlete. And so I'm going to use this as an example: like, if there's an athlete and they can run, like, 8 miles in an hour on their run workout, their training volume wouldn't increase as much as if there's an athlete that is able to complete 5 miles in an hour run workout. Cause we're going to need to be able to increase that stamina to cover the distance of the 70.3 event, with the 56 miles on the bike and the half marathon of the run. But in general, like, the longer bike and the longer run sessions, particularly on the weekends, are going to be where an athlete will see an increase in their training volume with comparing an olympic preparation and preparation for a 70.3 distance. And then, as Ronnie was talking about, beyond the training, what else do we need to look at, more specifically? They already pointed out nutrition. 100% agree with that. And race day nutrition is going to be critical. It needs to be practiced throughout the training sessions. We want to have that nailed down for race day. You can get away with it on a sprint, cause you really aren't consuming that much in terms of nutrition on the course. Olympic distance, again, you might be able to fudge that a little bit, or at least power through if your stomach is upset a little bit on the run. But we get in at 70.3, and we're talking about hours on the race course. And so this is no longer like a guessing game and fingers crossed that we're hopeful it's going to work out. This needs to be planned. It needs to be practiced. So 100% on the nutrition. And then I would also add a really good bike fit and thinking about aerodynamics, as well. Because that bike is going to be 56 miles, like, we need to think about how efficient are you on the bike, and how does that impact the muscular fatigue that you would experience going into the run? And so a well-defined nutrition strategy, making sure the bike fits well, thinking about aerodynamics in terms of clothing position, and efficiency would also be key areas to look at as you go up to that 70.3 distance.

Andrew: Very thorough there, Elizabeth. And the one thing I'll add, is just to, also in your training, think about comfort. If you've been training for sprint and olympic distance, most of your training sessions are probably, even your longer bikes and such, are probably in the 60 to 90, maybe 2-hour range, depending on your fitness, but not over that. And so you're going for your first half Ironman, 70.3 distance. Now you're going to get in the training sessions that are 2, 2.5, 3, to 4 hours, depending on your fitness. And you might find out that bike saddle, that really works for you for 90 minutes, might not work for you for 3 hours. And you might find out those running shoes, that work for you for 10 miles, don't work out for 15. Just be aware of that and start paying attention to the touch points between your body and your gear. Everything you're using right now might work beautifully, but you might find one or two things that, as the training hours ramp up, “Ooo, yeah, maybe I should try switching that out, switching that out for more comfort long-term.” Comfort equals speed. The more comfortable you are, especially on the run and the bike, and in your wetsuit, the better form you're going to hold, the better place of mind you're going to be in, and the better you're going to be able to hold your pace on race day. I'm going to jump to Coach Jenn for this next question. John wants to know: “What is the ideal ratio of chocolate chip cookies per kilometer of each discipline?” Coach Jenn, can you break down the science of chocolate chip cookies to calorie burn here for John?

Jenn: I can. At first, I had to read that a couple of times. I kept thinking, he wants more chocolate chips in his cookie or he wants more cookies?

Andrew: What is he asking?!

Jenn: And there's lots of answers for that. And then, you know, John, if you're on the TriDot training platform, you've already answered that question. Because with TriDot, you've given them your gender, your age, your experience in each of the three sports. You've done your assessments. TriDot has created a training stress profile for you from all that information. And then, each week, it's allotting you the amount of normalized training stress your body can handle. It's looking at your residual stress. But every workout, whether swim, bike, run, is different. It's a different day. Your body has more or less stress from previous workouts. So it's always customizing to you. So you're already getting the best number of chocolate chip cookies you can for every minute, hour, second of training you're putting in, as long as you're following the session requirements and doing the training right.

Andrew: So that without you realizing it, TriDot is optimizing your chocolate chip cookie intake, or ability to intake chocolate chip cookies per your training. Is it, Jeff, is it Garmin that has like a plugin for your Garmin watch, where it will tell you how many chocolate chip cookies you've earned based on the workout you just did?

Jeff: Yeah, and there's also slices of pizza, ice cream – and Zwift. And yeah, I was just going to say, gosh, John, I mean, anytime you get a pegacorn, a unicorn, or a narwhal, or anytime you get a 90–

Andrew: Go have a cookie.

Jeff: –a 90 or better training score, go have that cookie, man. You earned it. Hey, I got a 97 on my swim workout today. I was ecstatic because it's always hard to get those hundreds.

Elizabeth: I feel like 90 or above on swim workouts should be 2 cookies.

Jeff: Double stuf.

Andrew: Our next question comes from Vincent, and, Jeff Raines, I'm going to throw this one your way. You're going to crush this one. You're going to do great here. Get back into science. Jeff's my science guy, apparently. Jeff Nye, the science guy. Does that work? Vincent wants to know: “Is it still beneficial to do reverse periodization,” or as TriDot says it, strong before long, “if I only want to do short course triathlons?” And I have seen this question asked before, so very, very good question. People that want to just do sprints and olympics, is TriDot's reverse periodization approach to training still the most beneficial way to train for short course?

Jeff: You know, that's a really good question. I think, whether you're racing short course or long course, there is still a period as you approach A-race day – you’re A-race – that you need to focus on race prep. And I call it stamina because there is a switch to stamina if you're racing long course. But if you have a, let's say a sprint, or even an olympic, as an A-race, in TriDot’s RaceX, you will still most likely see a race prep focus as you get closer to your race day. And it's not always the sole purpose of it to build stamina, because if someone's racing a sprint race and it's only a 10 mile bike, that's a lot shorter than what is your functional threshold. You’re functional threshold on the bike is a pace you should, or could, be able to hold for an hour. And if your bike portion of a sprint tri is, quote, ‘only 25 to 40 minutes’ on the bike, do you need a lot of stamina prep for that? The answer is this – is that the TriDot's race prep phase is not only focusing on building stamina and cutting back all your quality work. That's not how it works. Actually, Reinhart alluded to the training stress profile. TriDot knows the exact amount of quality work – quality being that Zone 3+ – that you can safely absorb, or handle. But there is a portion, or a point, as you get closer to race day, where that long tent pole that I alluded to earlier, that is your functional threshold, it is what it is. And it's different for everybody, and TriDot sees that and knows it. So whether you're three weeks out or, let's say, two months out, there is a point where that is going to be what it is, and you need to focus on holding certain percentages of that, even if it's over a 100%. So I will say this, if you're doing your structured training, Vincent, I would look back, and I’d see how well you're doing your training. If you're getting 95 TrainX scores on your weekly TrainX score every single week, all year long, then you're really doing well. You're really following the training perfectly. But if you look back, and there's some room for improvement, let's say, then I would definitely go back and trust that process. But your year-to-year, season-to-season, or the better that you do your training month-to-month and up to year-to-year, TriDot's– your training stress profile will change, and it'll see that, “Oh man, he or she's doing great consistent training,” and you're kind of, sort of, quote, ‘allowed’ to do more quality work as you progress. So TriDot knows how well you're doing and how consistent you are, and over time, it knows if you can handle more training stress. And so I would just trust the process, I know. As you do your training, and you nail it perfect, you will be allowed to do more and more quality work, and you will see more of those types of sessions.

Andrew: And this is where, as a company, our ‘North Star’ when it comes to prescribing training for athletes, is what does the data tell us? What does the data tell us is the most beneficial way for an athlete to train? And it's not just that TriDot likes strong before long, or that the CEO/founders of TriDot feel like reverse periodization is more beneficial for triathletes across the board. The data shows us that's true. And on a very, very deep level. And if that was different for short course racing, the training would be different for short course racing. And if our algorithms and our data scientists – yes, we actually have data scientists on our staff – if they ever found that to change, or data sets to inform the models differently, they would change that for short course. But the training is how it is based on the data that our optimization engine has learned over time from real athletes. Our next question comes from Christine, and she specifically requested that Elizabeth James answer this question. So Elizabeth, she wants you to talk about how you keep everything clean and not smelly. All of your triathlon equipment, your gear, your whatever-whatever. She didn't specify. I'm a little hurt, frankly, that she didn't assume that Jeff or I could talk about this. She specifically wanted Elizabeth.

Jeff: EJ has never smelt bad every single time I've hung out with her. So I think she's the appropriate one to answer this question.

Andrew: You know – this is a TMI for sure, and we're getting really off base, but it's a holiday episode, so whatever – like, an icebreaker for Andrew Harley – like if you're ever in those situations where they're like, “Oh, go around the room and say something quirky or interesting about yourself,” – one of my quirky anecdotes that I'll say now is Andrew Harley, host of the TriDot Podcast, I do not wear deodorant. And people are like, “Oh, really?” Have you ever smelled me? Have I ever smelled bad to you? And they're like, “Well, no, you smell fine.” Okay. Like somewhere along the way, I just stopped wearing deodorant and no one ever said anything. And anybody who learns that fact, my wife included, who's like, “Wait, you don't?” Like, yeah. Do I ever smell bad? “No, you don't.” Okay. Well, then I don't need the deodorant, apparently. Anyway, I'm getting us off topic a little bit. Regardless of how I smell, or how Jeff smells, this question is for Elizabeth straight from Christine. So Elizabeth, we're just going to say that you use your gear the most because that's absolutely true. So for how much you use your gear, tell us how you keep everything clean and not smelling?

Elizabeth: Alright, yeah. Well, I'll just kind of give a quick rundown of some top tips that I have in each area. And I think that'll be a good way to have people take something away from it. Maybe something they can use to help with their gear or the smells that inevitably come with training, unless you're Andrew Harley and just don't smell.

Jeff: Lucky.

Andrew: Now, my clothes smell. I will wash my clothes, but I, myself, I'm golden.

Elizabeth: Well, alright. So let's start with the swim. First thing here is that chlorine is damaging, not only to your gear, but also your skin and your hair. I am currently loving the TRIHARD products. So there's soap, shampoo, conditioner. I mean, I take that with me to the gym, wash my skin, wash my hair with it. I always rinse my swimsuit out right away, too, after getting out of the pool, just to take the chlorine out. And then, here's a key thing. I was talking to an athlete the other day, and they're like, “I don't even remember the last time I've washed my swimsuit.” And I'm like, “You mean like rinse it out, or wash it in the washing machine?” Like, your swimsuit can be washed, too. And it should be washed, too. Just because we get in the water with it doesn't mean it's clean. So the ‘pool bath’, like, that doesn't count as washing it. You need to wash your swimsuit, too. We'll start with that. Every once in a while, I'll go through and rinse my swim gear, as well. So the fins, the paddles, the buoy – again, chlorine is damaging to them. If you don't rinse those out once in a while, the chlorine can kind of eat away at the fins, can eat away at the swim caps. I always try to rinse out the swim cap and goggles. So rinse your stuff, rinse your body, wash your swimsuit. And I think that's a good synopsis there for the swim. For the bike –

Andrew: Love it. Yeah.

Elizabeth: Yeah. Your bike needs a bath too, okay. So you need to take a bath once you're done biking, and your bike needs a bath too. Not only from your sweat, but especially if you're riding outdoors, all of the dirt, the grime, the road yuckiness. And then the nutrition products that we use. I mean, especially if I'm using an aero bottle, and I'm going out for a ride where I'm practicing that, like, I tend to refill the aero bottle, and the refill gets all over the fork of the bike, and that's just nasty. So we need to make sure that the bike gets a bath too. And then rinse your helmet after riding. It is full of your sweat. A full bath with a little soap and water for the helmet straps and the helmet pads inside there, too; that's going to help. So yeah, a couple of things there with the bike, bike maintenance. And then water bottles, going back to using the aero bottle, especially the aero bottle straw. I have not – it just disgusts me, how quickly those things can mold. And when you're riding along with somebody else, and you look over, and they're using the aero bottle straw, and there's like black fuzz that's in it. I'm like, “Oh my gosh.”

Andrew: Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: Let's get that taken care of. So it’s like a little brush–

Andrew: Yuck. I'm never riding with anybody ever again after that.

Jeff: Andrew's bike smells worse than he does.

Andrew: That might be true. That might be true, actually. Yeah. Actually, for the bike specifically, a big hack for me, Elizabeth, that really changed it for me and how much I do wash and upkeep my bike, was getting a bike stand for at home.

Elizabeth: Yes. Oh, so glad you brought it up.

Andrew: I found one off Craigslist because I always wanted to wash my bike. I always wanted to clean the drivetrain. It's just like, oh man, hold it, prop it up against the wall, get the hose. And just getting a bike stand – whether you get a cheap one, or a good one, or a fancy one, whatever – that will just change the game for you on how easy it is to attend to your bike and how often you'll find yourself doing it because of that. Please continue, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: Oh yeah, no, 100% glad that you put that in there because same for me. I'm trying to think of other quick little tips. The Bottle Bright tablets for cleaning the bottles are fantastic. Like, the sneaker balls, or dryer sheets, to help capture the moisture and reduce odors for both your bike and run shoes, those are great. Your gym bag. I think this is one of the things that people forget about. You're putting all that stinky stuff in there day after day; rinse out your gym bag. Throw a couple dryer sheets in there, too. That’s important. After a while, that'll smell. And then for the home gym, having stuff nearby – obviously locked away, kept away, especially if you've got pets or young kids so they don't get into it – but having Clorox wipes, having a mop nearby, run the fan a little bit longer in the workout room after you're done just to help.

Andrew: Yeah, great point.

Elizabeth: Yeah, those are good things, too. So a couple of tips there, in terms of reducing the stink.

Andrew: Yup. Love all of that. Our friends from 2Tom's have their stink-free spray, and I do have a bottle of that. I'll spritz that in the shoes, and the cycling shoes that are on the indoor trainer, in my helmet. Still do what Elizabeth said. Still wash those items properly every so often, but that is something that does help. Coach Jeff, I'm going to throw our last main set athlete question over to you. We have time for one more, and this comes from TriDot ambassador Beth. She wants to know: “Is there any reason to not use Speedplay Zero Cleats? Because I would appreciate being able to walk in my shoes without damaging my cleats.” And for people who are familiar, largely in the cleat and pedal market, there's three options. There's the Look KEO option, there's a Speedplay option, and there's the TIME option. Speedplay are the ones that you can walk the best in, from my understanding. I have not used Speedplay personally, but I'm somewhat familiar with differences between all three. Maybe we should do a podcast episode where we get into the specifics of these kind of gear choices for cycling. But for today, Coach Jeff, what is your opinion on Speedplay Zero Cleats?

Jeff: Yeah, I think this is a great question, Beth. This is actually a new product – what she's referring to is a brand new product that has been released by Speedplay. And actually, I would argue, that Speedplay are the hardest to walk in, but the reputation is that they have the greatest adjustability. Or, also, if you have to make an adjustment and you unscrew one screw, the whole thing doesn't shift around. So their adjustability is great, but walking around in Speedplay has had a bad rap. So I think that’s kind of the overarching consensus. Speedplay has been out a long time. They're great – a very popular product. Years ago, they came out with a cleat cover that helps cover up some of the cleat on the bottom of the shoe, but the disc or the circle section is still open. And so running around on concrete – or walking into that gas station, that Reinhart said earlier, on a ride – you can slip around and fall. And also, they're easily damaged – the scuffing, the steel plate and things on the bottom. And so there's a new product, that is not the traditional cleat cover that you can add on, but there is, actually now, this cleat Speedplay Zero cover that goes on, kind of plugs up that, and covers it up on the race while you're riding. So BikeRadar has great reviews of the pedal in general, the cleat in general, the old cleat cover, and now also this new Speedplay Zero. And I took some great info from this review. So feel free to go find that, Google that, on BikeRadar, Beth. But anyways, the Speedplay pedals are slightly lighter than other brands, but they're super slippery, actually. And some complain about falling and not being able to walk confidently, lets say, because of the metal plate. And there's actually four screws under there, as well. Many have also reported that the hardware wears out a little bit quicker than competitors by walking around in it. So the old cleat cover has been out for a while, but the rim of the cleat is still left open in that hole. It can still cause slippery walking. So this new cleat – I guess the cons, there's actually 15 pieces. So if you put it all together – and I think the consensus is – so, compared to Shimano, there's 7 pieces, and so this new Zero, called the Aero Walkable Cleat, has 15 pieces – it actually is heavier overall now. So Speedplay, in general, is lighter than competitors, but with this new Zero Aero Walkable cleat, it has 15 pieces, more pieces, it is heavier now, and it does cost more. But, but, but – we're only talking 70 grams up to about 136 now, so it almost doubles – 60, 70 grams, if that's worth it to you. But it is kind of a headache to install. But the consensus, and the review outcome, was basically like, once you know your fit is perfect in them, they are amazing. And once it's installed well, and you're using them, you can run around in transition. You don't slip. You're actually the opposite. You're more confident running around in them. The only downside would be, is they're slightly heavier on race day, slightly heavier, but outside of that, once they're set, you can run well in them. But also, you can take them on and off very easily. So using them day-to-day – if they're a hair heavier, a little bit harder to install – but once you set it all up, it's definitely worth it. And if you're worried about a little bit of weight, you can take those out on race day. Now, if you know that your transition's long, and you're going to run around hobbling in your shoes, yeah, you may want to put those on. So we're talking about 15 pieces instead of 7. We're talking about 136 grams instead of 70. And about a $55 price point to have those little caps, I'll call them. But what's fun, also, is that you can get them in lots of different colors, and you can kind of spruce up the bottom of your shoes, as well. So there's definitely pros and cons, but, I think, more pros. And once you have them installed, once you have them all set up, and you're confident in your bike fit and cleat placement, I think the consensus is definitely go for it if you are a Speedplay fan.

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

Andrew: Alright, welcome to the Cool Down of today's episode. Our editor, Sarah Burney, specifically was like, “Hey, let's – while we have these great coaches on, last show of the year – let's have one of them give us our Coach Cool Down Tip of the Week.” And of my coaches on the show today, Jeff Raines is wearing a Santa hat. So because of that, and because of that only, I'm going to have Jeff Raines close our show down with a Coach Cool Down Tip of the Week. Jeff, we've given so much good info today. This does not have to be long, but leave our people, as we close 2024, with one last Coach Cool Down Tip of the Week. It can be swim, bike, run, nutrition, strength, functional movement, off-season, pre-season, race scheduling, you name it. Whatever you want to say, Jeff, what is something you want to leave our audience with today?

Jeff: First, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. And what I will say is, as we are developing our fitness for 2025, and most of us are largely in the developmental phase, I would just gain that fitness, gain that strength on the equipment you're going to use for 2025 and your upcoming season. So if you're going to get any new toys, any new cranks, any new gears, go ahead and get them sooner rather than later, so that the fitness you're gaining day-to-day, month-to-month, you can be gaining that fitness on the actual equipment you're going to be using. So don't rush out and buy something new or big right before your race, thinking it's going to give you marginal gains, because all the fitness you gained may not be translated to that new entity immediately. So get used to the new toys now, not later.

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.

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