TriDot Podcast .225

Your Questions Answered: Smarter Strength Sessions,Aerodynamic Advantages,
The Benefits of Different Swim Strokes, & More

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

Vanessa Ronksley: Welcome to the show, everybody! We have reachedepisode .225, so let's all do a little happy dance. No one else is happydancing? Oh, there we go! Every 25 episodes we dedicate the show to asking apanel of our coaches questions from you, the athletes in our audience. I've gotthree incredible TriDot coaches here to help us out: pro triathlete and TriDotCoach Elizabeth James; I have TriDot Coach, TriDot Business Coach, and CoachConnect Advisor, Ryan Tibble; and we also have with us TriDot Coach and staffmember Joanna Nami. There is so much knowledge on this panel. I am pumped toask them your questions. EJ, Jo, Ryan, thank you so much for joining me onEpisode .225!

Elizabeth James: Vanessa, it is so good to be here. I can'tbelieve we're already at .225, it's been an amazing few years. Really excitedfor another episode that is dedicated to our listener questions.

Joanna Nami: Yes, Vanessa, thanks so much for having me. I'm super psyched to behere with three of my fave people. This should be an awesome episode!

Ryan Tibble: Yeah, you know what, Vanessa? I am still happy dancing! So excited tobe here to assist our listeners in their triathlon journey. 225, unbelievable,so thank you, Vanessa.

Vanessa: I'mVanessa, your Average Triathlete with Elite-Level Enthusiasm! As always, we'llroll through our warm up question, settle in for our main set conversation, andthen wind things down with our cooldown. Lots of good stuff, let's get to it!

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

Vanessa: Inhonor of this “Ask Your Questions'' episode, I thought it would be perfect ifwe used a warmup question that was actually submitted from one of our TriDotathletes. Thanks goes out to TriDot Ambassador Emily Cloughly for this one. Thequestion is, “What is something you do during a race that you wouldn't dootherwise?” Ryan, let's go to you first.

Ryan:Oh no, no, no, no. Alright, can I plead the Fifth on this one? You're gonnamake me go first? Because honestly, I'm probably the absolute worst, with allyou ladies here. I mean I've heard it before, guys just gross people out. I'mjust going to leave it right here, and let's just say my racing shoes are notallowed in my house. Monica just won't allow it. I'm gonna stop right there.

Joanna:I love it, Ryan.

Elizabeth: We have to infer what that means. Yeah.

Ryan:Absolutely.

Joanna:I love it, Ryan. But I challenge you, I think women are as gross on the Ironmancourse as men, and pleading the Fifth. My sister will ask me, “Did you use theporta potties?” And I'm like, “I didn't visit a restroom for 12 hours.” So thenyou can assume what's going on on the race course. Or if you do have to use aporta potty, I think back to years where I was eating a gel in a porta potty. Imean, that's the thing with my daily life. There becomes circumstances whereit's an emergency, and you're multitasking.

Ryan:Best use of time, I agree.

Elizabeth: Man, I tell you what, Emily, really opened up a box of worms here. Thiscould be an interesting response, not only from us, but from the audience aswell. I think in general, when you're racing, all cleanliness rules go out thewindow. I think there are quite a few things that I do in racing that you wouldnever find me doing otherwise. I'd like to think that for the most part mypersonal hygiene habits are pretty good. But let's think about eating food fromour hands that were covered in lake water, and then sweat, and grabbing thatfood from an aid station that somebody else also touched that probably used theporta potty and didn't wash their hands afterwards. This is just kind ofgrossing me out right now too. Like, ew.

Joanna:Not me. Not me, you're fine.

Elizabeth: Yeah, totally gross. Plenty of things that I think we all do racingthat we would not in our daily lives. And you know, we wonder why a number ofus get sick after racing, huh?

Vanessa: I'mtaking this question in a totally different direction. Mine has nothing to dowith cleanliness, but I can assure you that wearing a spandex onesie is notsomething that I do on a regular basis. But I don't know, maybe I should startjust –

Elizabeth: Really, Vanessa? Yeah, we just gotta put that in your daily life now!

Vanessa: Right,well, do you dare me to wear my race kit somewhere random and see what people'sreactions are?

Joanna:Yeah! It's fashion, Vanessa!

Vanessa: It’sfashion. I think I might have to wait for the current -47°C cold snap to stopbefore I wear a onesie.

Elizabeth: Well, then you just wear your wetsuit wherever you go!

Ryan:Bingo, pick your kids up in your wetsuit!

Vanessa: Allright, I could do that. Okay, I'm going to give it a try, actually, see how itholds up in the cold weather. Let's throw this one out to the people. Make sureyou are a part of the I AM TriDot Facebook group, and put your answers in the comments of thewarmup question post. According to how this went with our fabulous coacheshere, I am really looking forward to reading all of your answers.

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

Vanessa: Triedout pool school is the best way for triathletes to learn proper swim form, andit's now the official swim program of Ironman. The TriDot coaching team spentyears on the pool deck crafting functional freestyle, and it has already helpedhundreds of triathletes improve their swim by an average of 12%. As soon as anathlete registers for TriDot Pool School, they are given access to the TriDotAcademy, where a series of dry-land exercises helped build crucial musclememory long before the in-person weekend. The weekend workshop is an engagingblend of instruction, demonstrations and drills, with frequent breaks to restand reflect. You'll be grouped with swimmers of similar ability, and taughtstep-by-step how to turn your muscle memory into full-stroke swimming that issmooth and fast. TriDot Pool School is for everyone. We've had entry-leveltriathletes, back-of-the-packers, mid-packers, some elite age-groupers, andeven a couple pro triathletes. Ready to jump in? There are Pool Schools availableall over the country and around the world. Head to tridot.com/pool-school and sign up today.

Realquestions from real TriDot athletes. Let's get to these questions! Athletequestion #1 here on Episode .225 comes from Patrick Macedo. Patrick asks, “Swimworkouts are primarily freestyle. Does that make us more prone to swimmers’shoulders? I've been having pain in a certain area, and my chiropractorsuggested adding backstroke to see if that helps.”

Joanna:Yeah, I'll take that one. That's definitely true. As triathletes we'll look atour workouts, and primarily or solely it's freestyle that we are swimming,which greatly affects our posture as well as the positions we hold on a bike.As far as riding in aero, we're very closed off. There isn't any chest opening,and that can cause some serious pain in the upper lower back, it affectsshoulder mobility, it affects our overall posture. So for those of my athletesthat can do backstroke, it is something that I do incorporate into theirtraining. Varying the strokes, breaststroke – I’m not gonna throw a butterflyin there, that's going to really give everybody a panic attack – but doingbackstroke essentially reverses the motions that we're doing in freestyle. Itis a chest-opener. But for those that cannot do backstroke, there are a lot ofother options, and I encourage people – yoga practice, I’m always gonna talkabout it – but doing “upward facing dog”, doing “camel”, a lot of those open upthe chest. And even if you don't know those, I tell my athletes, at least threetimes a week to take that foam roller, lay on your back, align that foam rollervertically down your spine, and just let your arms open up. You can do thiswatching TV. You don't need to hold it for 20 minutes, you might freeze likethat. Or just standing in a door frame with “cactus arms” and putting pressureagainst your hands, that will open up your chest. All of those things help toreinforce better posture, bring the shoulders back, and alleviate some of thosepainful areas that we get from holding those positions so much in training.

Vanessa: Youknow, I love that suggestion of the vertical foam roller. I like to do that onan exercise ball as well, just lay on the exercise ball. It feels somagnificent.

Elizabeth: I'm with you there, Vanessa. That's what I do too, it feels so good. Ijust wanted to jump in here and say as well, because my coach says backstrokeis physical therapy for the shoulders, and she will include it in almost all ofmy warmup and cooldown segments for a swim set. The other thing, and I lovethat you mentioned this Jo, it's not just swimming that is putting us in thiskind of forward-rolled position and might impact the shoulders, but a lot ofthe other things that we're doing on a daily basis, not only in sport, but evenjust hunched over our computers, looking at our phones on a daily basis. Sothings that promote overall shoulder health and mobility are super important.Looking ahead at some of the questions, it looks like we might get intomobility a little bit more, so I won't go on a five-minute rant about why weshould all be doing that. But I will say that swimming all four strokes canactually be a really good thing to promote overall shoulder health. I mean,swimming is a very low-impact exercise, so it actually will put less stress andstrain on the shoulders compared to other activities such as heavyweight-lifting. So by swimming all four of these different swim strokes, youalso are engaging and utilizing muscle groups in different ways, which willhelp strengthen and develop that wide range of muscles around the shoulder aswell. So swimming different strokes is a wonderful thing, I think astriathletes we get really stuck in freestyle, freestyle, freestyle. But if you talkto anybody that has been in a swim program for a number of years, they do allfour strokes for a variety of reasons, even if they are only racing one stroke.And that would be something good for us in the triathlon community toincorporate as well.

Vanessa: Movingalong to question #2 from Caleb Spreiter, “Our devices track all sorts ofmetrics. Stride length, left-right balance, ground contact time, stroke rate.Which ones should we monitor that would indicate red flags in our form,efficiency, etcetera?” Ryan, let's go to you for this one. Which metrics aremost important for us to pay attention to?

Ryan:Great question from Caleb there. There are a ton of metrics, from our Garmindevices or any of our devices. You can get a ton of these that he justmentioned, plus If you have a Stryd power meter, you can get additional onesthat are very valuable. It certainly can confuse many athletes. So really, I dowant to narrow this down because I could say, “Yes, all of them of course, weshould flag them all.” But no. I'm going to break it down into disciplineshere, starting with the swimming. Stroke rate in swimming is definitely a greatmetric to look at. There is a ton of research that supports stroke rates from40 to 65 per minute for the average age-grouper. Basically that's about 1 to 1½seconds per stroke. You can safely say anything below 40 is not going to bevery efficient. But depending on the intent of the speed – for example ifyou're sprinting, your stroke rate will go higher and can definitely exceed 65strokes per minute. Now moving into the biking, you can get a ton of metricshere, and this is the fun part. If you have dual-sided power pedals, this isvery, very useful. Looking at that left-right balance, as Caleb mentioned,along with the platform center offset, the PCO. It's not pico like you wouldhave in Texas with your chips. It is “platform center offset”. These are greatmetrics to look at, and seeing a large discrepancy, especially in thatleft-right balance like a plus or minus 2, that should be raising flags. Asyou, as an athlete, as a coach, you should be looking at that and saying, “Hey,we've got this huge imbalance. What is going on right now?” Is there a lack ofmobility work that hasn't been done, lack of strength, etcetera? You know,mobility in the ankles, the knees, the hips, those kinds of things cancertainly be revealed here with those left-right balances. So truthfully, doingthat strength work, that mobility, and keeping consistent in that is definitelygoing to promote valuable changes for your athletes. Now, talking about thatplatform center offset in your pedals being off could indicate a need for abike fit, for example. If you've never had a bike fit before, you need to goget one, because that platform offset has to do with your cleat placement, howthe cleat is even angled on your shoe can certainly affect that, and then alsoaffect your efficiency and your pedal strokes. So those are some good ones tolook at on the bike. Now again, I head right back into mobility and strengthwork to address that. Then moving into the run, that is another left-rightbalance. Looking at that, is there something off. Again, a good gauge is plusor minus 2 is cause for concern, and it should be addressed in the same fashionas I mentioned about the bike. Cadence is great as well. In running, try tokeep that cadence in the 170 to 180 range, is a pretty safe range for mostpeople, and in general is a good place. It will oftentimes also help improvewhat many see and look at in their Garmin metrics which is ground contact time.They see that GCT or that vertical oscillation. So cadence will definitelyimprove those metrics, that ground contact time and that vertical oscillation.Think of it this way – ground contact time, time on the ground, that's whereyou're doing work, that's where the most work is happening. When both your feetare in the air, you're not doing much work. Versus vertical movement, that'sthe up and down. Which direction are you trying to go? I like to say thatstatement, “You're trying to go forward, not upwards.” So those things you canlook at, very helpful metrics as an athlete and coach to look at.

Vanessa: Ithink you've done a very good job of covering those as quickly as possible.There's a lot to unpack there, so thanks for doing that. Question #3 issomething that we all need to pay attention to mostly, and it comes fromLindsey Anne. Lindsey asks, “What are some tips and tricks for washing ourbeloved gear, especially because it can get funky.” Bike shoes, run shoes,goggles, bike gloves, tri bags, bento boxes, aero helmets. All of it can getpretty gross if we don't take care of it. So EJ, what do you think for thisone? You're the queen of cleanliness, so I think you need to start off.

Elizabeth: I'm glad you clarified there, because I'm like, “Man, should I beoffended that you're throwing this question over to me? Is this a compliment?”

Elizabeth: It's a compliment. Yeah, absolutely.

Ryan:EJ, I think I think Vanessa asking you is probably the best, because I'd havethe shortest answer, like, “Huh? What?” I don't know anyways.

Elizabeth: All right, well I do have a lot of tips here. First thing I would say,go buy yourself some 2Toms StinkFree spray, and 2Toms detergent. It isfantastic. Seriously guys, this is great stuff. Couple tips with using that,spray your bike and your run shoes after you use them. Wash the bike gloves inthe detergent. Those are great things just to get us started. A couple othertips that I employ on a regular basis would include rotating your runningshoes. If you are using the same pair of running shoes day-in and day-out, theyprobably are not fully dry by the time you go to use them for that nextsession. If they're not fully dried, you are just kind of accumulating theopportunity for more bacteria to grow there. So by rotating your shoes, you're notonly going to prolong the life of those running shoes in terms of thecushioning and the support they provide, but also your spouse probably won'tget to the point where they're like, “Hey, those just need to go in the trashbecause they smell so bad.” Then along the lines of running shoes, drying yourshoes out in the sun, as that's available as well. After a particularly sweatyrun session I will rinse my shoes in water, oftentimes just outside with thehose, I'll spray it with the 2Toms StinkFree spray, and then I will place themoutdoors. The reason that I do this is because sunlight is a naturaldisinfectant. So the sunlight will help kill any remaining bacteria, and thatbacteria is what will cause the bad odor in the shoes as well. Then just to makethem smell even a little bit more lovely, I'll put a dryer sheet in my shoes. Ido that with my cycling shoes, with my running shoes, in between uses as well.For the tri bag, I think the biggest thing here is to clean it out regularly.As you're listening here, just ask yourself when is the last time you literallytook everything out of your tri bag and cleaned it out? I think the answerwould gross most of us out, probably back to like the nastiness in the warmupquestion there, we probably don't want to know the answer for many of you onthe last time you actually cleaned that out. But do that regularly, I meanreally, like once a week. Take everything out. Depending on what material yourbag is, some of them can be washed in the washing machine. I just use a Cloroxwipe and wipe out the inside of my bag. Sometimes I'll just put it in the tubwith some of the 2Toms detergent, and then just rinse it out after that. Butjust make sure that you don't have clothes that are still in there, food crumbsthat are in there from all of our nutrition and snacks. That's really going tohelp keep that odor away too. The bento box, man, I'm so glad that she put thison there, because that is another nasty area. Remove the bento box from thebike if you can. I know some of them are a little trickier and are actuallyscrewed onto the bike. Make sure that you have an Allen wrench where you cantake the bento box off. For my bento box, mine goes in the dishwasher. So afterI'm done with a weekend ride, I will just use the Allen wrenches, I’ll take thebento box off, put it in the dishwasher, make sure that it's all good and dry,and then just use the Allen wrenches to put it back on. I'm good for the nextweekend ride and putting some nutrition in there. Then last couple things,don't leave your gear in the washing machine. This is probably one that I'm theworst about, just because it gets away from me and I’m doing too many thingsduring the day. But once the washing cycle is complete, make sure that you'removing your gear quickly from the washing machine right into the dryer, or to aplace to dry it if it doesn't go in the dryer. Leaving it sit too long in thewashing machine, even though it's been cleaned, can still cause bacteria togrow because it's sitting there wet, and then that leads to bad odors, whichjust completely disregards everything you were trying to do by putting it inthe washing machine anyway. Okay, then helmet – I rinse out my helmet afteralmost every ride. And if you can take the padding out of the helmet as well,that's really where the sweat is captured. So that's another thing that you canjust put in the sink, use some of that 2Toms detergent for. Some of the paddingyou are able to put in the washing machine, most of the time I just do a littlehand wash in the sink. Then finally, store the gear properly. Whatever you'vewashed and dried, make sure it's fully dry, and then you want to store it in acool dry place. Again, if you just keep it dry and it's clean, that's going tobe the biggest two things to help fight that growth of bacteria that causes thebad odors.

Joanna:I've never felt so dirty in my entire life.

Vanessa: Iwas thinking the same thing.

Joanna:Ryan, are we, like, just repulsive triathletes?

Ryan:Yeah, I think so. I learned a lot of things just right there, Coach EJ. I knewthe ladies would come through for me here. Honestly, you just saved my preciouswife. She’ll be like, “Oh my God, he's suddenly clean! What is going on? Wheredid he learn this?” Well, I can tell her. Y'all are allowed to feel sorry forher, it’s perfectly fine.

Joanna:I'm amazed, EJ. I'm taking notes here. I mean, I'm the worst about taking mybike shoes and dipping them into our backyard swimming pool, and my husband'slike, “Do not do that! That's disgusting!” And I'm like, “Well, it's chlorine!”Then they'll dry out in the sun. The dryer sheets are great. That's an easyone, because we're all strapped for time. I love the idea of the Clorox wipesto have handy. If you can't do all the rest, at least you can wipe everythingout, and to put stuff outside to dry in the sun is key. I do that with mykiddos’ sports equipment too. We think that our stuff gets funky, there is noway to even describe what occurs in that situation.

Vanessa: Ithink this was basically a master class on cleanliness. Thank you so much forall of that. For me, when I have a particularly hard, sweaty session, Iactually jump into the shower with all of my gear on and do a little pre-washbefore I actually put it into the washing machine. I find that it just takesout some of the excess nastiness before putting it into the washing machine.

Joanna:That's how we save our swimsuits, too. If you shower in them and just useshower gel, soap or whatever. The swimsuits really wear out fast due tochlorine and saltwater pools and open water swimming. So if you could shower inyour swimsuit, you're getting two things done at once.

Vanessa: Yeah,absolutely. And also there's tons of protocols online for adding things intoyour washing machine like Borax, baking soda, vinegar. I've heard you can addvinegar in to take some of that stink out of your workout gear. So just do aquick little Google search on that, you can find a whole ton of stuff.

Allright, let's get to question #4 from Karen Drummond, “I read an article aboutthe aero effects our bottles have on the bike, based on where we put them andtheir shape. What tips do they have to carry everything, but still be consciousof aero? They test this stuff on the pros. For the average age-grouper orback-of-the-packer, does it really have much of an effect? Are we riding atspeeds that make a difference?”

Ryan:I'll take this one here. That's a great question from Karen, and you couldprobably spend an entire podcast talking about it for sure. I do want to keepit fairly simple here though, and kind of stay high level with it. We won'ttalk about CDA, you see that in your RaceX predictions. What that stands for iscoefficient of drag, involving the wind, your equipment, and your body,etcetera. I'm going to leave that one out of here and really begin with -- mostaerodynamic measurements made by companies is measured at industry standards of40 to 50 kilometers per hour – I know Vanessa can appreciate that metric systemplug right there – so what that equates to is 25 to 30 mph. You do have manyoptions when it comes to placement of your bottles on your bikes, and nutritionfor that matter. Up front in between your aero bars, there's many makers thatmake some pretty good aero bottles. You have that torpedo, you have the otherones from other makers, that again are designed for that. Then your bottleholders inside of your frame, down the down tube or in the diagonal tube of thebike frame. With that bike blocking half of the drag, that's going to helpthere in that section. Then behind the seat you've got options, one or twobottle holders back there you can always add to your bike set up, those arereally beneficial. But let me advise on that, you definitely want to bepracticing pulling from the back end of your bike. I've advised that manytimes, it's a good practice even to do it indoors on your bike trainer. Putthose bottles in their places and utilize them. But I digress, I do want to goback to where you put your nutrition. These newer bikes are coming in withthese built-in pockets, really nice. You can also get that bento box thatyou've washed and cleaned so well and reloaded it. You can put that right therebehind the stem, and that's where you can keep some of that stuff. Also on yourbody, in your back pockets or even any pockets on your body. But again I’mgoing to say, having a great bike fit for aerodynamics without sacrificingbeing comfortable – because nobody wants to ride a bike uncomfortably forthree, five, eight hours. Even though they were super aerodynamic, they may getoff the bike and they were uncomfortable, and running is going to be reallyhard. So to really summarize all this, you're going to have larger gains forthe average age-grouper or back-of-the-packer by getting that good bike fit.Add in a good aero helmet. Start there, and then you can add those wheelslater. This will continue to give you those small incremental gains. And justremember, the next time you're riding against the wind though – I just racedrecently in Waco, and we had about 26 or 28 miles of straight-up headwind, andit was very evident that staying aero as long as I could, no matter how slow Iwas moving, was very beneficial. So a good bike fit, staying aero, willdefinitely help the average back-of-the-packer and age-grouper.

Vanessa: Let'smove along to question #5 from Sarah Barr, “How should we practice terrainmanagement on the bike while we follow our prescribed workouts? Going a littleharder on the uphills ruins our NTS, yet pushing it on the downhill isn't hardenough. But increasing our power by 5 to 10% on the uphill and not coasting thedownhill is a better way to race.” So first of all, I just have to say thatthere is an entire episode called “Conquering Climbs Like a Champ”, I thinkit's Episode 181. But EJ, what do you think about this one?

Elizabeth: Yeah, I feel like we get to use our standard answer here, we had toinclude it at least once in this episode, and that would be, “It depends.” Itreally does depend, and I'll elaborate on that a little bit further. The bestthing to do is to hit the workout as closely as prescribed. The second bestthing to do is to look at the purpose of the workout, and make sure that you'recapturing the true intent of the training session. Even if you are on terrainthat is changing, or if your intervals or the minutes spent in each particularzone isn't going to be 100% identical to the way that training session wasoutlined. A couple of tips that I give to my coached athletes when we'relooking at riding outdoors, and still adhering to the training session asclosely as prescribed, is first plan your route ahead of time. Take a look atthe terrain, the elevation changes that you'll be encountering on this ride,and start to map that out. This is going to help you mentally prepare for howyou're going to execute that training session based on the intervals that youhave, and the terrain that you'll be facing during that ride. Then the otherthing is to use your gears. Just because you're going up a hill, doesn't meanthat you absolutely have to smash it. You can certainly put that in an easiergear, increase your cadence and just kind of spin up the hill. Just becauseyou're going uphill doesn't mean that you're going to absolutely just goanaerobic with it. Now it certainly depends – and that's where “it depends”comes in – on the grade of the hill. There might be hills where you really areunable to stay within Zone 2 – if that's where you were supposed to be in theworkout – without just literally tipping over, because the elevation grade isso steep. So obviously safety first, let's not fall over, but let's try toadhere to the workout. One of the things that I like to do is, when I'm lookingahead at the ride that I have in terms of the intervals and the terrain thatI'll be on, is just thinking where in the route the main set is going to bemost appropriate. So for example, if I have 3 x 12 minutes at threshold withina ride session, that 3 x 12 may not be exactly 20 minutes after the warmupwhere it was prescribed in the workout. Maybe I need to get through a couplestop lights, or maybe I need to conquer some of those rolling hills and thenget to a flatter section where I can do the 3 x 12 as per the training session,so that I'm not really spiking the NTS or I'm actually meeting NTS that I wassupposed to for that session. So there's a lot of things here, and I feel likethe “it depends” answer is still a little bit vague, but also most appropriate.Because we want to try to hit those sessions, but – and this is the last thingthat I'll say with this one – Sarah also mentioned, when we're racing, it isn'tnecessarily appropriate to just coast down the hills, and absolutely I agree.One of the things that you also need to consider is where you are in proximityto your next race, when you're coming into these sessions as well. Do you needto practice riding hilly terrain, and really managing your effort, and lookingat that secondary metric of what your heart rate is doing while you are on aride like this. Yeah, sometimes the power is going to be variable, but whenwe're looking at managing our effort and really looking at riding efficiently,sometimes we also need to look at that secondary metric with heart rate, evenif it's not going to land us in the perfect buckets where those power zonesland. It's an important skill to have as we're coming up to a race as well. SoSarah, love that you're riding outdoors, continue to do that. There's so muchbenefit in learning how to change gears, manage your effort, bike handlingskills, practicing your nutrition outdoors. So do the best that you can, planyour routes ahead of time, maybe adjust where those efforts are going to be,and then keep riding efficiently to prepare for races, because that's going toget you your best split.

Vanessa: Thatwas a phenomenal answer, I just have to say. Again, you're giving us masterclass after master class here, EJ, first in cleanliness, and then bike ridingin the hills. That was fabulous. I think we're going to go straight fromclimbing hills to strength training, which is another form of getting thosemuscles firing. So let's hit this up with a strength training double header forQuestion 6 and Question 7. Ronnie Meyer Calder submitted Question #6, “I tendto get lots of aches and pains during training, so in the offseason I addedstrength training three times a week. But now I've upped my training even alittle bit, all my old pains are still coming back. Aching hips, knees, footissues. Do you have any advice on how to keep these pains in check? What am Imissing? Thanks.” So Ryan, you're our CrossFit guru, so let's have you tacklethis one first.

Ryan:Sure. Yeah, I do love this question from Ronnie. I also love hearing thattriathletes are doing their strength work, and that's so, so important, guys.

Elizabeth: I think we need another little happy dance there, for triathletes doingtheir strength work.

Ryan:Absolutely. Aw man, just increasing the longevity of our lives in the sporthelps a ton. I definitely emphasize mobility, flexibility, so we're talkinglike yoga, doing mobility work. I'm a huge fan of using lacrosse balls to helpwith my mobility, and doing that strength work as well in combination with thetraining that we’re doing. Our training is intense, right? It's daily, it's soinvolved. But mobility is a means of unlocking range of motion. I won't revealmy source who said that, but let's just say a really good man has said thatbefore. As triathletes, we are a sagittal-plane beast. We just move in astraight line forward, so there's very little side-to-side movement in oursport. And we do need our range of motion and strength in other planes to makeus whole. So it's important to address that. In our week-to-week workouts wehave those strength sessions there. They are built for you as athletes usingour platform. That's what I love about it. Also I will say Ronnie, you mightwant to take a look at your diet as another place, to see perhaps if you’remissing something on the macro level, or on the micro level. Talk to anutritionist, that might be a great place to go as well, just to cover thosebases. I will add, as a medical professional, I would advise to consult asports-minded physician to do a good once-over systems check. Check the oillevels in your body, those kinds of things, and make sure things are lookinggood there. I've really addressed several opportunities that you can and shoulddo as athletes, just to make sure everything is in check, and that you're notsolely relying on, “Well, aches and pains are just happening because I'm notdoing mobility.” Well, maybe it's something else. Maybe it's diet, maybe it'ssomething in the bloodwork. I don't know, but I just want to bring that upfront as well.

Joanna:Ryan, I think that's really great. The one thing I notice, there's such a vastamount of questions I get from athletes on what strength exercises, or whatmobility exercises they should be doing. So if an athlete can take a littletime to get evaluated by a chiro or PT as to finding out what muscle imbalancesthey have, because it's so easy to look on YouTube and say, “Oh, I'm gonna dothis yoga session.” Or, “Everything says yoga for runners, flexibility work forrunners, mobility work for runners.” But it may not be the correct exercisesfor them. So get the evaluation, just to make sure you're not wasting atremendous amount of time doing what you think is the correct mobility work allweek long, and it's really not working on the areas that are causing thoseaches and pains. I know I work with a chiropractor who's fantastic. After fiveminutes of being in there she's like, “Oh, this is what's going on.” And it'ssuch a relief to know that you have somebody that's working on your physicalhealth and helping you to correct those imbalances.

Vanessa: Ithink something that you mentioned here, Jo, that is really important is makingsure that you're seeking the advice of some kind of professional. I know frommy own physiotherapist, he always tells me it's okay to come into a PT or aphysiotherapist when you're not experiencing pain, so that they can actuallyassess your imbalances prior to you developing some kind of issue. A lot ofpeople will go to these practitioners as a reactionary measure, like somethingis hurting, but it's actually okay to go in before something comes up for you.So yeah, thanks for mentioning that.

Nowour second strength question comes from Alexandra Stirling, and it's kind ofalong the same lines. “I'm trying to add strength training, aiming to liftheavier to offset menopause-related muscle loss. How to best incorporate thisinto TriDot training?” Let's go to Coach Jo for this one.

Joanna:There's so much here. This could be four episodes, and we've already touched ona lot of this in episodes. I feel like we're just on the brink of understandingso much more about menopause transition. And when we're in perimenopause, whatdoes that look like for our training? For myself, I did a lot of working onthis over the last year or two, and hired a strength coach that would highlyencourage me to lift big weights. And I know Ryan's gonna say that, he knowsthat at a certain age, we can't be afraid to throw around some big weights. Iwas afraid to do that. I got in a bad rut of doing the same strength routinefor probably 15 years that wasn't helping me, and wasn't protecting me frominjury, and wasn't protecting my bone density. So in working with him –shout-out to Brady Hoover who has done an incredible strength program for me –but he also is realistic in how we spend our time each week and how busy weare. So incorporating three to four shorter strength sessions that focus onalmost full-body strength, but there's a big emphasis on core strength andstability. So find a specialist who will start with you building a foundation,building that core strength, and assign you exercises that work with your levelof mobility. As women – I’m not going to say “older women” one time on thispodcast. I'm not saying that, okay? I'm just not gonna say it. But our“seasoned female athletes”, often we do have some mobility restrictions, andeven the guys I coach will have some mobility restrictions. Having someone lookat you while you try to do these exercises – I mean, it was laughable. I'm inmy office and Brady’s like, “I want you to do this squat,” and he literallylaughed out loud. I was like, “That's not funny to laugh at me,” but it showedthat if I'm not able to do it correctly, I'm not going to get the benefit ofthe exercise. So he had me work and build a foundation where I could then squatproperly, or do a correct pushup, and I could increase weight. I needed thoseheavy weights. I needed more loaded exercises, and in doing that, I'm going toreach all these benefits that women that are going through menopause transitionneed to have. So I know Ryan's going to add to this, but the heavier liftinghelps to maintain bone density, it avoids common injuries that women oftenhave. There's a lot of aches in knees, hips, and that will lead to the feetinjuries that we are seeing. I don't know the numbers offhand, but I waslooking at even female collegiate athletes are 33% more likely to get ACL injuriesor hip injuries than male athletes. And that runs all the way up through womenthrough our seasoned female athletes. So we have to be more aware, and we haveto take the time to do the strength and mobility work that we need so that wecan have longevity in the sport. Ryan, are you going to add on that?

Ryan:Yeah, absolutely, Jo. I one hundred percent echo what you just said. I thinkthat is fantastic information. And we were just at USAT Endurance Exchange thispast week, and the speaker, Selene Yeager, said “lift heavy stuff”. I'm justgoing to leave it at that. She said another word, but nonetheless she reallyemphasized that in the perimenopausal/menopausal life stage. She's the coauthorof “Roar”, and “Next Level”. Great information there that she shared with us,and Jo, absolutely fantastic there. Hundred percent.

Joanna:It's amazing. One thing that I noticed over my years of coaching, and I'm sureall three of you will agree, is often you'll have an ache or a pain and youthink, “Oh, I need chiro treatment, I need massage, I need the Theragun. I needthis, I need that.” Then you'll go do a pretty tough strength session, and it'samazing that your back doesn't hurt the next day. And it's often that I thinkwe need to activate those muscles, make them work, break them down a bit, buildthem back up. It starts to correct some of those areas that cause us the mosttrouble.

Vanessa: Question #7 is from Vincent Hounsome, “Are swimming zones calculated as apercent of CSS, and then the same for everyone? Does TriDot look at theefficiency of a swimmer based on speed and heart rate? I really struggle toswim in Zone 2, it's just too slow. I have to slow my stroke rate down, notpush off the wall, and turn like turning at a buoy to stay in Zone 2. My maxheart rate is about 110. Zone 1 sometimes seems to add up if you're justresting in between sets, so not a problem.” Jo, what do you think for this one?

Joanna:The one thing I always want to emphasize is, we have a lot of newer triathletesthat listen to the podcast, and I want to make sure that we're alwaysexplaining what some of these terms are. There are so many metrics, and so manythings that as coaches and athletes, we are looking at as far as our training.And when we're talking about a CSS test, we're talking about critical swimspeed. As coaches or athletes, we're measuring the fastest speed a swimmer cansustain over a given distance. So in TriDot we're testing at the 400 yard ormeter, and then resting a bit and then testing at the 200. In doing that, wecapture what our fastest speed at those distances are, and we can establish ourswim zones and then understand what effort, what speed we're supposed to bedoing each interval during our workouts.

Ryan:As we know, yes, TriDot looks at your CSS, your critical swim speed, and helpsto determine your functional threshold power essentially in swim. And there areother factors that TriDot is looking at to help determine drills assigned toyou in your warmups and your cooldowns, and sometimes in the occasional mainset. To be specific, your swim form, your swim dot, your race distance, yourtraining phase durations, are all used to optimize your most beneficial swimdrills, sequences and development progressions throughout your training cyclein TriDot. So looking at it from that perspective too, your CSS test does helpdetermine your zones. As in all FTP tests, it should be performed as if racingin maximum effort. That's very important, I’ll repeat that again. Your FTPtest, your CSS test, should be done at a maximal effort. In other words, if notperformed properly, then your zones may be inaccurate. The CSS utilizes that400 and 200, as Jo mentioned, to help determine that. Now, heart rate is not a metricutilized for your zones in swimming, because upwards of 90% of your body isactually supported by the water. So it's a very low impact in comparison tobiking and especially running. And I do want to put this out there, a littlecaveat to wrist-based heart rate measurements. It's on Garmin’s supportwebsite, which says that while Garmin’s wrist heart rate monitor technology isstate-of-the-art, there are inherent limitations with the technology that maycause some of the heart rate readings to be inaccurate, such as movements ofhigh wrist/arm activity, cold water, the fit, the skin tone. Even if you had atattoo on your wrist, that can affect those things. Following all of this, Iwould certainly recommend a swim coach perhaps, and definitely recommend TriDotPool School to help with drilling, help with form, so you can progress as atriathlete in our sport.

Vanessa: Awesomestuff right there. Thank you so much, Jo and Ryan for chiming in on that one.This next question is so important, and it comes to us from MatthewPreston-Hele. Matthew has asked, “What are some strategies, tips, or tricksthat coaches use to help encourage time-poor athletes, or let's be honest anyathlete, to get recovery into their days, weeks and workouts?”

Joanna:I love, love, love this question. I think this could be a full podcast as well.And I'm going to tell you something I just did before we started recording thispodcast. I try to emphasize with my athletes that your workout game is strong,but your recovery game needs to be stronger. And we neglect it so bad, and thatleads to injury, aches and pains, irritability, screaming at your husband, allkinds of fun stuff like that. So recovery has got to be very, very important.And as triathletes, we spend so much money on gear and races and it's soexpensive, that we often can't afford every recovery method out there. It wouldbe fantastic to get weekly massages and chiro treatment, but that's notpossible for all of us. So I do encourage my athletes to spend ten minutes inthe evening using their foam roller. It's a challenge I give them. If I say doit seven days a week, they may get it in four days a week. But I'm mentioningit here, Ryan and I are on the same wavelength here, my lacrosse ball. Theseare tools that don't cost barely anything, but a good 20-minute sessionwatching TV with your foam roller, yoga stretching, using your lacrosse ball,you'll feel like you got a massage, and you're saving money. I can tell you, agood 20-minute yoga flow can make you feel the same way. We all watch TV orlook at our phones for more than 20 minutes a day. We are all guilty of sittingon the couch and doing that. So just force yourself to have that. One thing Idid before we recorded this podcast – this is psycho, this is crazy – my poolis very, very freezing outside right now. But there I am in a sweatshirt andbathing suit bottom, with my laptop, with legs in the pool, returning emails.So it's multitasking. Sometimes you don't want to do it, but I know how muchbetter I feel. I don't have the time, and sometimes you can't afford to go tocryo once a week. The other thing is accessibility, having your yoga mat, foamroller, lacrosse ball in different locations. I carry a set in my car, and Iknow for busy parents out there, or if you've got lots on your schedule for theday, you may be at a sports practice or a kiddo’s lesson. I have no shame, I'llpull that yoga mat out. And it's so wonderful, because you're successfullyfulfilling two goals. You're getting some recovery in, and you're thoroughlyembarrassing your children at the same time, by doing “downward facing dog” attheir football practice. So it's awesome to be able to do those two things atthe same time, but don't be embarrassed by that. There's so much I could gointo this, but here are some other cheap tricks to recovery. Most of my guyathletes don't like this, but we all have to shower every day, so soaking –back to cleanliness, Elizabeth, back to cleanliness.

Ryan:For the record, I shower every day, OK?

Joanna:Oh, thank you. Ryan. Ryan's like, “You're welcome. You're welcome.” But youknow, even if you're going to shower, stretching in the hot shower, muscles aremore pliable. It's easier to get a good stretch. Soaking in Epsom salt is one Ijust hammer into my athletes to do, because you feel so much better after doingthat. Then the little tricks of meal prep – I know Elizabeth is probably greatat this – but preparing a number of dinners, healthy, nutritious,nutrient-dense meals on Sundays, so that you're not stuck in the middle of theweek needing to grab food that's not great for you. The last thing is, with themonster Ninja blender I have, I will prep four post-recovery smoothies at onetime, when I have the time, and have those prepared. Those need to go in withinten minutes of finishing the workout, and then the healthy meals that you'veprepped before within two hours of a hard workout. So it does take someplanning, but if you can do those, it makes your week go so much smoother, andit makes you feel so much better recovery-wise.

Elizabeth: I love that you talked about that meal prep, Jo, because I think thereason that I do this is because when I get hungry, I get hungry. And comingoff the bike, if there is not something easy for me to grab, that's when I'mgoing to make bad choices. Because I feel like I need something at that moment,or nobody's going to be happy. So yeah, prepping that is absolutely key in myhouse.

Joanna:This is the girl who puts the chicken in the salad bag, she's all about, “I'mnot going to even wash a dish at this point, because I'm so busy.”

Elizabeth: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Joanna:But it's all about time management, and it's whatever works for you. But I lovehaving those accessible meals on hand, like bags of salad, grilling a bunch ofmeat on Sundays, having all of that prepped. That’s all part of recovery.That's the part that we forget. That's all part of recovery, is getting thosenutrients in post-workout.

Elizabeth: Oh, absolutely, Jo. And that's what I was going to jump in and say, ismy quick tips for athletes that are like, “I just don't have time for all ofthe cryo or the massage.” And sometimes you don't. So let's focus on what youeat, how much you sleep, and making sure that you drink water. And if you'relow on time, which Matthew said that he is – and to be honest who isn't – let’sfocus on those basic principles of recovery that you were just reallyhighlighting there, Jo. I mean, it's great if you can get more in than that,but what you fuel your body with, and allowing it to rest, is going to go along, long way. And if you are doing everything with cryo and massage, butyou're still eating crap and you're not providing your body with good nutrients,that's probably not going to do anything in terms of recovery either, becauseyou're not healing your body from the inside-out. So I would say one, optimizeyour nutrition. Fuel your body with the right nutrients, protein-rich foods,healthy fats, complex carbohydrates. That's going to support muscle repair,replenish energy levels. Prioritize your sleep, that'd be the second thing,getting quality sleep. I know that that can be incredibly hard, especially forparents of younger children, or parents of children that are out later andthey're waiting for them to get home. I hear that's kind of the other end ofthe spectrum. I don't know from experience, but I know our staff has beenthere. But try to make sure that you have a good sleep routine, a comfortablesleep environment, and really prioritizing the rest. And then third thing, stayhydrated. If you are staying hydrated, that's going to help flush out thetoxins, aid in muscle recovery. It's just going to make things glide within thebody. So those are really things that everybody can be focused on. Drink enoughwater, eat some good food, prioritize your rest.

Vanessa: Allamazing. Stuff right there. Thank you so much for the wealth of knowledge,that's been really great. We have one final question to round out our main setfrom Michael Bailey. The question is, “We hear a lot about periodizing yourdaily nutrition around training. What does this really mean, and what are somepractical tips?”

Elizabeth: Oh, I'm going to jump in on this one because we were just talking aboutoptimizing nutrition, so I feel like this goes hand-in-hand. Periodizing yourdaily nutrition around training means that you are strategically planning andadjusting your diet to support your training goals, and then to maximize yourperformance during those workouts. One key aspect to the periodization istiming your meals and snacks to fuel your body before, during, and after thosesessions. This really just ensures that your body has the right nutrients, atthe right times, to power through your workouts and then aid in recovery, as wewere just talking about the importance of recovery there. So here's a couplequick tips to do that on a daily basis. One, your pre-workout nutrition. Jo waseven talking about this, having that prepped ahead of time. One to two hoursbefore your training session, you want a balanced meal that contains somecarbohydrates, some protein, healthy fats. This is going to provide thatsustained energy and prevent hunger during your workout. The second thing wouldbe your intra-workout nutrition, or what you're having as you're doing thattraining session. Depending on the duration of the session and the intensity ofit, you may just need something for hydration, a little bit of electrolytereplacement. But if you're doing a longer one or a more intense workout, you'llwant to consider consuming carbohydrates, or like a sports drink withcarbohydrates, during that training session to replace not only your energystores, but the hydration as well, so that you can maintain that high level ofperformance. Then the third thing is that post-workout nutrition. Again, thisgoes hand-in-hand with that last question, so this was perfectly planned, welldone, Vanessa. You need to have that planned as well, aiming to refuel with ameal or a snack that contains protein and carbohydrates, within 30 minutes orso. There's a little bit of variance in terms of the research for exactly whatthat window is, but let's prioritize getting that in very soon after you'redone with the training session, because that's going to support the musclerepair and regrowth that was a little bit broken down during the session. Thenagain, I'm going to hammer this home, hydrate properly. Proper hydration isessential, and as we're talking about periodizing the nutrition, we also needto make sure that as we are sweating during these sessions, that we're takingin adequate hydration as well. So we're not only thinking about the foods thatwe're consuming, but if we're losing a lot of sweat and a lot of fluid duringthese training sessions, that needs to be replaced too. Then I think finally isconsidering some supplementation. We've had specific podcast episodes aboutthis, some great experts on the show that talk about if you need to supplement,when you may need to supplement, what that looks like. But depending on yourindividual needs and goals, certain supplements may help support the trainingthat you're doing as well. And that may change a little bit throughout theseason, based on the intensity, the duration, sometimes it's even based onclimate. I need to supplement vitamin D in the winter. I do not need tosupplement vitamin D in the summer. Those are things where Ryan was talking earlierabout connecting with a medical professional, your healthcare provider, doingsome blood work, just making sure that you've got a systems check on an annualbasis, that would be great. These are some quick things here. Periodizing yourdaily nutrition really just involves being intentional and mindful about whatyou're eating and when you're eating, so that you can meet your goals. If youwant to dig into this further, we just recently did an episode, and Rich Soareswas our guest host, Scott Tindal from Fuelin was on it. Scott and I had a greatconversation about this exact topic. So this was a quick hit to get you going,but if you want to dive in a little bit more, that was Episode .223 and wespent a whole hour talking about this.

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

Vanessa Ronksley: It's cooldown time, everyone, and I'm Vanessa,your Average Triathlete with Elite-Level Enthusiasm! Our Coach Cooldown Tip fortoday comes from Ben Barnard, who holds five degrees, one of which is a Mastersin Exercise Physiology. Ben is a team lead of data science statisticsinstructors, a reserve officer of the US Public Health Service Reserve Corps,and a TriDot athlete and coach. Coach Ben's first experience with coachingtriathlon began in 2009, where he was involved with paratriathletes at a localuniversity. Since then, he focuses on working with beginner athletes who cometo triathlon from diverse sporting backgrounds. He currently lives in Keller,TX and claims that his most notable athletic achievement is his two children.Welcome to the cooldown, Ben!

Ben Barnard: Thank you. Thank you.

Vanessa: Soyour children sound quite adventurous. How old are they?

Ben:I have a five-year-old son and a three-year old daughter.

Vanessa: Okay,so you're right in the thick of the intensity.

Ben:I am so tired.

Vanessa: Welcome.Welcome to the parent club! Now, something that most people don't know aboutyou is that you're an adult-onset swimmer. This is something that so many ofour listeners can identify with. So what was your motivation to actually learnhow to swim?

Ben:I actually was severely injured, and I was in a wheelchair for a while. So thatwas kind of part of that physical therapy process. It's kind of funny, becauseit kind of led me to have a very weak kick, because I started out with no kick.So now I just naturally don't kick a lot of times when I'm swimming.

Vanessa: Well,I'm very happy to see that you've progressed beyond this rehabilitation stageof your life, and now you've turned that learning how to swim into a passion ofyours with triathlon. That's so amazing.

Ben:I survive it.

Vanessa: Yeah,yeah. So, what tip do you have for us today?

Vanessa: Iwould say my tip is to be brilliant in the basics. I have a story behind this.I had done a sprint triathlon a long time ago. It had rained so bad, and cominginto transition, it was very slippery. So they asked all of us not to do anykind of flying dismounts. And that's all I had ever practiced was flyingdismounts. Like, even on the trainer I was flying off my trainer. So now all ofa sudden I'm like, “Okay, I'm going to have to come to a complete stop and stepoff my bike and get into transition and everything.” Well, I never completelygot off the bike, and just kind of fell over because I’d never really practicedjust stepping off my bike. You would think that's one of the first things youwould ever learn how to do, but I wasn’t very brilliant in the basics.

Vanessa: Yeah,so the basics of biking, you would suggest learning how to get off your bike,clip in and clip out of your pedals very easily, that kind of thing. What wouldyou have for the basics of swimming?

Ben:For swimming, I would say you go to TriDot Pool School.

Vanessa: Ahyes.

Ben:But I mean be long, focus on your form, we want good position in the water. Youknow, you go to TriDot Pool School, you learn a lot about being conscious inyour competencies, and then eventually you'll be unconscious in those. I thinkthat's kind of the point in being brilliant in the basics, is to be competentunconsciously, so that when things go wrong, you fall back on what you knowwell.

Vanessa: Yeah,I agree. And how about for the run? What would you say is the most basic thingthat you would suggest for the run?

Ben:For me, it's always been tying your shoes.

Vanessa: Yes,that is a very basic thing.

Ben:Man, I am horrible in transition because I don't like to go through transitionvery fast. I'm kind of saying “hey” to people in transition.

Vanessa: Yeah.Oh, my gosh, I fully understand that. Yeah, I think in my very first outdoortriathlon, it was like my second tri, I was in transition and I was having somuch fun and my husband was like, “What are you doing? You need to get going!Hop on your bike! Get going!” And I was just thinking, “Well, this is so muchfun. I just want to chat with people, and I want to have a good time.” So Itook a little bit longer in my transition. Which is something that I probablyshouldn't do.

Ben:I've been known, like in sprint triathlons to have like, five- to ten-minutetransition times.

Vanessa: Ohmy goodness! Yeah, okay. So maybe one of the basics about putting the wholetriathlon together is learning how to transition quickly. Yeah. Awesome. Do youhave any tips for transition?

Ben:Again, be brilliant in the basics. I would also say focus on your plan to getin and out. Unlike me, I like to chitchat, and I'm like, “Oh, didn't get thatlace quite tied right. Gotta redo it.” Or “Well, where did I put my helmet? Ohno, my helmet dropped, I gotta put it back up.” Even though it's like, “Well,you don't need your helmet anymore.”

Vanessa: Yeah.Yeah, right. I think that something that you said is very, very important, andthat is have a plan. That's something that, when I'm working with athletes,that's what we talk about during transition, is we make a plan of step one allthe way to step whatever, and you go through those motions multiple timesbefore you actually have to do it during the race, so that it becomes part ofthis memory process. So you know when you come into the swim transition, you'vealready taken your goggles and your swim cap off, and they're stuck in yourwetsuit sleeve. And you can choose, are you going to go from head-to-toe, orare you going to go from toe-to-head? You just get organized in this verymethodical way. I think that that is a very basic thing to do, have a plan, butit makes it easy and mindless. Just like you said, it's like this unconsciousability that you have to carry forward without having to think, and I thinkthat's where success comes from.

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

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