Tri Talk Triathlon Podcast

The audio for this podcast can be found here.
How to nail your hydration strategy by determining your sweat rate, and how to use Jack Daniels’ running charts to set and achieve your running goals. All that, today on Tri Talk.

Welcome to Tri Talk, your podcast source for triathlon tips, training, news and more. New listeners to Tri Talk hail from Florida and South Africa. In Florida, I hope you had a good race at the Safety Harbor Multisport event. And in South Africa, a reminder that Ironman South Africa is just 4 months away. My goal at Tri Talk is to help you swim, bike, and run faster, to meet your personal triathlon goals. Whether you are an elite or amateur triathlete, we cover sprint distance to Ironman distance. Filling in for David Warden, I’m your host, Eric Schwartz, and this is Tri Talk Episode 55.

My name is Eric Schwartz, and I’ll be hosting the next 2 episodes of Tri Talk while David takes a break for the holidays. Today on Tri Talk we’ll be covering sweat rate and how to incorporate it into your own racing nutrition plan. You can determine your own sweat rate without a lab and I’ll tell you how. I’ll break down this topic in an easy to understand conversation. I’ll also tell you how you can use Jack Daniels’ VDOT formula to develop your own running goals and more specifically I’ll walk through how I’ve incorporated marathon training into an Ironman athlete’s training schedule.

Before we continue, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Eric Schwartz and David has bravely allowed me to guest host his show. I’m 38 and I’ve pretty much been racing all my life, all though I’ve cut back in the last two year. I’m originally from Indiana but I now live in Boulder, Colorado. I was a collegiate runner at Indiana University and took up multisport racing in college. After college I raced while I worked full time as accountant for 5 years. In 1998 I moved to Boulder and started racing full time. In 2004 I reached a long term goal of winning the Duathlon National Championships, and in that same year I finished 8th at Ironman Wisconsin. I’ve been coaching for 8 years as a member of Joe Friel’s Ultrafit and now as a member of TrainingBible Coaching. I also run the website Duathlon.com, which covers daily triathlon and duathlon news and race results. Because I was known as a duathlete, at the end of the last podcast David set a lofty goal for me of being 2/3 of the host he is. Hopefully I can reach that goal. If you have questions for me you can reach me via email at Eric.Boulder@gmail.com or for coaching services you can check out my coaching website at Enduranceone.com.

You can also send in your questions or comments to david@tri-talk.com, Or, for even faster results consider posting your question on the Tri Talk forums, a friendly forum environment for triathletes with discriminating tastes.

Now let’s get onto the good stuff!

The first topic I’m going to tackle is sweat rate. It’s such an component of training but there are a lot of athletes that don’t really understand how it affects their racing. It goes well beyond hydrating for a race or a workout, and by the way, if your nutrition and fluid intake is good on a daily basis then you don’t need to do anything differently to hydrate for a race. You’re already well hydrated. But you better have a good hydration plan for your race.

My first memory of dehydration affecting my performance occurred in college. Our coach made us weigh in and out of practice so I knew my normal pre and post workout weights. On this day we were on the cross-country course and our workout included two 5ks. I felt good on the first one and did it in 16:30. On the second one I fell apart. I ran 17:30 and and it was very difficult. After the workout I was five pounds lighter than normal. Instead of worrying that my training was falling apart, I knew that my bad workout was probably a fluke related to poor hydration, salt intake, or something else unusual going on with my body that day. I really think multisport athletes should weigh themselves before and after a race. I have a feeling that a lot of bad performances could be attributed to dehydration – but without that measurement there’s no way to know.

So let’s get started.

Here’s how you can measure your sweat rate and stay on top of your hydration:

Before a long workout weigh yourself. Do the same thing after your workout. Every pound you’ve lost equals 16 ounces of fluid. To get an accurate measurement of weight loss you must weigh yourself with the exact same clothing before your workout and after your workout. Add in all of the fluids you drank during the ride. Measure your water bottles so you know how much they hold. I’ve found that 80% of the athletes I coach don’t know how much fluid they hold - they usually underestimate. I have athletes do this for workouts longer than 2 hours, but it’s a useful exercise to know how much you sweat on a 30 and 60 minute workout, especially if you focus on short distance races.

Here’s one other thing to consider. During the summer and during heavy training, especially in dry climates, you’ll lose a significant amount of fluid overnight. I’ve lost as much as 3 pounds overnight. If you start a long workout and don’t take into account this extra fluid loss it will affect your performance

Let’s move to a real example.

To use an example let’s do this for an athlete on a 3 hour workout. Beginning weight is 165 and ending weight is 162. By the way, actual weight isn’t important. We’re only concerned with the change in weight. That 3 pound weight loss represents 48 ounces of sweat. Between the pre and post workout weigh-ins, this athlete drank 4 bottles with 26 ounces of fluid and another 7 ounces of fluid out of a fifth bottle. That’s another 111 ounces of fluid intake that was lost through sweat. Over 3 hours this athlete sweated 159 ounces of fluid (48 ounces in weight loss plus 111 ounces of intake). That’s a sweat rate of 53 ounces per hour. That’s a higher than normal sweat rate, but I’ve worked with athletes that have lost even more than that.

Quick recap of the calculation - pounds in weight loss X 16 ounces per pound, plus total ounces of fluid intake, divided by total hours of training.

How do you use that information? Let’s say this athlete was doing a half ironman with an expected finish time of 5 hours. With a sweat rate of 53 ounces/hour this athlete would expect to lose 265 ounces of fluid during the race. That’s about 16 pounds! Studies have shown that losing 2% of body weight has no adverse affect on performance, and I know some athletes can lose a little more than that and still race well. For a 165 pound person a 2% weight loss equals 3.3 pounds. At 16 ounces per pound, that’s 53 ounces of a fluid deficit this person could have and still race well. We said his total sweat loss would be 265 ounces, so subtract 53 ounces from that and we get 212 ounces that he will need to replace over 5 hours. That’s approximately 42 ounces per hour, which is a little less than two big water bottles per hour.

Some athletes can easily take in large amounts of fluid during a workout while others would need to practice to achieve this level. Work on it in training before race day.

Let’s take it one step farther. After I have an athlete determine sweat rate, practice it, then execute the plan during a race, we evaluate the results.

After each race, especially a long race, an athlete should write down, among other things, their fluid intake during the race. If you have a scale at the race, which I highly recommend, (maybe some race directors can start providing them) you can also measure weight loss. From this evaluation you can determine how much the athlete was able to take in and how it correlated to race performance. If hydration was correct then race day is more likely to represent actual fitness.

Once you’ve established your hydration habits you need to monitor them in all workouts. If you don’t stay hydrated in training you won’t get the most out of your workouts and you won’t reach maximum fitness.

Moving on…

Some of the athletes I coach have specific running times they want to hit in the offseason or they want to train for a marathon while continuing to train for triathlons. How would you incorporate that into your training?

First, assuming you live in a cold climate, I think the winter is an excellent time to focus on running, especially if it is a weakness.

The starting point I use for running is Daniels’ Running Formula by Jack Daniels and I highly recommend you get this book.

Daniels uses something he calls the VDOT formula which is based on your current running fitness. Let’s say that right now you can run a 48 minute 10k. According to Daniels’ charts, if you can run a 48 minute 10k, you should be able to run a 5k in 23:09, a half marathon in 1:46, and a marathon in 3:40. In fact, if you know your fitness for one distance it will tell you what you could run for a 1500, mile, 3,000, 5k, 10k, 15k, 1/2 marathon, and marathon. I’ve found these charts to be very accurate. However, at the far ends of the chart - the mile and the marathon, the times won’t be accurate unless you’ve done the training for those distances, and if you’re heavily weighted toward fast twitch or slow twitch muscles, then the times at the opposite ends of the chart might not be realistic. But in the middle of the chart - 5k, 10k, and 1/2 marathon, they work very well. Most of the athletes I coach run 5ks, 10ks, and 1/2 marathons so the chart is really helpful to me as a coach and it’s helpful to an athlete for goal setting. The charts can also be used for determining workout paces for threshold runs, intervals, and repetitions, as defined by Daniels.

I’m going to walk through how I would train an athlete to run a 3:50 marathon while training for an Ironman for an athlete I’m coaching. Her goal is aggressive but a reachable goal. The marathon is in January and her Ironman isn’t until late 2008 so it fits in really well with her training and it gives her a good goal for the winter. She’s made great progress in her running over the last few years and brought her 10k time down to 52:17. According to Daniels’ VDOT charts she needs to be able to run a 50:03 10k and a 24:10 5k to reach that 3:50 marathon goal, and that’s assuming the endurance is there for a full marathon, which of course is the focus of the training. Those charts let me know that her goal is realistic but there’s still work to be done.

I’ve got a good chart of her running results over several years and her 10 mile race time, done on the same course, takes big drops so I know we haven’t reached her peak running fitness. In 2006 she ran a 10 miler in 1:28, which was a 10 minute PR, and 1 year later she cut another 4 minutes off that time.

A 3:50 marathon goal is an 8:46 mile pace so she has to be prepared to do longer efforts at that pace so we know it is realistic for race day. I’m also having her do shorter tempo runs at a pace faster than that - for example a 5 mile tempo run at 8:20 pace. The faster workouts should improve her fitness and make her goal marathon pace seem easier. In total she’s doing 4 runs per week.

She’s still training on the bike and the swim but running is her focus until the marathon is over. I’ve cut back her swimming the most because that’s going to have the smallest impact on her Ironman. A good training week is 8-10 hours total and she’s swimming once or twice a week. She’s on the bike twice a week. My belief is that with cycling, during the offseason when time is limited and the weather is bad, frequency is less important then it would be for running and swimming. But because frequency drops, the quality of those workouts needs to be higher. With two workouts one should be a longer ride on the weekend and the other one is a shorter, more intense effort during the week. If the weekend ride is outside it’s in the 2-3 hour range with the main goal being endurance and maintaining those cycling muscles. If you bike I’m sure you’ve notice your muscles decrease in size and that’s not such a good feeling, at least for a guy, when you know you’ve got to get them back. If the weekend ride is on the trainer I like to do a 1.5 to 2 hour ride, sometimes longer, with a warmup, drills, and some kind of set to mix up the boredom. Here’s a sample set to include on the trainer during base season:

1:45 ride with warmup, drills, 2X1.5 minute fast (optional), 2 minute recoveries, 1X20 minutes in zone 3, 5 minutes easy, 1X10 minutes at 100+ cadence, 5 minutes easy, 5 minutes standing, 5 minutes easy riding, 15 minutes zone 3.

This workout accomplishes a couple things - it works on technique, base building, and endurance, while breaking the monotony. For an athlete with a CompuTrainer, which is a great tool, I like to include climbing. With a CompuTrainer you can set it to climb at a specific grade - it probably goes about 15%. An athlete will get more bang for their buck if they can simulate climbing with their limited time.

So that’s how I’ve Incorporated marathon training into her Ironman training using Daniels’ book, but his VDOT formula will work for any running specific goal and it’s a great book for helping you design some of your own running workouts.

That’s all for episode 55. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with episode 56 of Tri Talk. If you are new to Tri Talk, don’t forget to catch up by getting the complete Tri Talk collection on your mp3 player. Available episodes date all the way back to episode 18, with never duplicated, relevant triathlon training content. Visit tri-talk.com today. I’ll see you next time!

The audio for this podcast can be listened to here.

Research behind a high calorie/low risk race nutrition strategy, the common causes of GI problems, and what it’s like to go from athlete to race manager. All that and more, today on Tri Talk.

Welcome to Tri Talk, your podcast source for, triathlon tips, training, news and more. New listeners in the last 2 weeks primarily came from China, no doubt in part as a result of the announcement of Ironman China in 2008, as well as the 2008 Olympic games. It makes sense that interest in triathlon in China would certainly be on the rise. Also of note, welcome to the very small new group of listeners from Vietnam. My goal at Tri Talk is to help you swim, bike, and run faster, to meet your personal triathlon goals. Whether you are an elite or amateur triathlete, we cover sprint distance to Ironman distance. I’m your host, David Warden, and this is Tri Talk episode 49.

Lots to cover today on Tri Talk. For example, have you ever been training or racing and found yourself incapacitated with stomach problems? Or worse, have you found yourself reducing your intake to address the problem, only to find yourself bonking at the end of the race? How much can you take in, and does the type of carbohydrates matter? What are the common causes of gastrointestinal problems, and how can you avoid them? We’ll take a look at all of that. Plus, what’s it like on the other side of an endurance event, as a race manager? I’ll take you along with me as I try my hand at running an event as opposed to running at an event.Now, as we approach the landmark 50th episode of Tri Talk, did you know that there is over 17 hours worth of episodes available? If you discovered Tri Talk late, you might have missed some of the earlier discussions on the physics and physiology of triathlon. But if you missed those episodes, doesn’t that mean the triathletes who did listen to them and applied the concepts will be faster than you? That’s what you call “scare tactic” marketing! Seriously though, if you missed half of the Tri Talk episodes, does that mean your competition who did hear them will be twice as fast? Probably not, but I wouldn’t take the chance! Be sure to visit www.tri-talk.com and access the Tri Talk Episode Archives and get caught up on your favorite triathlon podcast.

Last week I announced that I would be opening a remote coaching trial to look at the possibility of expanding and leveraging my local coaching services to any triathlete in the world. I may be an acceptable podcaster, but I am a rotten businessman. The ideas I think will be a huge success fail, and the ideas I think will have a limited response blow me away. I received hundreds of e-mails from interested athletes who wanted to be a part of the trial. As a result, I have moved to a more objective an equitable selection process. So, instead of sending me an e-mail like I requested in the last episode, please visit the website and you will be directed to an application to fill out. By the way, I was so impressed with the wonderful stories you sent me about how you came to participate in triathlon. I was not expecting them, but thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing them with me. There were stories about overcoming addition, starting a new life, weight loss, achievement. I heard from athletes as young as 17 and as old as 67. I also received offers of bribes and tons of flattery. I have to tell you, the bribes will not increase your chances of being picked. But the flattery might help. Even if you are not selected for the trial, I hope that you will still consider my formal coaching services which I anticipate will begin in November, the perfect time to start a science-based training program for your best race season yet in 2008.

This podcast is sponsored by Powertri.com. Congratulations to Mark, Nathan, Sam, and Tom for sending in their best embarrassing triathlon story. They will each receive a pair of Yankz! and a $15 Gift certificate to PowerTri.com. You can check out their hilarious stories by going to PowerTri.com and clicking on the “Tri Stories” link. While you’re there check out their huge 20% off sale on all our remaining 2007 De Soto and Zoot Triathlon Apparel. Hurry supplies are limited!

Let’s get onto the good stuff! What do you do when the estimated required calories per hour exceeds your estimated ability to absorb that many calories? Just how many calories can you take in without the risk of GI problems?

This next section will apply primarily to Ironman and half-Ironman athletes, but for the rest of you, this is still relevant and fascinating information. Even if you never plan on racing at those distances, this will increase your knowledge of endurance nutrition, and you will sound really smart when you talk smack with other triathletes.

I have said this before, but I’ll say it again. Triathletes are the smartest set of athletes in the world. After episode 45, where I introduced the Tri Talk Nutrition Calculator, several of you pointed out that at certain distances or intensities, particularly Ironman and half-Ironman distances for male athletes, the total calories per hour recommend often exceeded 400 calories. Several of you pointed out that there has been considerable material that supports that the maximum amount of carbohydrates that can be absorbed and returned to the muscles was 1.5 gram of carbohydrates per minute, or 90 grams per hour. Since carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram, that would place a theoretical limit of 360 calories per hour that the athlete could take in without risk of gastrointestinal (GI) problems. Eventually, the intestines and stomach could back-up if you are eating more than you can digest.

This information was based on an excellent study published in 2000, and has been cited as the primary support behind that 360 calorie per hour limit. The conflict with the study, is the fact that many athletes take in more than 360 calories per hour without reporting GI problems. In fact, Joe Friel’s Training Bible recommends up to 700 calories per hour on the bike for Ironman racing. This is an excellent example of when the science did not match the race-day realities. How can this study be reconciled with the actual calories that Ironman athletes take in that often exceed 360 calories per hour?

The first thing to note about this study is that the researches used a pure glucose solution when determining that absorption limit. There are multiple forms of carbohydrates including glucose, sucrose, dextrose, fructose, maltose, and my personal favorite galactose. I just love the name, “galactose”.

Fast-forward to 2003. A set of the same researches said, “hey, what if we make a carbohydrate cocktail of multiple types of these sugars, instead of just straight glucose?” Using the same protocol as in the study 4 years earlier, they created a mixture of 2 parts glucose to one part sucrose. With that mixture, the athletes were able to absorb 1.8 grams of carbs per minute without significant GI problems, upping the hourly intake to 432 calories per hour (1.8×4x60).

But they didn’t stop there. In a 2004 study, a set of the same researchers then took a mixture of 3 types of sugars, 2 parts glucose, 1 part sucrose, and 1 part fructose. Using the same protocol as the year before, which was a 2.5 hour ride at about 77% MaxHR, the cyclists were able to absorb a whopping 2.4 grams per minute. That’s 576 calories per hour!

The theory behind this is that different carbohydrates are absorbed by different intestinal transport systems. Some digestive receptors may get saturated by glucose, but other receptors or transport systems that don’t transport glucose, will process the other types of sugars, like fructose and sucrose. It is interesting to take this theory even further and hypothesize that maybe this is why small amounts of protein in an endurance event can improve performance. Although the body does turn to protein in small amounts for fuel after long endurance events, is it possible that there are even more receptors or transport mechanisms that would absorb even more than that 576 calories if another 50 calories of protein per hour were taken in? This is total speculation on my part, I have not read anything specific to this theory, but it follows the hypothesis that if a variety of sugars can increase absorption rates, perhaps a variety of macronutrients, like carbs, protein and even fats in a nutrition strategy can maximize absorption. I wonder if that is the difference between the athletes who take in 400 per hour calories and have GI problems, and the athletes who take in 600 and do not. I’m sure individual tolerance for calorie volume varies, but what if the athlete experiencing GI problems is taking in nothing but energy gels, which may only have 1 or 2 types of sugars. While an athlete taking in 70% carbs in the form of multiple sugars, 20% fats in the form of MCTs, and 10% protein would be able to take in relatively large amounts of calories without GI problems because now they would involving multiple digestive receptors and transport mechanisms instead of just one or two. In addition to increased calorie intake, there are other advantages from taking on more than just sugars which I will discuss in a moment.

It is important to note that most athletes can tolerate less on the run than on the bike, not due to absorption per se, but rather the jostling of the stomach that takes place during the run. All 3 of these absorption studies were done on cyclists, and it is common to take in a lot less on the run, maybe 2/3 of what you took in on the bike. Although a 2002 study of Ironman finishers showed that performance in the marathon portion of an Ironman was directly proportional to the amount of calories taken in. The more calories you can tolerate on the run, the faster you will be able to go.

There are many topics that are just too complex for me to research on my own, and this was one of them. I want to thank Ellen Coleman and Bob Seebohar, Melanie Hingle from the University of Arizona, Dr. Bill Thompson of Florida State University, and Dr. John Martinez of the Coastal Sports and Wellness Medical Center in San Diego. I could not have brought you this information without their help.

Now, let’s take a few moments and discuss the causes and consequences of lack of absorption when taking in high simple sugar calories, and what can be done in addition to the strategy we just talked about above to avoid those problems.

There are three primary causes and consequences for taking in more than you can absorb.

The first is diarrhea. Drinking a ton of simple sugary fluids or taking on a ton of gels with water can cause fluid to be drawn from the bloodstream and directly into the intestines. This speeds up the digestive process, resulting in diarrhea. What is even worse about diarrhea is that is again leads to dehydration, and the athlete may begin to take in even more fluids with sugars. This can be avoided by ingesting a lower volume of simple-sugar-containing fluids.

The second consequence is called delayed gastric emptying or DGE. This is simply the body not able to absorb as much as you are taking in while exercising. It makes the athlete feel boated and full, or even sharp pains in the stomach. This can be avoided by using a nutrition strategy that allows for complete absorption of what is taken, as we discussed earlier. Also, environmental conditions such as high heat and humidity can negatively affect the rate of gastric emptying and promote even more discomfort. This is something you would want to test while training, but it is common for you to not be able to tolerate as much intake when it is hot or humid, and you may have to adjust your intake accordingly.

Finally, there is one more symptom of taking in too much simple sugars. Let’s be polite and call it “flatulence”. After passing through the small intestine, some sugars reach the large bowel where they become food for the bacteria living there. When the bacteria digest the sugars, they produce of gas. This too can cause cramping, bloating, and flatulence. By the way, the Tri Talk Nutrition Calculator is now in its second beta release thanks to your feedback, and you can put in your data to find out the calories per hour you need for your upcoming event. I would like to take just a moment and revisit the altitude training issue which has been discussed twice now on Tri Talk. I really don’t want to ever discuss a topic more than twice, and even then I cover it a second time just to clarify or correct a previous episode. But I have done a considerable amount of new research on this subject. As a compromise, instead of adding it into a Tri Talk podcast episode, I have added it as an article on the web site where you can read the whole story on altitude training. I encourage you to take some time to read this. I hope it is the beginning of what will become the definitive discussion on altitude training. Also on this subject, a correction from episode 44. In that episode I stated “…because the air is less dense at higher altitudes, you are able to ventilate greater volumes of air, and get in the oxygen you need…” This is not correct, although ventilation does increase to compensate, at high altitudes, you do not get the same amount of total oxygen as lower altitudes.

Before we move on, I have a special message for our significant Canadian contingent of listeners. It has been a terrific season of racing in Canada, and MultiSport Canada would like to thank all of the participants in their 2007 races for making the HSBC Triathlon Series such a tremendous success, and hope your off-season training goes well. HSBC Bank Canada hopes their Race with HSBC contest can help your training as well. You have a chance to win one of three Grand Prizes worth $2,500. These prizes will be customized to fit you: Need a coach and nutritionist to get you to the next level? HSBC can do that. Looking to upgrade your bike components? HSBC can do that too. It’s your choice and all courtesy of HSBC. The contest closes on September 30, 2007 so don’t delay. Enter now at www.racewithHSBC.ca. Referring friends only increases your odds of winning so enter now at racewithHSBC.ca. This contest is open only to residents of Canada.Let’s wrap thing up! Almost all of us have participated in some sort of athletic event. Maybe even a few of us have volunteered to help at an event. If you are one of those who have ever volunteered for an event, you belong to a special class of people. But have you ever been in charge of an event, or a portion of an event? By the time we get to the race, it usually seems so smooth and well put together (usually). What do we all get for our $50 in registration fees, and how much work goes into it behind the scenes? Come with me as I take you along with me live, as I go through my first experience of managing a race complete with course setup, training volunteers, and as it turns out, a little bit of crisis control.

Take 11 of your friends, put them in two vans, and spend the next 20 hours or more taking turns running a course almost 200 miles long. That is the concept behind the Ragnar Realy Race series. Each 12-man team takes turns running 3 legs ranging from 3 to 8 miles each. I participated in the event in 2005, and it ended up being one of my most enjoyable racing experiencing. It felt like an adult slumber party. It took our group 22 hours to complete the event, but I spent less than 2 hours running my 3 legs, leaving the other 20 hours for conversation and goofing around with my teammates. With Ragnar events now in Wisconsin, Washington, Arizona and Utah, the popularity and growth of the series reflects its unique racing experience.
There are 35 exchange points along the route, where one runner hands-off to the next runner, and so it continues for 200 miles. As you can imagine, one of the challenges is, how can you manage and support the runners over an equivalent of 8 marathons back-to-back? The answer, of course, is delegation. That’s where I come in. The event is the Ragnar Great River Relay, running from LaCross, WI all the way to downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. I’ll be managing the last 6 exchange points of the event, from exchange 30 all the way to the finish line, or about 30 miles. My evening started at 10:00 on a Friday night, and I spend the next 5 hours putting up signs and lights for every single turn over 30 miles, and setting up the 6 exchange points. At 3 in the morning, I’m finally finished setting up in St. Paul, and my day has only begun.
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Each of the more than 100 teams in this event has brought 3 volunteers to the table. I’ll be moving from exchange point to exchange point training the volunteers over my part of the race. I meet my first group at 4 am, or about 2 hours before the first runners begin coming through.
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It’s a training I’ll repeat for all 6 exchanges. By 6 am, things are running almost too smoothly. The volunteers are showing up, the course signs aren’t being stolen, and there are no reports of injuries or missing runners. But then, my first test arises. It turns out that at the very same time, on the very same course, and using the same exchange point, there is a cancer awareness walk with thousands of walkers. I receive a call from a panicked Ragnar volunteer that a passionate volunteer for the cancer walk is at the site insisting we can’t share the exchange point. Also of concern is the fact that some of the route we share is on a narrow trail, and congestion and safety could be an issue as our runners are flying by the walkers. Fortunately, as I escalate the issue up the chain, I talk to the regional director of the group, and we agree to make the exchange point a celebration of athletics and cancer awareness, by merging our volunteers together into one unit. It is a great example of what can be done when people focus on solutions, and not the problems. A few calls to my volunteers about the logistical changes, and the issue is sorted.
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I quickly realize that race management is not about eliminating surprises, because it just isn’t possible. It is about adapting and making quick decisions regarding the inevitable crisis that will occur. What started out as an easy morning, has turned into call after call from volunteers or runners, coming in so quickly one after another, it’s almost comical.
With the excitement of the exchange point crisis, the phone calls, plus a lack of sleep, its no wonder I haven’t been paying attention to the road, and I realize that I am lost. I last drove this part of the route in the middle of the night, and things look quite different in the day.
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Fortunately, I quickly find my way back and finish training the last sets of volunteers. Driving the route from the last exchange point to the finish line, I notice that one of the signs is missing. Driving further, I see that all the signs coming into downtown have been removed. The original route had the runners run beneath the I-35W bridge. After the collapse, which took place just 3 weeks before the event, the route was routed over a different bridge. It appears that all the signs for the runners from that point on have been removed. In a panic, I call Dan Hill, the head race director of the event.
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A veteran of these events, Dan kindly asks me to triple check that I am on the correct route, and perhaps the error is with me and not the signs or cones. Somewhat insulted, I drive back, get out my map, and realize that he was exactly right.
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Throughout the morning, as runners are now hitting the exchange points in greater numbers, I begin to get even more and more calls from the volunteers and runners asking for help or clarification.
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After driving the length of the course again and dropping off some equipment, I decide to head down to the joint Ragnar and cancer awareness exchange point to see how our compromise has been working out, and meet the cancer awareness event manager running the site. Things have gone so well that we end up falling all over each other with compliments.
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Apparently, everything is going “great”, since I repeated that word at least 6 times in the conversation. Finally, as the last runners comes through each exchange, its time to sweep the course behind them. I spent the next 6 hours taking down the signs, picking up garbage, and thanking volunteers. I’m already exhausted. At the finish line, I continue to help take down the signs, tents and pavilions. After loading up the vans, and heading out to a celebratory dinner with the race management team, I finally get to bed at 2am Sunday morning. I haven’t slept in 44 hours, but I am thoroughly satisfied that my actions of the last 2 days helped to execute an almost flawless event for a group of fellow athletes, and I hope it will be a fond memory for them. In the 20 seconds between the time I hit the pillow and fall asleep, the thought occurs to me that I may never have been this tired in my life. My next race is the Boston Marathon in April, as a runner, not a volunteer. At least my next event won’t be so exhausting. This is David Warden, for Tri Talk.
Thanks for sticking with me to the bitter end of the podcast. Special thanks to the Ragnar Relay series for letting me volunteer to manage the course. You can find out more about their events at ragnarrelay.com. If you listen to the show via iTunes, you may have noticed that Tri Talk is now the #4 featured podcast in all of iTunes Sports and Recreation, ahead of the thousands of other sports podcasts including all but one ESPN podcast.

I’m often asked what listeners can do for me in return for producing the podcast. If I can make one request of you, please consider visiting the Tri Talk website at www.tri-talk.com and entering in your race results as part of my research project on the relationship between non-traditional race metrics and performance. Thanks to the hundreds of you who have entered in your information, but my goal is to get a sample size of 1,000 athletes, and I need your help. So stop feeling guilty and head out to www.tri-talk.com and click Research.

If you are a rabid Tri Talk fan, I have a teaser for you. Make sure you get a copy of the November issue of Triathlete Magazine. I can’t say why yet, but trust me, it’s good stuff.

Finally, for those of you who are members of USAT, don’t forget that the USAT elections close on October 1! You only have a few days left to cast your electronic ballot. If you live in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico or El Paso County, Texas, please consider taking just a few minutes and voting for me as your USAT Representative on the Regional Board. It is a piece of cake to do at www.usatriathlon.org

The next episode will be out on Oct 1, and as the 50th Tri Talk episode we’ll be celebrating with some fantastic content. I’ll be reporting live from Interbike in Las Vegas, and will share what I find in the latest technologies, And I have a verbal commitment for an interview with my idol Joe Friel, author of the Triathlete Training Bible. I’ll see you next time!

The audio for this podcast can be found here.

The ethics of supplements, how to age with speed, and the altitude debate heats up. A few examples of responses to the best of your e-mails, today on Tri Talk.

Welcome to Tri Talk, your podcast source for triathlon tips, training, news and more. I’d like to thank the Timp Tri Club of American Fork, Utah for allowing me to take the time to present at their club meeting. Most new listeners since the last episode came from Auckland, New Zealand. Thanks a ton for spreading the word in that part of the world. My goal at Tri Talk is to help you swim, bike, and run faster, to meet your personal triathlon goals. Whether you are an elite or amateur triathlete, we cover sprint distance to Ironman distance. I’m your host, David Warden, and this is Tri Talk episode 47.

Let me propose something to you. Can you think of any sport where the athlete is smarter or more informed than a triathlete? Seriously, when you think of the complexity of triathlon, from transitions to nutrition, to skill work, to gear, what other sport has the breadth and depth that triathlon does? What other sport could support a podcast, magazines, forums and books dedicated so much to physics and physiology? Fortunately, a triathlete has lots of resources to turn to, but for the content creators, it can be a nightmare. The reason is, you guys are just too darn smart. Some of the questions you ask me and comments you make blow my mind with their precise thinking and creativity. It forces me to be extremely thorough and accurate with my research, because I know I can’t pull the wool over your eyes. I am constantly amazed at the resourcefulness and intelligence of my listeners, and as a result, some of the best ideas and comments I have had for topics have come from questions from you. I realized the other day that some of the responses I have written are long enough to be a topic for the show, and so I decided to take a collection of questions you have sent in and script them for this episode. We’ll talk about aging, nutrition, ergogenic aids, heart rate, and just a bit more on altitude. You can send in your comments and questions to david@tri-talk.com.

This Tri Talk episode is sponsored by PowerTri.com. PowerTri.com is your store for triathlon wetsuits, clothing, gear and more! Tri Talk listeners get a 15% discount when you enter the discount code listed at tri-talk.com. And as always, you’ll enjoy free ground shipping on any orders over $49. Visit the tri-talk.com website to get your 15% discount code. Let me tell you guys something, I am good friends with PowerTri.com, and I don’t get much more than a 15% discount. There is something really wrong with that. The only way you will find the same quality triathlon items at that price, is to get them used, or open your own triathlon shop.

In triathlon news, I am happy to announce that Joe Friel will be publishing the 3rd edition of the Triathlete Training Bible late 2008, with updated triathlon training information, expected to add changes to every chapter of the 2nd edition. Or if you already have the 2nd edition, he will be offering a smaller companion book that just contains the changes to the 3rd edition. You heard it first here on Tri Talk!

Let’s get onto the good stuff! From your keyboards to my lips. In what has become the #1 question I am asked, Greg from Georgia writes:

“I will be turning 44 next month and in the last year to year and a half, I have really started to slow down. I have never been really fast, but I have felt a lot slower recently. I have done 4 sprint and 2 olympic triathlons. In the past 2 years I have completed 4 marathons with times of 3:55, 3:52, 4:01 and 4:28. Nearly all of my workouts are cardio. Do I have to just accept the fact that I am getting slower with age? What do 40+ endurance athletes have to do that is different than younger athletes?”

Thanks, Greg. You can still be very fast over 40 and even over 50. Much, though not all, of the performance you have lost can be gained back, but unfortunately at an increased effort and discipline. I’m going to give you 2 references to address this. The first is the Triathlete Training Bible, which has a section dedicated to this issue. And the second reference is a featured article in the September edition of Triathlete magazine. I have only seen the cover for this edition, I have not not read the article, but it is available on newsstands now and evidently addresses this very issue. But, let’s go over some basic concepts. First, continue to train intensely, but moderately. You have to keep that intensity, but it becomes more important than ever to regulate it to a fraction of your overall volume. Second, increase your rest. Perhaps at 50, it may be time to go from 6 day training weeks to 5 day training weeks. Third, strength train year round. Muscle mass loss really begins to accelerate past 40, and that strength training makes a huge difference. Fourth, nutrition becomes even more important. We have talked previously on about how certain foods can also contribute to loss of muscle, and in fact I’ll talk about that more in the podcast today later on. Finally, fifth, at the first sign of injury, involve your physical therapist. The recovery time when involving a PT immediately after an injury can be days or weeks faster than not engaging a PT.

Also, the Training Bible contains an adjusted weekly training hours schedule for masters athletes.

Another e-mail comes from from Priscilla from Montana. Now, this e-mail did not actually come from Priscilla from Montata, but this listener was very concerned about anonymity when she wrote me, and so I have changed the name and state to protect the innocent.

“I have a question about heart rate training. I have a friend [it’s always a “friend”, isn’t it?] and fellow-triathlete who is in his early 40’s. In a spin class last week, we were doing a sub-max test to determine max heart rate. He was getting frustrated when [the instructor] asked the group to go from 150 to 160. He said he’s been unable to raise his heart rate above about 155 on the bike, but 165 running, no matter how hard he tries.”

Thanks, Priscilla. First, it is very common for a bike lactate threshold HR to be 5-10 beats lower than the running lactate threshold. After years of training, only the very fittest athletes have the same zones for biking and running. The 30-minute self-test protocol for lactate threshold heart rate that I have discussed a few times on the show is not only a great way to get your LTHR, but it needs to be done independently for the bike and run. Very fit triathletes will find that there biking and running thresholds will slowly start to merge, and other reason for the importance of frequent self-testing.

Also, although I have no independent data to back this up, my HR when cycling indoors is always about 5 beats lower than outdoors. It drives me crazy. Same bike on an indoor trainer, same power output. Can’t explain it, but your friend may have the same “condition” as me. I’m looking forward to training this fall on a roller treadmill to see if this condition continues. Finally, at an indoor spinning class, that bike is not really fit to his body. Sure, you can raise the seat a bit, but it is possible that he is bio-mechanically simply not able to go as hard on that trainer and generate the effort.

In summary, any one of those 3 reasons would explain why his bike HR is lower than his run. It is perfectly normal.

From Episode 34, there was a discussion on nutrition, and the impact of the acidity level in certain foods could lean to accelerated muscle mass. The theory is that high levels of acid in the blood cause nitrogen to leave the body faster when we age, and that nitrogen is a key building block for protein, and therefore muscle. By reducing the acidity levels of foods in our diet, we could theoretically maintain more muscle mass. This is part of the theory behind the Pelo Diet, for which I am a proponent. However, Yehudah from Israel writes:

“I’m sorry but I have a really hard time accepting that the food which we eat will impact on blood acidity in a major way. After all the food is not injected directly into the blood but rather goes through the stomach and GI tract and is absorbed from there. The stomach is a very acidic environment; the rest of the GI tract much less so. During the process of digestion the food is broken apart to it components so that a protein for example may be broken down to amino acids (acids - get that!). So a food item which is not acidic to begin with may be broken down to components which are acidic. And vice versa.

In sum, since the food we eat is not absorbed into the blood stream as is but rather undergoes biochemical changes, and is worked on by the acidity and enzymes of the digestive system, I do not believe that a more acidic food will make your blood more acidic”.

I like this thinking. Essentially, Yehudah is saying the regardless of the level of acidity of alkalinity of foods, the digestive process neutralizes it before it enters the bloodstream. What we know for sure is that foods do have significantly different levels of acidity of alkalinity, and that higher levels of acid in the blood will release more nitrogen from the body. The question is can the digestive system make this irrelevant. I have some information that supports both positions. If we were to take Yuhudah’s position to the extreme, the digestive system would be able to neutralize all kinds of junk food too. If the stomach can’t keep sugars and fats from entering the blood stream, why can it hold back acids? This, of course, is not what Yuhudah is proposing, his main point being that the stomach is a very acidic place to begin with, and not a sugary place to begin with. But, I’ll still have to voice my opinion, not fact, but opinion, in favor of Dr. Loren Cordain’s theory, author of the Paleo Diet. The thing about the paleo diet is, it recommends a diet of lean meats, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, which are all low in acidic content. Even if you don’t buy the theory of acidic content in the blood, having those foods as your primary nutrients is still an excellent choice. Just before I started to record this podcast, I received a followup e-mail from Yuhudah disclosing that he has PH.D in biochemistry molecular biology. SO he might have a pretty good idea of what he is talking about too. This is what I mean about you guys being to damn smart.

In regards to caffeine, John in North Carolina writes:

“The question I have is about the regulation of caffeine - my understanding is that caffeine is on the banned substance list and if the dosage is too high, would constitute a doping infraction. All the while searching for our best performance, does it make sense to recommend caffeine to any one who is competing, elite or age grouper?”

John, for some reason this question hit me hard. I presented this very argument to my 2 oldest children at dinner one evening, and got a different response from each of them. My daughter, who is a triathlete, was all for it, and my son, who has not caught the bug yet had concerns. It is certainly enough to make one pause when a 12-year-old child says, “I don’t think caffeine sounds fair.” I’d like to present an argument that was formed, in part, from this dinnertime discussion. (by the way, I do not allow my 10-year-old triathlete daughter to take caffeine, when I said she was all for it, I mean she had no objections to other triathletes taking it).

One clarification I need to make, is that when I first podcast the episode on caffeine in 2006, I stated that it was a banned substance in the Olympics at certain levels. I subsequently posted some information on caffeine in the Triathlete magazine blog site. Those banned caffeine levels were extremely high. Much higher than caffeine intake recommendations, but it was notable that it was recognized as a significant performance enhancing supplement. Our astute listeners recently corrected me, including, Dr. John Martinez of the Coastal Sports and Wellness Medical Center in San Diego, that caffeine was removed from the Olympic banned substance list in 2004. It is currently legal at any level.

However, independent of that fact, I believe that sports supplementation can be broken into three types. Natural-necessary, natural-unnecessary, and unnatural-unnecessary. The first group, natural-necessary would include vitamins and minerals, macronutrients like protein and carbs, and even water. Whether or not we participate in endurance sports, our bodies have to have these supplements anyway to survive. A smart triathlete can apply the right balance and timing of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbs to maximize performance.

The second group, natural-unnecessary, would include supplements such as caffeine, as well as BCAAs, medium-chain triglycerides, or creatine. All of these supplements can be found and grown in a natural state and extracted without changing their chemical properties. But they are not required to sustain life. We can go our whole lives without consuming caffeine, and be a healthy person. But, the practicalities of consuming enough caffeine or creatine in a natural state to improve performance in inhibitive. The only way we can reasonably consume these supplements is if they are extracted and refined into a concentrated state.

The last group, unnatural-unnecessary would include performance-enhancing drugs such as EPO. These drugs are chemically engineered well beyond their natural state.

I think we all agree on the first and third supplement types. Natural-necessary are universally accepted as ethical, while unnatural-unnecessary are accepted as unethical, and typically banned. The question is in that second category. Is it ethical to use supplements that can be found in a natural state, but are then extracted and concentrated. There is no question that these are legal to use in triathlon, but I don’t like that argument. We all know the consequences of actions within society that are perfectly legal, but highly unethical.

Another thing to note about caffeine as a former banned substance in the Olympics. I think that the bigger statement about caffeine is not that it was ever on the banned list, but rather that it was taken off the list, indicating that some fairly sharp medical and scientific minds had had a significant debate before that took place, and concluded it was appropriate.

John, I think my answer is that this gray area has to be an individual decision. I don’t know that there is any one right or wrong answer. I see my position on caffeine possibly evolving over the next few years, I don’t know. I propose that each athlete reflect on this subject themselves, and do what they think is right. Thanks for bringing up such an excellent topic.

You’ll recall Bree from Alaska wrote me and asked why she may have seen improved swim times in a saline pool vs a chlorine pool. Her question spawned a significant amount of interest and research, with the increased buoyancy in the saline pool the most likely reason. Bill from Maryland had another idea, and wrote, “Bree’s improvement in the saline pool could be due to breathing easier.” That’s not a bad theory, if some amount of chlorine gas is evaporating into the air that she was breathing and reducing oxygen. Although I can’t really find anything to confirm that, I liked Bill’s thinking.

Speaking of reduced oxygen, regarding altitude training, Mike, who did not specify a geography, writes:

“All of your conclusions made sense, but it made me wonder. From what you seem to be saying, training at altitude didn’t seem to add a lot of advantages for endurance athletes, except in one narrowly-defined situation ( i.e., live high, train low) that would be quite hard to duplicate. If that’s the case, why are there so many examples of world-class U.S. athletes who train at high-altitude? In particular, I know that there’s a large contingent that train in Colorado Springs. Are these guys exploiting some angle that your research doesn’t address? Just curious.”

There are certainly some subjects on Tri Talk that illicit more interest than others. I would have never guessed that altitude training would be one of them. In episode 44 I summarized the research showing that altitude training for improved performance is only effective in narrowly defined environments, and received quite a bit of feedback. The timing of this subject is excellent, in part because Melanie McQuaid published a well-written article on triathletemag.com regarding altitude training, available on that web-site as of the release of this podcast. Although I agree with the article on the physiological effects of altitude, I disagree with the interpretation of how that translates into improved performance. But, the article is presented very well, and I felt that the listener should have opportunity to read an opposing view.

However, I feel comfortable stating this: there is no credible independent study to support the use of altitude training under 8,000 feet on already well-trained athletes. There is some research on the benefits of altitude training to novice athletes, but nothing on well-trained athletes. In fact, there is just the opposite support. There is credible research to show that altitude training is only effective at living over 8000 feet, and training under 4000 feet. There is obviously plenty of anecdotal and theoretical evidence for altitude training outside those extreme conditions, but those theories do not hold up under carefully measured environments. I could spend another 30 minutes on this subject alone. Instead, I’ll be writing up a detailed blog entry in the next 2 weeks on the blog site. I won’t be doing it in the podcast, because I don’t want to expose you to “altitude sickness”, pun intended, for those of you who are sick of the subject. If you are really interested in the nitty-gritty, check out the blog in a couple of weeks.

But, for today, I’d would like to answer Mike’s specific e-mail regarding altitude.
This question was echoed by many other listeners. If altitude training has no positive effect to performance, why are so many pro athletes training in Boulder and Colorado Springs in the summer months? That’s a fair question. I appreciate that line of thinking, but that logic essentially says, “if this athlete trains at high altitude, and he is fast, high altitude must work”. Using that same argument, there are plenty of successful pro triatheltes who do not train at altitude, and are just as successful. We can use the same logic to prove that low altitude training works just as well.

Now, to answer Mike’s question directly. Athletes train in Boulder and Colorado Springs not because of the altitude, but because it is the home of the US Olympic Training Center. Not only is it the home of the USOTC, it is the home of USAT, USA Swimming and USA Cycling. Some of the best coaches and training facilities in the world are in Colorado Springs, just 1.5 hours from Boulder. It is not just the fact that the triathlete has access to the best triathlon coach and facilities, they have access to the best swimming coaches and cycling coaches. Colorado is the Disneyland of pro triathletes. Any athlete who chooses to train in that area will be able to draw from the best of the best. That is the real draw to that area.

Now, the next question, so why is Colorado Springs the home of the USOTC? Was it picked because of altitude? No, it was picked because of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1978, which established the Olympic Committee. The committee needed a headquarters, and one that would accommodate training facilitates for hundreds of athletes. It was decided that the recently abandoned ENT Air Force Base and the former headquarters of the North American Defense Command would do nicely for the Olympic Complex. The fact that Colorado Springs was at altitude is purely coincidental. There is no physiological benefit for a tennis player to train in southern California. But that just happens to be the place where the best tennis players in the United States train, because there is where the finest coaches and facilities are.

An important point to remember is that there is no study to show that altitude training under 8,000 feet has detrimental effects. It is a safe choice for a pro. They have nothing to lose. Imagine the choice that a pro triathlete has to make. They can stay in their home-state, or they can move to Boulder, surrounded by other pro athletes, access to the USOTC, access to the best coaches for each discipline, and who cares if altitude training actually works or not, it certainly won’t hurt them to train that high. It is essentially a low risk/high reward decision to move to Colorado.

Next week the tables turn as I report live from my experience as assistance race director from a major race, and we’ll visit how to perform lightening fast transitions, complete with video analysis. Don’t forget if you live in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, or El Paso County Texas, please consider allowing me to be your USAT Regional Representative and vote electronically today at www.usatriathlon.org. See you in a couple of weeks!