Tri Talk Triathlon Podcast

The audio for this podcast can be listened to here

A panel of experts join the podcast. Some of the best in their field answer your triathlon questions via confernece call. Today, on Tri Talk…Live!

Janice: Good morning Ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Tri Talk Triathlon Podcast conference call. At this time all participants have been placed in a listen only mode, and we will open the floor to your questions and comments following the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, David Warden.

David: Thank you, Janice and welcome to Tri Talk, your podcast source for triathlon tips, training, news and more. 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 38. A special welcome to those of you joining the podcast by phone on this live edition of Tri Talk. If this is your first time listening to Tri Talk, this is not our typical format. All previous episodes have not been open to live participation, but I wanted to have a venue where listeners could have the opportunity to ask questions directly to an expert. And we have an impressive panel of professionals today on the podcast.

I expect our call today to last between 30 and 45 minutes. Our format will be question and answer, with the questions coming from either myself, from listeners on the phone, and several questions that have come in via e-mail.

Let me introduce our panel who will be fielding the questions:

Seated across from me in the studio is Heath Thurston, a professional triathlete and Kona qualifier. Heath is our local triathlon god, racking up countless wins and top 3 finishes over the last few years. If you haven’t heard his name yet, just wait, you will. Not only is Heath faster then me, he is much better looking. Welcome Heath.

The rest of our panel is joining us by phone.

Keena Schaerrer is a certified USAT coach, personal fitness trainer, and successful triathlete. Keena is renowned in our local triathlon circle for her contagious enthusiasm, motivation, and positive attitude. Welcome Keena.

Also on the panel is Melanie Hingle, a Registered Dietitian with a Master’s degree in Public Health, currently with the University of Arizona. Melanie’s professional publications with the University include research on Nutrition in Cardiovascular Health and Weight Management. Melanie is also a marathon runner with her eye on Boston. Thank you for joining us, Melanie.

Diane Haupt is a licensed PT with over 15 years’ experience in PT. She currently manages Dynamic Health Services in Virginia Beach, Virginia, offering not only PT but personal training and fitness assessments. Diane is also an accomplished triathlete with numerous age-group victories, most recently finishing 2nd in her age group at the 70.3 Ironman championships. Welcome Diane.

Finally, also by phone, is Dr. Bill Thompson. Dr. Thompson has worked as the team physician for the Dodgers, Lakers, Kings, Ducks, Angels, and USC, as well as the former orthopedic surgeon to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and is currently a Team Physician at Florida State University. Dr. Thompson is also an avid triathlete, recently completing two half-ironmans. Welcome. Dr. Thompson.

You may have already noted that not only does our panel have impressive professional credentials, but each is also a successful endurance athlete.

Before we continue I have to thank our sponsor, powertri.com for supplying us with these facilities and conferencing services, for which this live production is dependent on. Right now at powertri.com, take advantage of their Spring Tri sale. Free shipping for order of $49 or more, free shipping and 10% off order $100 or more, and free shipping and 15% off orders $150 or more. You must use the discount code tritalk10 for the 10% discount on $100 or more, and tritalk15 for the 15% discount on order of $150 or more.

Janice, let’s go ahead and give instructions and open up the phones for questions.

Janice: Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now open for questions (instructions given).

David: While we are holding for those questions, I am actually going to pose the first question right off the bat, as they are queuing up, with a question of my own. Dr. Thompson, I would like to address this question to you, if I could. I have been receiving an increasing number of questions from new triathletes regarding some complex medical questions that I am simply not qualified to answer. Although Tri‑Talk focuses on the minutiae of training and gear, it seems that the very first step that any prospective triathlete should consider taking when creating a triathlon training plan would be to see their doctor. How important would you say it is for a triathlete to involve their doctor in their triathlon goals, whether they are brand new, or even an experienced triathlete?

Dr. T: Well, David, you know ideally I think every triathlete should involve their doctor, but practically that’s just probably not going to happen. You know, in the case of a brand new prospective triathlete, anybody with past medical histories or family histories or risk factors for cardiovascular problems, definitely needs to see medical advice. An experienced triathlete, on the other hand, is probably not going to see their orthopedic surgeon or their doctor until injuries come up, and that’s probably reasonable. Believe it or not, triathletes know a lot more about training than their doctors do. I think the most important part about this question, and this is really my personal bias, is that a triathlete should really look for a sports medicine specialist that is a triathlete themselves, or at the very least a runner, and the reason for this is that that physician can have a lot more empathy and understanding, you know, of the endeavor of triathlon, which is really a lifelong endeavor. As I have said on your Tri‑Talk before, I am personally a much better doctor to triathletes after having become one.

David: Excellent. I appreciate the answer. Thanks, Dr. Thompson. Janice, if we could have the first question come from the phones now.

Janice: Your first question is coming from Michael in Honolulu. Go ahead, please.

David: Hi, Michael, how are you?

Michael: Great, thanks.

David: Good. What’s your question?

Michael: Well, I am considering doing a triathlon. I have never done one before, and I’m thinking about an Olympic race, and I want to know what a good nutrition strategy would be for the day of an Olympic race.

David: Is there any particular person you would like to pose that question to, Mike? I am sure there are actually a lot of people . . .

Michael: Heath ought to know that.

David: And you said an Olympic distance, is that right Michael?

Michael: That’s right.

David: So Heath, for an Olympic distance triathlon, what would be your race day nutrition strategy, maybe total calories before the race, during the race, and what do you take in for that race distance?

Heath: For me it’s a great question. It’s probably one of the most specific questions I get talking to new triathletes, but typically for me, you want to always try to take in – depending on how long the race is and what you’re training – about 250 to 300 calories an hour, so for me ‑‑ depending on your weight and everything ‑‑ for me I typically try to, about a couple of hours before the race I wake up, usually get a fairly good decent meal of breakfast, whatever that is, whatever works for me. For me, cereal, oatmeal really works well for me. And then about a half hour to hour before the race, I usually take in some sort of energy bar and gels and stuff, so I have a good amount of calories in my body to begin with. An Olympic distance race, you really don’t need – you know, it’s lasting anywhere for two to three hours for most people, and you don’t need a real excessive amount of calories during the race, but having a good little energy drink on the bike, and then a couple of gels maybe for the run should do you very well.

David: I want to pause on that, because I have been getting a lot of emails from listeners who are new to triathlon, who somehow feel that they need to make up every calorie that they burn during the race event, regardless of the distance, not knowing that your body actually has a good 1500 or more calories in the form of glycogen typically in reserve, and that for the shorter distances you don’t need to be consuming as much on the race, because you have a good reserve to finish that two to three hours.

Heath: That’s exactly right, yeah, and most people almost take in too much on an Olympic distance race, because they hear a lot about the pros or other people, you know, you need to take in all these calories on the bike or the run, and for Olympic or sprint distance race, you really don’t need a whole lot of calories during the actual race. If you actually load up before the race, you’ll be fine.

David: And then your body is going to be burning fat for fuel for those longer distances at those slower intensities.

Heath: Yeah, exactly.

David: And that’s a pretty long store that you have there. Great, thanks Mike, calling from Honolulu, I’m surprised that the numbers even work from there. That’s great. Hey, before we move on to the next question, Janice, from the phones, I actually want to get a couple more questions in that are important for me to have asked. Along those same lines I mentioned earlier, some complex medical questions coming from callers. It’s springtime, people are out running again, and I’m getting quite a bit of questions about IT band. So Diane, if I could ask you the question about how do we treat IT band, and better yet, how do we avoid it?

Diane: Actually, that’s one of the most common injuries I see in runners, especially knee injuries. Very common, and initially if the individual takes time off and just treats it with some ice and anti‑inflammatories, it can usually be overcome within two or three days, but unfortunately most runners want to keep on pounding the pavement and can’t take off time as needed for training, and then it becomes more of a chronic issue, as Dr. Thompson said earlier, that you know, you need to seek more professional assistance if the pain continues. Most injuries I can see good results with proper stretching of the IT band, and soft tissue work to work out the tightness that occurs of the band, where it crosses the knee, where most pain occurs. Most of the time it is caused by training errors, be it increasing mileage too quick, running on uneven surfaces . . . It can be from improper footwear, wearing shoes that are worn out, or just biomechanical issues, either tightness in the IT band or muscle imbalances.

David: And you brought up some good points, Diane, because most of the listeners listening right now probably do not have IT band syndrome, and so they are probably saying, “This won’t happen to me.” I ran for twenty years before I had my first case of IT band, so it seems like it can happen to anyone. So go for me again, you talked about the ways to avoid it. Proper footwear, proper stretching, the right surfaces, or being aware of the surfaces you are running on. How else do we avoid that IT band?

Diane: Definitely you might need to seek professional evaluation, but a lot of times it’s from muscle imbalances, hip muscles on the outer part of the hip are weak in individuals, especially in females. That would add stress to the IT band. Some rollers are what I see really good results with, too, is just to kind of like a six‑inch diameter roller that individuals can do self myofascial relief with, following the length of the IT band and releasing the adhesions in there, and that is another good treatment approach that I’ve seen with IT band syndrome.

David: Excellent, Diane, I appreciate that very much. If I can stay on IT band for one more second, because I have got so many emails on it. Dr. Thompson, I have an email from Donald from Ireland who writes, “I’ve been plagued by IT band syndrome. It was suggested to me that it isn’t a very anatomically important structure, and that surgical release may be beneficial. Yes, it’s that tight, the worst they’ve seen, and yes, I do take my competition that seriously, so that mutilating my leg seems reasonable if I could get back running.” Any opinion on going that far with surgery on an IT band issue?

Dr. T: You know, I can sympathize. I’ve had it in both knees, and I really would echo the same things that Diane said, and the other interesting thing, too, is that each IT band syndrome is a little different for every person, so I would definitely exhaust all those measures that she talked about before I would consider it. It’s really rare. I see a lot of it, and I have operated it one time in about ten years. So it’s really rare. It’s not a useless structure, it is important, and I would be very leery of surgery until I definitely exhausted everything. Surgery can work. There have been a few different techniques that seem to work, and if you really felt like you exhausted everything, and really couldn’t train and couldn’t perform, then you would have to look at it.

David: All right, so Donald, at least get a second opinion before you do that, it sounds like. It’s possible, but pretty severe. All right, Janice, let’s go back to the questions on the phone if we could now, please.

Janice: The next question is coming from Bill of Ellicott City, Maryland. Go ahead with your question.

Bill: Thank you. I have a question about high cadence and how it relates to slow‑twitch muscle fibers. It seems a bit counterintuitive that the higher cadence with condition your slow‑twitch fibers for endurance. I was hoping someone could explain that in a little more detail.

David: You bet. You know, I’m going to try to give this one a shot myself real quick, Bill. We actually did, I think it was Tri‑Talk episode 30 . . . I don’t have it in front of me right now. We talked about, there was a large section we did on Tri‑Talk regarding high cadence, and I don’t have the science behind it, except I do have the results from the studies, saying that those particular slow‑twitch muscles would be developed in that particular way. So, if you go back to the website you could listen to that episode again. However, I am guessing that you may feel that you want some more in‑depth answer to that particular question. Can I open that up to the panelists? Keith, have you had any opinion on the high cadence, let’s say 90+ is what most of the studies say, developing those slow‑twitch muscles.

Keith: Yeah, the higher cadence is always better. I don’t know specifically how it lies in with slow‑twitch muscle fibers or anything like that, you know, I just, through my training and all the research I’ve done, it always has shown that higher cadence is a much better way to go for cycling, especially for triathletes, you know, getting off the bike and running. Maybe one of the other panelists knows more.

David: You know, Bill, we’ll follow up with that, and I will have that actually on the next episode to see if I can get more in‑depth answers to you on that one. Just a reminder to the listeners that when cycling, especially for endurance, you want to get those slow‑twitch muscles developed, because those are the muscles that can store the right type of energy, and can last longer for endurance events, while your fast‑twitch muscles will take care of you during those powerful sprints. And so a lot of sprinters have those fast muscles. But Bill, great question, and we’ll find out some good followup. In the meantime, all I can say is just trust us. Keep that cadence high. If you look at those pros in Hawaii, as you watch them, their cadences, as I watch them go through their cycling on those legs, constantly 90 or above that they are maintaining that cadence at. So if there is not proof through the studies specifically, there is at least some great anecdotal evidence that that high cadence will get you to the finish line faster. Thank you Bill, I appreciate it. Janice, can we have another question from the phones?

Janice: The next question is coming from Juan in Chicago. Go ahead with your question, please.

David: Hey, this is Juan in Chicago. Juan is one of my most loyal listeners. Juan, I’m glad you got through, that’s great.

Juan: Thank you for the invitation, I appreciate it.

David: Absolutely, Juan, what’s your question.

Juan: My question is a nutritional question, actually, and I am always trying to control my weight for efficiency while I do triathlons, and I ‘ve been reading various books, and one is called the The Paleo Diet for Athletes (The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel), which encourages a high intake of meat and vegetables and low intake of carbohydrates, unless it is immediately after an endurance event or in concert with training, which goes counterintuitive to a lot of other publications, which encourage a more conventional 60 percent of carbohydrate intake as part of an endurance athlete’s diet, so I was wondering what the panel thought of that approach.

David: Melanie, if I could have you address this one, Melanie, but I’m going to take a stab at it first real quick. There are, Juan, so many different diet opinions out there, and actually they can become quite sensitive. People can become very set on their particular nutrition strategy, and it almost becomes religious at some point as you talk to different people about it. So I’m going to let Melanie give the high‑level answer, but I’m going to give you my personal opinion that I actually really like the concept behind the Paleo diet, that it’s my personal nutrition strategy. For me, I find a lot of success, and I think you’ll find with diets there are also responders and non‑responders, that certain diets affect body types and individuals, male and female, a little bit differently. But I do like the Paleo diet. I think you can get enough carbohydrates, even on that diet. But Melanie, specifically the question to you, I’d say, is, do you have any opinion on any particular diet, and the other question I’d have, kind of along those lines, Melanie, is are there universal do’s and don’t’s with nutrition, that everybody can agree on?

Melanie: Good questions, all of them. I want to first mention what Juan had said about weight management. This is something that comes up a lot when I talk to athletes, and it’s a fine thing to lose weight, but when you’re training, it’s a very fine line you can walk as far as calories go. It’s very easy to eat too few for the amount of training you do. So when you’re building up in intensity in prepping for competition, it is not a good idea to actively lose weight. Most likely it will happen as a result of just your training, and if you’re changing your nutrition, but to actively lose weight can be detrimental to performance. As far as your diet goes, the Paleo diet, I’m familiar with that, and there are several variations of that for athletes or non‑athletes. The premise is simply whole foods, the foods that your ancestors would recognize, unlike many of our products that are available today, which are non‑recognizable as foods in their original form. So the premise is good, I agree with it as well. I mean, it’s important to eat whole foods and unprocessed foods. However, when you are in the midst of a competition, I cannot imagine eating whole grains or eating meat or eating vegetables, so there is some balance there as well, and you need to go with some of the products I think that are fairly decent products out there. So as far as rules go, rules that apply at all times, that would be, don’t change your nutrition plan the day of the competition. So in essence, you want to train for the competition, train your body, but also work with your nutrition, so that when you get to race day, you have been doing the same routine for many, many weeks. So don’t do anything new the day of competition, is a don’t. The do’s would be again eat healthy foods, eat fruits and vegetables regularly, lean meats, that sort of thing is a perfect base. When you’re building in intensity, when you’re building and training, it’s a good idea to try out things like energy bars and gels and sports drinks if you chose to use them, so that you know what works for you, because it is very individualized. I heard the doctor mention this earlier, and some other people as well. Everything is individualized. There is no one‑size‑fits‑all specific diet, so it’s important to try things out. But in general I agree with the Paleolithic approach, just keep in mind that it’s higher fiber, more whole foods that are harder to digest in short time periods.

David: And also, Juan, if I can clarify, when it comes to the Paleo diet, I would recommend never – I would be very wary to never eliminate something from your diet. So although the Paleo diet says, eat things your ancestors would recognize, and mentions that we have only recently become a society that eats the products of agriculture like wheat or dairy, that you should really be wary about eliminating anything from the diet. So although I like to follow the Paleo diet, I don’t eliminate any grains from my food groups. I just try to increase those fruits and vegetables as more of a proportion as opposed to – all things in moderation, try not to eliminate things, maybe Twinkies, but other than that you can get away with a pretty good diet plan that matches the Paleo diet without eliminating those products of agriculture, like wheat and dairy. Because I still love the wheat and the dairy, and get those in.

Melanie: That sounds very reasonable.

Dr. T: David, you know, from the medical standpoint, too, remember that a triathlon for most of us is a healthy lifestyle, and that’s the reason why we’re doing it, and independent of competition, cardiovascular health is always going to be benefitted by keeping as low saturated fat content, and I think that Melanie would agree with that. Independent of competition, you’re trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and keeping very low on saturated fat is going to give you much more unprocessed carbohydrates and a better balance, probably.

David: Great question, Juan, we appreciate it, and thanks for your responses, everybody. Janice, before we go to the next question, I actually want to ask a question to Keena. Knowing Keena, she is probably just bursting to participate. We ’ve been focusing on nutrition and physiology, but Keena, I’d like to ask you if I could. This is my first time asking a question as a coach. Before on the show you’ve been on as an Iron Man triathlete, but the question I wanted to ask you was, for athletes who are considering whether or not they should include a coach in their training plan, what are some of the benefits can leverage from a coach that they just can’t get from self‑coaching?

Keena: Oh, good question. You know, I think the main thing is objectivity. I think that with most people there is ego involved, and it’s hard for them to train correctly. A lot of them think that if a little is good, a lot is better, and if kind of fast is good, then all the time fast is better. So I think that the number one thing that a coach can offer is that they’re able to really manage the athlete’s training to be as effective and make them the best athlete they can with what they have. Sometimes that will help if you get an injury, and making their motivation so they don’t get overtrained and burned out, and just that aspect of it is huge for most people.

David: I imagine you would be able to step outside and also be able to tell people, “Hey, you are good at this,” and also, “Hey, you are not very good at this, this is one of your weaknesses, we have to spend more time in the pool,” let’s say.

Keena: Exactly. And most especially beginner triathletes, it is the swim portion, I would say 95 percent of the people I work with, it’s the swim that really is what they are needing to work on. So that’s even more helpful having a coach, because now you have a pair of outside eyes that are giving you helpful tips and correct form and stuff like that. So it really does help, so instead of the person just swimming back and forth, ingraining bad habits in their body, now they have someone that is able to stop and say, “Hey, okay, let ’s work on this,” and notes this drill, and so they’re able to actually become more efficient in the water and hopefully get more confidence in that arena as well.

David: Thanks, Keena. Heath’s over here shaking his head, saying, “The swim’s not hard.” He’s saying, “What are you talking about?” If you’ve been swimming since you were 5, then it’s probably not that hard. All right, Janice, if we can go to the next question on the phones.

Janice: The next question is coming from Jessie in San Diego. Go ahead with your question, J essie.

David: Good, Jessie.

Jessie: Hi. How are you doing?

David: Good.

Jessie: Good. I am calling because I have raced before, but it has been about two years, because there is a baby in there somewhere.

Heath: That always messes it up.

Jessie: But it was a good break. Anyway, so I haven’t done anything for a while, I’ve been kind of maintaining with just a half hour of cardio a week and some light Pilates and stuff like that. But I am anxious to be more competitive this time. I want to improve my scores and my times and things like that, and I kind of don’t know where to begin. Do you have any suggestions on, like, reading material, or just suggestions here of what I should work on? Swimming is definitely my weakness, biking is my strength, and running is mediocre at best, but just generally, where should I pick up again?

David: Keena, I’m going to direct this question back to you as the coach, and also, Jessie, if I can ask again real quick, what distance are you looking to get back into. Just any distance?

Jessie: Yeah, I’ve done Olympic and sprint both, and I really like the Olympic. I think it’s probably what I would really focus on right now.

David: Okay, great. Keena, so someone who hasn’t raced for a couple of years, coming back in Jessie’s case, maybe their body’s a little bit different than it was a couple of years ago after a baby. What’ s your advice for getting back into the sport?

Keena: All righty. Well, the first thing is, how far away is the race?

Jessie: It’s not until June, and I’m not completely out of shape. I’ve been losing weight and maintaining a little bit.

Keena: How old is your baby? How long has it been?

Jessie: About a year old.

Keena: Okay, great, so you’re ready to go. It sounds to me like if your race is in June, and you’ve been training – I mean, you’ve been exercising, you said a half an hour a week of cardio.

Jessie: Well, no, a half hour a day. I just haven’t been able to . . . you know, I’m at a point now where I can get to the pool again and stuff like that, and so . . .

Keena: Yeah, great. Well then I would think the first thing you need to do is really build up your aerobic base again. It sounds like you have maybe about eight weeks, so truthfully, I would spend at least the first four just staying in a lower heart rate zone, and maintaining, just building up your body’s ability to transport the oxygen and the nutrients that your body is going to need to do the race. I wouldn’t really worry so much about speed and all of that until the last, maybe not at all, depending on how important this race is. But you want to maintain a really good broad aerobic base. And then if you have more races throughout the season, then you can start adding more speed as you get more of a base of aerobic ability. Because your body is going to get injured, and you’re going to have problems if you go from what you have been doing to all of a sudden saying, “Okay, I have a race in eight weeks, I’m going to start going as fast as I can on my training.” So, you want to maintain that heart rate zone. If you don’t know your heart rate zones, you might want to pick up – I think the best book you could get for training is by Joe Fiel. It’s call The Triathlete’s Training Bible.

Jessie: Yeah, okay, I’ve seen that.

Keena: That will give you such – I mean, if you’re not going to go through a coach, that’s the second best thing. It’s going to give you the information you need to get the proper training, so that you’re spending your time . . . I have four kids, I know what it’s like to try to get your training in there.

Jessie: Yeah

Keena: So you want to make sure that your training is as effective as possible. So if you’re not going to have a coach, I would recommend getting that book, and following the processes that it will lead you to.

Keena: Yeah. Be patient with it, and, you know, give your body the time it needs to get ready for that race, by putting in quality training.

David: Keena, thank you very much. Thank you, Jessie. And anyone who’s a long‑time listener of the show knows that the Triathlete’s Training Bible is highly endorsed by myself, and also, Jessie, right on with Keena’s comments. The common cause of injury is increasing your volume, or increasing your intensity. Those ae the two recipes, if you don’t do it at the right pace, then you’re going to be increasing your chance for injury.

Hey, speaking of pregnancy, actually I have another . . . before we move on to the next question by phone, I had an email come in from another young mother triathlete, who write – if I could address this to you, Diane – this is Kristin regarding plantar fasciitis. “I keep coming back slowly from pregnancy, and it comes right back with me, which undermines my ability to stick to a running plan. Should I run at all?” Any advice for Kristin, Diane?

Diane: I wouldn’t recommend running at all if she can’t even walk or if she has pain in general, just walking or doing daily activities. Like I said with the IT band, the most important thing is to determine what is causing it. Is it overuse, is it a biomechanical problem? Does the foot overpronate? Is she real flat‑footed? Does she have tight calf muscles? Once again, getting to the root of the cause would help determine when it is appropriate to start running again, and maybe seeking some professional guidance, and seeing why she continues to have the problem.

David: Diane, thank you very much. Kristin, I wish you best of luck with that, hope you have a speedy recovery. All right, Janice, we can go to the next question on the phones.

Janice: The next question is a followup question from Bill of Ellicott City.

David: Excellent. Bill, you got in twice. That’s fantastic! What’s up?

Bill: Okay, I have another question. It’s not really a followup to the high cadence question, but it is a question on swimming. I have a race coming up April 21, and the water temperature is 53. It’s a half Iron Man. What could you recommend or what would you recommend for swimming in 53‑degree water? I wear a long john wet suit.

David: You know, I pointed at Heath, because he’s our swimming expert, and he’s swum in open water quite a bit, but I’m going to answer this first myself, and then I’ll get some followup help from the panelists. I also raced in the California half Iron Man last year, which had similar water. It was in the low 50’s, and you might remember listening to an episode, I think it was episode 24, we had a couple of first‑time Iron Men on the show. My good buddy in that race had a long john in that degree of water, and he was pulled for hypothermia along with eleven other racers. So I would say that at 53‑degree water temperature, you actually only have about 30 to 45 minutes on average before you really start getting – actually, much less time than that without a wet suit, but even with a wet suit, there were a lot of very, very cold athletes, and my buddy had the long john. So with 53‑degree water, if the course is going to allow you to wear the neoprene headgear, which will keep your head warm, and even the footies and gloves they allowed in this race last year, because the recognized the water was so cold. I would say it’s not worth shaving a couple of minutes off your time to not wear that extra warmth in that cold water, because especially, not only do you have to finish the swim, you have to get out of the water, and then get on the bike wet and cold, and that could make you even colder. My buddy was in the tent with an hour with hypothermia before he was able to come back out and finish the race. Heath, any other thoughts? You’ve been out in open water before. What’s that 53 degrees going to feel like for Bill?

Heath: Yeah, the cold water question always comes up, and me as a swimmer growing up, I absolutely hate cold water. I was just out at the California half just a couple of weeks ago, and I was so cold the morning of, that it was the first time ever that I actually was debating whether to actually get in the water, and it was 60 degrees. But, I would really recommend getting a full wet suit, those are just a lot warmer. And what I would do is make sure you dress really warm, just even the morning of, so that your body is very warm, and put your wet suit on pretty early so you’re already heated up in the wet suit. Tyr – and there are a lot of companies that make these types of caps – but Tyr makes a very good, pretty thin cap that is a thermal cap, that I used out in Oceanside, so I had that on, and the normal cap that I had to wear for the race. And when I got in the water, it took a little bit of getting used to, to get the water in the wet suit heated up, but I actually warmed up very, very quickly, and I was fine for the whole rest of the race, and it was great for the swim. So that is what I would really recommend. Make sure ‑‑ and like David said, the booties and the mittens and stuff that you can wear at some of these races, that’s even another option. At 53, that’s pretty cold, that’s a big difference between the 60 degrees where it was at Oceanside. So, make sure that you do the cap. Get a full‑body wet suit. The long john just isn’t going to be enough for you.

David: Yeah, and Bill, if your race director is not going to allow those caps and booties and mittens, have him contact the race director for Oceanside, and he’ll set him straight, because at that temperature he really should do that. Hey, I want to direct actually one more question now to Keena before we go back to the phones. Keena, as you’ve coached different levels for athletes, you’ve coached elite triathletes, you’ve coached amateurs, just age groupers. Excluding athletic ability, Keena – so we all know athletic ability and genetics is the most important factor for race performance – but after that, what’s the most important quality for an triathlete to have?

Keena: Oh, boy. You know what? I would honestly say that it would have to be your mental attitude. I mean, you can have the physical ability, but if you don’t have the right mental strength, you’re going to have a tough time in this sport. So for me, if I have someone that has mediocre ability, but they’ve got the right mental attitude, they’re going to have a lot of success. And for most people, triathlons, you know, you’ve got Heath whose a pro and this is going to be for a living, but the rest of us, we’re doing it because it enhances our lifestyle, and it makes us feel better, and it gives us a goal, and there’s so many other positive aspects to it. So when I am working with someone, if they’ve got a good attitude, if they’re enjoying the process, if they know that the training is just as enjoyable as the racing, and if they can feel the positives that they’re gaining by participating in the sport, that’s what is going to make for a successful triathlete. It all comes down to mental. Even when you’re racing, like in the cold water, I was going to butt in and say, you know, when you get in that cold water, one of the first things you have to do is remind yourself, number one, I chose to do this, and number two, I’m going to enjoy this. Because I could just be sitting in my bed, just not doing anything. And instead you’re out in the water, it’s a beautiful morning, and you’re pushing yourself to new limits. So a lot of times when you’re in a tough situation in a race, like that freezing water, or you’ve got trouble on the bike, if you can remind yourself, that, you know what, this is a blessing. I’m just happy to be out here doing it, and participating in something that’s really great. Then, all of a sudden, you’re not going to be so bothered by the trials that are doing to come up during the race or during training.

David: Mental attitude. You know, you used the term success several times there, and I want to point out that on Tri‑Talk, there is the occasional human side to the podcast. We mostly focus on the science and speed, but I think it’s important to point out, even from my perspective, someone who likes the physics and the physiology and the science, that success does not mean fast always. Success does not mean that you are going to be on the podium in your age group every time you race. Success is, I think, having a great time, and you enjoy the sport and love it, and you can’t have success at any level without that positive mental attitude. So thank you Keena, I appreciate that insight. Janice, if I can go to the next question on the phones.

Janice: The next question is coming from Joe in Seattle. Go ahead, Joe.

Joe: Well, hello. So, I’ve got a question. I know it may be somewhat individual, but training for a 70.3, I’m in about the fifth week of a twenty‑week training plan. It’s a great training plan, but I am curious, I have one full day off a week where I don’t do anything, and I’m just curious, how much should you really work into in your recovery, where you just do not do anything, and how often when you wake up one morning, and you just feel that “I’m just too worn out to do anything today,” and should you go out and do it, or should you take a day off? And this would be directed probably to Heath and to Keena.

David: Great, I’ll go . . . since Keena just answered, Heath, if I could have you take that one for me.

Heath: Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s one that most athletes, and especially triathletes, are notorious to ‑‑ just like Keena said earlier, about if fast is good, faster is better, and if long is good, then longer is better. So we have that tendency to just push too hard to keep going and going and going, and we just don’t listen to our bodies. Myself, as a pro, I have to really, really be careful to not push too hard, and I really have to listen to my body, and that’s really the best advice I would give you, is to really listen to your body. If you wake up ‑‑ and obviously if you’re waking up every morning and saying, “Aw, I just don’t want to go out,” there’s some mornings you need to just get yourself out and do the workout. But, if there’s a day that you wake up, or whatever, and maybe you’re just real fatigued, that’s your body saying that you need to slow down a little bit. You need to take a little break and let your body recover. So that day of recovery is really important to actually take.

David: Yeah, and if I can chime in on that, too, Joe, I’m a little – there are different opinions on that day off. Some people may want to take a day off for purely recovery reasons, it may be even some religious reasons, but there is a lot of different literature out there on if you should take the day off, or even have a day of light spinning. I believe in the day off, I believe in having the full day off mentally as well as physically. Maybe when you’re a professional triathlete, you may not have that luxury, but for the 98 percent of us mortals, I think taking that day off as a mental break is just as important. Also, again this is hypocritical of me, but there should be some flexibility in your training schedule. I would encourage you to look at your training schedule, not necessarily, even though you bought maybe a twenty‑week plan that covers week by week, is that you don’t necessarily have to take your training plan and look at it just as a week. You can modify that and say, “you know what, I’m going to look at this as a nine‑day training block, not a seven‑day training block, and as part of this nine‑day training block, I may have two days of recovery in there instead of one per seven, I might have two days in that nine.” As Heath said, you want to listen to your body, have some flexibility, and if you need to adjust, then adjust.

Heath: You know . . .

David: Oh, sorry, go ahead Heath.

Heath: And I know that Michellie Jones, you know, she is an extremely good professional athlete, I know her training schedule, I don’t know what it is exactly right now, but it used to be where she would actually do two days of training fairly hard for her training days, and then she would actually take a day off. Two days training, take a day off. That was her routine for a long time, where she would actually take quite a few days off, but she would have those really physical days that she would train, and then give her body that recovery time. Your body needs that recovery time, and the best advice is really listen to your body.

David: The irony is, Joe, when it comes to the physiology of increased fitness, is that the increased fitness actually only occurs during rest. So you’re not actually increasing fitness as you’re going out and doing those intervals on the bike or the run. You’re actually breaking your body down, you’re becoming less fit at that point in the short term. The only way you get more fit is with that rest, so you can come back in the next workout, work out even harder, break your body down even more, and progressively, though steps of breaking your body down and recovery, that’s how you get to that peak level of fitness. Great question, Joe, we appreciate it.

Hey, we’ve only got time for a couple more questions, we want to keep this under 45 minutes, as we’ve talked about. Janice, do we have any further questions from the phones?

Janice: No, there are no further questions from the callers at this time.

David: That’s perfect. If that’s the case, then, this is a great time for us to wrap up. I really appreciate all the callers who have called in, and the panel. I want to especially thank them for coming in today and taking some of their time to do this. I’ll have the contact information up on the Tri‑Talk website for all of our participants, if you’d like to contact them for any of their professional services. We want to leave that option open to you. Thanks again to Keena Schaerrer , Heath Thurston, Melanie Hingle, Diane Haupt, and Dr. Bill Thompson for their time today. Episode 39 will be released on April 28, and I will be including what I hope will be a ground‑breaking report. For those of you who are trying to qualify for Iron Man Hawaii, I hope you’ll really enjoy the information I’ll be giving out in two weeks, and I’ll see you in two weeks. Janice, you can go ahead and close the call now.

Janice: Thank you ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today’s conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time, and have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for your participation.