Tri Talk Triathlon Podcast

The audio for this podcast can be listened to here.

A ranking of 8 common cycling training elements, and a look at the dark side of the corporate triathlon. Will it bring out the best or worst in the athletes? All that, and more, on this extended-cut version of Tri Talk.

Welcome to Tri Talk, your podcast source for triathlon tips, training, news and more. You’ll recall in Episode 45 I expressed my hope that the US and Iran, both with Tri Talk listeners, could focus more on what we had in common than not. Within days the US and Iran announced formal talks. Coincidence? I think not! My diplomatic 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 46.Welcome to this extended-cut edition of Tri Talk, which really just means an extra-long episode. What happens when you take a look at 35 separate cycling studies? The result is a fairly good understanding of exactly how certain cycling elements improve your performance. I’ll take some time and review an outstanding publication that takes an objective look at the results of multiple cycling studies to help determine what really works. Finally, in what I consider to be the most anticipated moment in Tri Talk for 2007, I’ll take you inside the corporate on-site triathlon. It is a study in courage, determination, and departmental bragging rights.

You can send in your comments and questions to david@tri-talk.com, and don’t forget to visit the Tri Talk website at www.tri-talk.com for episode transcripts, videos, original research and the popular archived unpublished Tri Talk episodes. I’m a little behind in responding to e-mails, but I answer each and every on I receive.

Thanks to you who have taken the time to submit your information to the Tri Talk Research Study, which is well on its way to be one of the largest triathlon studies ever undertaken. But I can’t do it without you. Visit the website to contribute to this research, and click on Research. Also thank you for your feedback on the beta Tri Talk Nutrition Calculator. I have received some excellent feedback that will improve the accuracy of the tool, and even some great questions that I still need to research to find an answer.

If you like triathlon podcasts, and my gut tells me that you do, you simply must visit the Triathlete Magazine website at triathletemag.com to get a dozen more triathlon podcasts. Their latest podcast is a must-hear article on swimming, one of the best swimming articles I have heard in a long time.

Episode 43 included an interview with Ryan Danforth, owner of powertri.com and poster-child for scientifically applied triathlon training. He completed his first tapered A race of the year last week, and our first chance to see him in at his best. Of 130 in his age group who started the 2007 Spudman, he came into T2 in second place, just seconds behind the age-group leader. However, when he got to the rack which held his T2 bag, it had been moved from the spot where he put it. It took several volunteers over a minute to locate it for him, which was the difference between 3rd and 5th place. Transitions and bad luck are part of the sport, but 5/130 is still not a bad race. Congratulations to Casey Kleinman, Craig Ward, Bart Davis, and Derick Harris for rounding out the top 5 of that age group. Rumor has it that the Spudman will expand to 2,200 slots next year, making it one of the largest Olympic distance races in the country. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone.

Let’s get onto the good stuff! An outstanding study released in the New Zealand publication Sports Medicine took a look at 35 separate cycling studies in an attempt to validate the performance impact of 8 common cycling components and training elements. Taking these 35 studies, they created a model to determine the precise performance improvement over a 40K time trial for each of those 8 elements. These were not necessarily the overall top 8 cycling elements, which could be a rather subjective selection, but rather the top 8 that had substantial and independent research to support the performance gains. Essentially, what are the top 8 things a cyclist can do that have proven and independent performance results.

Let’s find out! Most of these items are no surprise. But it is nice to see some validation and numbers around these elements. I’ll also put some data around the cost per second saved, similar to what you saw in Episode 35 and the Tri Talk Top 20. In fact, the Tri Talk Top 20 was recently updated and modified thanks to some excellent data from this study, and I encourage you go and revisit it on the website if you have not seen it lately. I’ll break with tradition and go from #1 to #8, instead of a typical descending order. All time saved given is based on a 40K time trial with 2 m/sec head and tailwinds, with 10K of the 40K at a 1% grade of ascent. Also, it is based on an already well-trained cyclist, who can do a 40K time trial in about an hour. Time savings for a novice cyclist would be even more than the numbers given.

The top thing that a cyclist can do to improve performance is, no surprise, improve their aerodynamic position. For example, a trained cyclist switching from riding on the hoods to an aerodynamic position on aerobars will save about 5 minutes. But, from moving to a good aerodynamic position to a great aerodynamic position will shave an additional 2 minutes off of your time. With bike fitting costing anywhere from $75 to $150, this is an outstanding return on your investment, at only about $1.20 per second saved. Even if you think you are already aero, it’s worth the $100 to get a second opinion. I paid $100 to a FIST certified fitter who spent 30 minutes and told me not to change a thing, and it was worth every penny for the confidence that it gave me in my position.

The second most important factor is to train. Duh. But, let’s put some numbers around that. High intensity training for several weeks can take an already well-trained cyclist, and improve their 40K time trial by 2.3 to 3.5 percent. That’s 83 to 126 seconds over that 40K ride. What is the cost associated with training? Assuming a cost model that does not count time spent, but rather only “hard” costs, this is the most economical way to improve performance. Now, if you are someone who makes money hourly, there is some lost opportunity cost associated with training. It may cost you $500 a week to spend 10 hours training if you could have made $50 an hour for that same 10 hours. However, as far as hard costs, training is a freebie.

Third, a tri bike frame itself is expected to improve performance by about 86 seconds. That results in about $25 per second for a $2,100 bike. Still not a bad investment.

Fourth is caffeine. I think this may be the most under-utilized item in endurance sports. It’s almost too good to be true, but there is tons of research to back it up. 2-3 mg of caffeine per pound of body weight taken in 1 hour before exercise will improve your time trial by 63 seconds. And that does not even count how it will still be kicking in on your run. The question is not is caffeine effective, the question is as a diuretic, can your bladder handle it. And can you find it in sufficient doses to be effective. Most sports gels only have 25-50mg of caffeine, so you would have to down about 6 of those an hour before racing, and that’s a bit much. Even those energy drinks only have about 100mg. Regardless, is you can handle it, 63 seconds on the bike for a few bucks in caffeine is a worthy investment.

Fifth is carbohydrates. This is another no-brainer, but the study validated some nice numbers around it. An 8% carbohydrate solution, or just about any sports drink, improved performance by 36 seconds for a well-trained cyclist. My personal recommendation is e-gels from Crank Sports. We’re looking at pennies per second saved by spending a buck or two on sports drink for that 36 seconds.

Sixth is altitude training. This is a total coincidence that I just talked about this in episode 44. I didn’t come across this latest study until after I did my research on altitude training for that earlier episode. However, this study supports what I reported earlier. Altitude training is only effective when the athlete lives high and trains low. While most studies took a look at altitude training for runners, this study used a mathematical formula to theorize a 26 second improvement over a 40K for a well-trained cyclist. However, how practical is this to apply to a regular triathlete? Remember from episode 44, that the only studies to prove altitude training benefits are when the athlete lives at over 8,000 feet and trains at less than 4,100 feet. I don’t know if I can even put a cost associated with this, but I’m sure it would be quite high, and the dollars per second significant.

Seventh, the riders weight, which was also discussed in episode 41, with a loss of 5 pounds resulting in 21 seconds saved for a well-trained cyclist. This was mostly due to the reduced drag from the decreased rider surface area, rather than a performance gain from the reduced weight by itself. This is another free way to gain some speed, to get down to your optimal healthy body composition.

Finally, how about bike weight? Coming in at eighth on this report, this was discussed in episode 41, and I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but shaving 5 pounds off of your bike will save you a whopping 7 seconds. The cost of that 5 pounds will probably cost you an extra $2,000 - $3,000. Focusing on bike weight is probably the most inefficient use of your money. However, today’s light bikes are typically carbon, and there are other benefits to a carbon bike other than weight, namely vibration dampening. Also, spending money on light components that are rotational components, like wheels, cranks, hubs, pedals, shoes, etc. is a very good idea because those rotational items should be as light as possible. But if you are spending good money on static components, or components that have no or very little rotational movement like extra light chains, cables, cable housing, brake levers, front derailleurs, etc. I hate to say it but you are wasting your money. If 5 pounds saves you 7 seconds, the 1 pound savings from these non-frame static components will save you less than a second. Choose these kind of components based on their quality, price, and aerodynamics. Now, if the most aerodynamic brake lever also happens to be the lightest, great! But spending $80 on carbon skewers is ridiculous. Now you may be saying, “but David, what about hills”? Yes, bike weight becomes more of a factor in hills, but only when the grade is 3% or higher for at least 20K or more, without a corresponding 20K descent. Also, that 7 seconds already factors in a time trial with 10K uphill at a 1% grade. But, if you are racing in a triathlon that has 12 miles of 3 percent grade ascent, and the race ends 12 miles higher than when it started, you would then save 42 seconds for a full 5 pounds of bike weight. I am unaware of any triathlon course in the country that has these conditions, but there are probably several stages of stage racing that do. Otherwise, you are spending hundreds of dollars per second saved on light static bike components. Why do I get so passionate about this subject? Deep breath.

Again, this is not an all-inclusive list, but rather a list of substantiated results. I’m sure that many of you are feeling that some items have been excluded, like power meters. But I would place that under the training section. Training with intensity and power for an already well-trained cyclist will get you those 2 minute savings over that 40K, and much more for a novice cyclist.

Moving on! It may come as a surprise to you, but I don’t podcast for a living. Well, maybe it’s not a surprise to you, but the podcast sponsorship and even the local coaching I provide I do because I love to do it, not because I make a little money on the side.

My real job is the one that pays the bills. I manage a team of technical support engineers in the Service department of a major software company, and with 13 years seniority, the generous compensation and work hours have always given me the time to pursue my other hobbies outside of work. It will probably take another couple of years of work before I’m able to podcast and coach fulltime, but until then, I like my job and especially the people I work with.

There is only one stressful part about my job. Every spring I begin to feel a pressure building. It starts with sideways glances from co-workers in the corporate fitness center as I enter the room. Weeks later the glances escalate to comments like, “Hey, David. You staying in shape this year?” or even “What’s your workout like today?” Finally, all the polite facades begin to melt away, as the inquisitions become bold and direct, until they climax into the one question that causes my palms to break out in a sweat. “Hey, David, are you going to win the corporate triathlon this year?” Join me as I take you inside the dark and underground world of the on-site fitness center corporate triathlon.

(Transcript for this section not available. The full podcast can be listened to here)

I want to thank John from Sales for being such a good sport in the production of this mocumentary. What I did not include in the report was that John had a skiing accident over the winter, and came into the race still a bit gimpy. But if you had known that, it would have removed all the tension from the story.

A reminder to members of USA Triathlon. Your electronic ballots become available August 1st. Visit www.usatriathlon.org and take just a few minutes to influence the future of this growing sport. For those of you from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and El Paso County, Texas you have the power to vote me in or out of the office of Regional Director. Can I request that you visit the site, review the other candidate’s platforms, and cast your vote, which you can do all on-line.

Next episode will be released on August 16. I realized the other day that I have received so many outstanding questions via e-mail, and I have done some significant research and responses, but just to that one person. I’d like to take a selection of your best e-mail questions and responses for the focus of episode 47. See you next time!

The audio for this podcast can be found here.

The beta Tri Talk Nutrition Calculator referenced in the podcast can be found here.

The science behind race-day nutrition strategies, and what is more important? Swim power or swim hydrodynamics? All that, and more, today on Tri Talk.

Welcome to Tri Talk, your podcast source for triathlon tips, training, news and more. A specific hello to new listeners in New Jersey and Iran. In New Jersey, I hope you feel ready and tapered for the New Jersey State Triathlon, which is rapidly approaching, and in Tehran, although I couldn’t find a specific race close to Tehran, welcome to the small but solid listening force from that part of the world. All politics aside, despite any ideological differences between our two governments, the fact that you and I both love triathlon reminds me that we probably all have more in common than not. My goal at Tri Talk, in addition to world peace, 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 45.

Tri Talk has tackled controversies such as wheel weight vs. wheel aerodynamics, cycling power vs. aerodynamics, ego vs. achievement, and bike weight vs. rider weight. Let’s take a look today at a study that sheds light on the two swim philosophies of power vs. hydrodynamics. Also in the show, how does a triathlete calculate the number of calories required for an event? Do you just accept a number that some one tells you, or can you calculate a more precise amount to ensure that you are not taking in too much, which can introduce stomach problems, or too little which can cause you to bonk. The answer is yes, you can calculate it based on your individual factors such as weight, race distance, and fitness level, and I’ll walk you through. Finally, although I make every effort to make this a global production, because I live and race in North America occasionally there is a slant for my particular geography. I do have a special message and announcement for triathletes living in my area of the world at the end of the show.You can send in your comments and questions to david@tri-talk.com, and don’t forget to visit the Tri Talk website at www.tri-talk.com for episode transcripts, videos, original research and the popular archived unpublished Tri Talk episodes.

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 discount code “TriTalk15″ at checkout. And as always, you’ll enjoy Free Ground Shipping on any orders over $49. Check them out at PowerTri.com today!

I have two quick topics to cover before I get on to the good stuff. First, I am delighted with the initial response to the request for you to submit your race results to Tri Talk. You’ll recall I announced last episode the creation of a repository of race results on Tri Talk, not just for the benefit of race results themselves, but to correlate them to other factors like height, weight, years of experience, and income. I want to thank you for exceeding my expectations in how many I have been able to collect so far. If I had every one of Tri Talk’s listeners submit their data to this research, it would be a pool of over 11,000 samples, possibly the greatest volume of triathlon performance data of its type ever collected. If you want to give back to this free Tri Talk podcast, this is one way you can. And, it will come right back to help you because I’ll share the results with you as soon as we get enough samples. You might as well submit your info soon because I’ll make you feel guilty every 3rd episode until you do. Just go to www.tri-talk.com and click on Research.

Second, in Episode 43 I interviewed one of the local athletes that I coach, Ryan Danforth, who has now come in 2nd, 1st, and 4th in his division in his first three practice races of the year, as we wrap up his peak training and begin to taper him for his race season. The result of that interview was a deluge of e-mails asking me about my coaching services, and I need to quickly address that. I currently don’t provide remote coaching. My ability to work directly with athletes and observe them is a key to helping them reach their goals. I face the challenge that most entrepreneurs face as their business begins to succeed. How do you expand and grow a business, while not compromising the quality of the product that got your there in the first place? However, in the fall of this year I will begin a beta test with a small group of remote athletes to see if I feel that I can provide a valuable product without being there next to the athlete, and I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you are dying to get your training to the next level and get a coach, there are dozens of outstanding coaches who offer on-line and remote coaching, many of them with the same scientific philosophy and more experience than I can bring to the table. Your problem as an athlete should not be a lack of choice in the coaching market. If you need a coach, don’t wait around for me.

Alright, let’s get onto the good stuff! For those of you without a swimming background, the bottleneck for improved race performance is often trying to nail the swim. The technique and practice required to excel at swimming is enough to make anyone take a serious look at duathlon. While there is almost universal agreement that the best way to improve swimming is not to just swim, swim, swim, but rather incorporate drills and power or strength training into your swim regimen. There have been two main philosophies in swim training: swimming to reduce drag, and swimming to improve power. In fact, there has even been some significant public sparring between swim coaches on where the focus should be. So as an up and coming swimmer, where you spend your time when you get to the pool? Do you pull out the paddles, or start practicing swimming on your side?

A group from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis provided a unique experiment that helps to clarify this issue. As published in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal, and subsequently in the journal Nature, the team got permission to drain a swimming pool of its water, and replace it with a fluid with twice the thickness of water, which was best described as swimming in snot. Hey, I’m only repeating the information, that description is straight from the article.

The researchers then took 16 swimmers, ranging from competitive to recreational, and had them swim at the same effort in the regular water, and then again in the thick water and compared their times. What do you think happened?

Let’s trash this out a bit. For the sake of argument, I’m going to position this from two polar points of view. Let’s say that you and I believe that reducing drag is paramount over power in swimming performance. If that was the case, and you took the same swimmer, with the same form, same technique, at the same effort, and all that you changed was increasing the density the fluid that they swim in, and therefore drag, the swimmers should have gone slower. Again, if the argument for swimming streamlined is that it reduces drag, and therefore you swim faster, the natural proposition is that if you increase drag, either through the swimmer’s poor form or in this case by the increased drag from the fluid itself, then you would swim slower.

On the other hand, if you are in the power camp, and believe that generating force is the primary way to increase speed, what would you expect from making the water twice as thick? If you don’t believe that hydrodynamics is as important as force, the increased drag may not concern you. In fact, the increased density of the fluid should make you go slightly faster, since you have more matter now to grab as part of the catch phase of your stroke. Think of it like riding your bike downhill, and you find that you have very little resistance in your pedal stroke. If you switch gears to one with more resistance, you can generate more potential power. Doubling the density of the fluid you swim in is like switching gears.

So what did actually happen? It is interesting that I shared this study with my brother, who is not a triathlete but is a genius, and without telling him the results of the study he predicted the outcome. I bet you may have already concluded in your head what the results were as well. I know that when I first began to read the report, I concluded that the result would be, but I was dead wrong.

In fact, the swimmers swam no faster or slower in the thick fluid. The researchers concluded that the effects of increased drag were canceled out by the ability to produce more force from the denser water. Note again that these were swimmers from the recreational to the competitive level, and that the result was the same for all 16 swimmers. Not that all 16 swimmers swam the same speed, but rather that all 16 swam at their same individual speed in both fluid types. Had one set of swimmers performed better than another set in the dense water, we could have looked at whether that set of swimmers used a different technique to get those results. This study appears to confirm that the forces of drag and propulsion are equal forces when swimming.

OK, so what is the point for a triathlete? First, if you ever find yourself falling into a vat of snot-like fluid, don’t panic. You should be able to swim in it just fine. Second, am I making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be? Possibly. But to me this study independently confirms what the best swimmers and coaches already know: you need both reduced drag and increased power and momentum to swim better. Adopting a philosophy that espouses one over the other is risky. And, as you’ll recall from Episode 44, I propose to you that swimming is really three main components. Hydrodynamics, power, and as discussed last episode, symmetry.

By the way, the July edition of Triathlete Magazine has an excellent article on swimming, along these same lines, that discusses that in additiona to the universals of good swimming, what are the additional skills that make good swimmers great. That article will also be available on the triathletemag.com website as a podcast within a few days of this podcast. Also, I want to give credit to Tri Talk listener Adam Beston for finding the article we just discussed in Nature and sending it on to me.

OK, moving on. I have received some feedback recently that Tri Talk is like an encyclopedia, and just as boring as reading an encyclopedia. My response to that comment is, “thank you for the compliment.” Seriously, my purpose for the podcast is not to entertain. There are some other great podcasts out there that do just that. My goal is to help you swim, bike, and run faster. But I can do that either by telling how to train, or teaching you how to train. I think you will be a better triathlete if I teach you reasons behind solid training principles. Even if the training principle I talk about isn’t new to you, I hope that you will come away from it understanding why that training principle works the way it does.
This next topic is one such topic. I want to teach you the reason behind race nutrition planning, not just tell you how much you need to eat. One of the top 5 questions I am asked by triathletes is “how much should I eat when racing”, particularly for half-ironman and ironman triathletes. So let’s get started on understanding how you can calculate your best race-nutrition strategy. Stay with me here, this is excellent information.

The first point to review is that our bodies use both fat and carbohydrates for fuel, with the occasional use of protein as a fuel source, but that is the exception. We’ll focus on fat and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are ultimately broken down into glycogen and then stored in the muscles and liver. The average lean triathlete will have about 2,000 calories of glycogen in reserves after 24 hours of recovery from previous exercise. What is astonishing, is that the same lean male triathlete will store over 70,000 calories of fat, and the average not-so-lean male who has 24% body fat will have over 140,000 calories of fat storage! With that much available energy, even for the lean athlete, why do we even have to take in calories, when we have that much energy available to us. 70,000 calories is enough energy to do 7 ironman races back-to-back.

The reason is because for any activity above a walk, our bodies will begin to use glycogen more and more for energy, and when we run out of glycogen we hit the wall, or “bonk”. At rest, our bodies are using almost exclusively fat for fuel, but at higher intensities the ratio quickly changes until we are using a very high percentage of glycogen for fuel. Therefore, racing at any distance or intensity, your glycogen stores will start to get lower and lower.

This first concept is important to understand. I have new triathletes who assume that if they are burning about 900 calories an hour in a race, that they need to take in 900 calories an hour for their sprint distance or Olympic distance race. But remember, if you are starting out with 2,000 calories of glycogen in reserves, you can finish a Sprint distance race without taking in any calories, just taking in fluids. Even if you are an relatively unfit athlete, with lower muscle mass and therefore lower glycogen reserves, and let’s say only 1,500 calories of glycogen, if you burned 1,000 calories per hour for 1.5 hours, you would still be ok. Why? because even at higher intensities, you would not be burning 100% of your fuel as glycogen, but about 80%, with the other 20% of your fuel coming from fat. Therefore that less-fit athlete would be burning only 800 calories per hour of glycogen for 1.5 hours, or only 1,200 calories of glycogen out of the 1,500 calories he started out in reserves.

Now, let’s take a look at Olympic distance racing. Nutrition becomes a bit more important. Let’s take a relatively fit triathlete with 2,000 calories in glycogen reserves. He will race at an intensity that burns 80% of his fuel as glycogen, 20% as fat. Based on this athlete’s weight, we estimate that the athlete will burn a total of 2,200 calories for the 2.5 hours of racing at that Olympic distance event. 80% of 2,200 is about 1,800 calories of glycogen. Theoretically, that athlete will have about 200 calories of glycogen left in the tank before he “bonks”. That is cutting it awfully close. That is why most coaches recommend an Olympic distance triathlete take in about 200 calories per hour. After that athlete gets out of the swim, if he were to take in a total of 400 calories over the last 2 hours, he would give himself a little bit of insurance, and have about 600 calories left in the bank.

Now, this can get a bit more complex. An athlete who is very fit, and very fast, will be burning more calories per hour at his higher intensity, but will also be racing for less hours because he is so much faster. These two factor effectively cancel each other out that that Olympic distance. However, as we become more fit, out bodies begin to use less glycogen for fuel and more fat for fuel, even at those higher intensities, and that same very fit athlete could be burning 77% of his energy as glycogen instead of 80% at the same intensity, therefore more fit athletes use even more fat for fuel, and less glycogen.

The bottom line for sprint and Olympic distance racing, is that you are safe taking in100-200 calories per hour without risk of stomach problems, and particularly at the Olympic distance where glycogen stores can be close to depleted under some circumstances, and that little extra helps.

OK, now what about the longer distances. Let’s take a look at an Ironman event. This same relatively fit athlete has 2,000 calories of glycogen in reserves. Based on this athletes weight and intensity, we estimate that he will burn a total of 8,500 calories for the duration of the race. An Ironman athlete is unlikely to race at an intensity equal to that of an Olympic attempt, and so this athlete will be burning 70% of his fuel through glycogen and 30% in fat at this lower intensity. Therefore the athlete will be burning 6,000 calories of glycogen. He started with 2,000 in reserves, and so he will need to take in at least 4,000 calories for the 11 hours on the bike and run, assuming the athlete will not eat during the swim. That is 360 calories per hour for the 11 hours just to break even, and it would be a good idea to have at least 1,000 calories if insurance, adding another 90 calories per hour, for a total of 450 calories per hour.

So, the equation for a triathlete is as follows:

- Take the estimated glycogen storage of the athlete based on fitness and muscle mass, anywhere from 1,500 to 2,300 calories. More fitness and more muscle mass means more glycogen.

- Calculate the total estimated calories burned for the race, based on intensity and body weight.

- Take the difference between calories burned and initial glycogen stores, add 400-1000 calories of “insurance”, and divide that by the number of hours on the bike and/or run to get the total calories per required per hour.

Now, if this seems too complicated to absorb via the podcast, I have two solutions for you. I’ll have this transcript up on the Tri Talk blog for you to read and go over the examples again. Or, I have created a beta version of an on-line calculator for you to try out. On the Tri Talk website, you can enter your estimated fitness level, weight, race distance, and intensity, and it will spit out an estimated calories per hour that you will need to finish the race strong. I’m interested in having some triathletes try this on-line calculator out to see if it matches with what their race nutrition strategy says. You can check it out as long as you are on the website entering in your race results as part of the Tri Talk research project, which all of you are going to participate in, right?

A few notes on race nutrition. First, you should use in training the amounts and types of nutrition that you will be racing with. Any calculation of what you will be taking in on race day should have been practiced in training and practice races. Second, this calculation is nice, but really you can take in as much as your body will allow. Even if you calculate that you only need 450 calories per hour, if you can take in 550 calories per hour without stomach problems, even better! This calculation is most valuable for athletes who suffer from GI problems or side stitches from taking in too much nutrition. This calculation might help you determine that you can get away with a lower amount of calories. Third, I have only covered the amount of calories, not the type of calories in this episode. I’ll cover the type of calories in another episode. Suffice it to say that you should be taking in mostly liquid or semi-liquid carbohydrates, but some athletes get away with all kinds of crazy combinations and solid food. Again, practice your nutrition before you race.

OK, let’s wrap things up. For those of you outside the United States, this concludes the section of the podcast that will help you swim, bike, and run faster. I don’t want to hold you hostage for the next 3 minutes for something that has no application to where you live, so you can hit the skip button and start the next audio file on your player.

However, for those of you in the United States, I want to take a moment and remind you that USAT elections will begin on August 1. This is a watershed year for USAT elections for a couple of reasons. First, USAT will hit 100,000 members sometime in August, a significant accomplishment. Second, this is the first year that USAT will be allowing electronic voting. This will have a tremendous impact on the election process for USAT. To give you an example, with the old mail-in ballot system from last year, the candidates for the National Board of Directors, not the Regional Board, but the National Board representing tens of thousands of athletes, the winning candidates received as little as 200 hundred votes.

This year, with electronic balloting, it is expected that more USAT members will participate in the election process. You have no idea how much you can influence the future of triathlon in the US by participating in this process. I encourage you to visit www.usatriathlon.org and read the candidates’ platforms in your region and cast your electronic vote.

I am also pleased to announce that I have submitted my name and am running for the Rocky Mountain Regional Board of Directors. For those of you in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and El Paso County, Texas, can I ask that you in particular take the time to visit the USAT website to review my platform and consider allowing me to represent our region to the national level. I am looking forward to taking my passion for the sport and influencing not only individual athletes, but the governing body as well.

That’s all for this episode. Don’t forget to visit www.tri-talk.com to checkout additional media and training resources, including the new Tri Talk Nutrition Calculator. I have a very special episode lined up for episode 46. I’ll be taking you inside one of the most brutal, competitive, and anticipated triathlons in the world. Yes, it is the infamous on-site fitness center corporate triathlon. You won’t want to miss this one. I’ll see you in a couple of weeks!