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Mile High Endurance Podcast

Mile High Endurance Podcast is recorded in the Rocky Mountain front range area in Denver, Colorado. 55 miles to the north is the triathlon 'Mecca' of Boulder, home of some of the most prominent pros in triathlon and related sports. 56 miles to the south is the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The Olympic Complex in Colorado Springs is the flagship training center for the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Olympic Training Center programs. The 110 mile stretch between Boulder and Colorado Springs is one of the fittest and athletic populated areas in the world. I share these statistics, not so much to brag but to give you the listener context for what the culture and vibe is here in the Mile High area. ​The objective of the Mile High Endurance Podcast is to connect you to the triathlon community and empower you to achieve your triathlon and fitness goals. Each month we will take subjects that you are interested in and connect your interests with news, expert interviews, and information about services and products in a way that inform your decisions to achieve your full potential in the sport.
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Now displaying: 2016
Dec 31, 2016

00:00 Intro

12:11 Lance Panigutti

26:52 Wrap up and Line up

Welcome to Episode #54 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm your host Rich Soares and I'm joined by co-host Khem Suthiwan.

 Thanks for giving us the next hour or so.  If you are new to Mile High Endurance, we welcome you.  It's our goal to bring you great weekly content to help you get the most out triathlon and related endurance sports.  Each week we interview new guests in the endurance sport industry to share their knowledge with you to inspire and educate on a variety of topics.  Topics range from training tips, products, services, and races.  If you are listening from a direct download link, be sure to go to your iTunes, Google Play or other podcast subscription service and subscribe to automatically download the latest episode to your phone. 

I announce the released episodes on Sunday morning on Twitter and Facebook, so be sure to follow the show on Twitter at MileHighPodcast and check out the Facebook Page at Mile High Endurance.  The episodes get released on iTunes and GooglePlay and other podcast subscription sites on Saturday evening, so if you subscribe to auto download, the show will be there on your phone ready for your Sunday morning training session.  

Before we get into today's interview, we want to thank Fred Jorgensen and Sarah Nielsen for joining us last week.  Fred, as you heard, is preparing to start is quest of successfully completing the Ultra Grand Slam in 2018.  The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning™ award is recognition for those who complete four of the oldest 100 mile trail runs in the U.S. The "Slam" consists of officially finishing the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run and the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run all in the same year. 

Sarah Nielsen joined us from South Suburban Parks and Rec to talk about the Reverse Indoor Triathlon they have scheduled in January.   This sounds like a fun event for those looking to try and indoor triathlon or to try something new.  If you are just starting out in the sport, this may be a race you want to take a look at.  As we heard from Sarah, the Tryathlon races and their run series are very affordable and have a low barrier to entry.

This week we keep it local talking to Lance Panigutti of Without Limits.  Ever since the news broke a couple of weeks ago that Lifetime Fitness sold the Bolder Peak to Without Limits and with Barry and Jodee Siff have packaged the

  • The Colorado Sprint Triathlon on June 3rd, 2017
  •  The Boulder Peak Triathlon on July 9th, 2017 complete with a Pro Prize Purse of $25,000!
  •  The Harvest Moon, which is the original 5430 Triathlon (Long Course) on September 17th, 2017

Into the 5430 Series.  In the interview, you will hear that the price for the combined 3 races is $300 plus processing fee.  That price for the series actually ends on December 31st at midnight.  We are releasing this week's episode a bit early to try and get the word out before the price goes up.

We'll talk about the Boulder Peak, the 5430 Series and all of the Without Limits lineup this year in the interview.  Let's get into the interview with Lance.  After that, we'll come back and talk about what's on deck for next week.

Welcome to Episode #54 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm your host Rich Soares and I'm joined by co-host Khem Suthiwan.

Thanks for giving us the next hour or so.  If you are new to Mile High Endurance, we welcome you.  It's our goal to bring you great weekly content to help you get the most out triathlon and related endurance sports.  Each week we interview new guests in the endurance sport industry to share their knowledge with you to inspire and educate on a variety of topics.  Topics range from training tips, products, services, and races.  If you are listening from a direct download link, be sure to go to your iTunes, Google Play or other podcast subscription service and subscribe to automatically download the latest episode to your phone. 

I announce the released episodes on Sunday morning on Twitter and Facebook, so be sure to follow the show on Twitter at MileHighPodcast and check out the Facebook Page at Mile High Endurance.  The episodes get released on iTunes and GooglePlay and other podcast subscription sites on Saturday evening, so if you subscribe to auto download, the show will be there on your phone ready for your Sunday morning training session.  

Before we get into today's interview, we want to thank Fred Jorgensen and Sarah Nielsen for joining us last week.  Fred, as you heard, is preparing to start is quest of successfully completing the Ultra Grand Slam in 2018.  The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning™ award is recognition for those who complete four of the oldest 100 mile trail runs in the U.S. The "Slam" consists of officially finishing the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run and the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run all in the same year. 

Sarah Nielsen joined us from South Suburban Parks and Rec to talk about the Reverse Indoor Triathlon they have scheduled in January.   This sounds like a fun event for those looking to try and indoor triathlon or to try something new.  If you are just starting out in the sport, this may be a race you want to take a look at.  As we heard from Sarah, the Tryathlon races and their run series are very affordable and have a low barrier to entry.

This week we keep it local talking to Lance Panigutti of Without Limits.  Ever since the news broke a couple of weeks ago that Lifetime Fitness sold the Bolder Peak to Without Limits and with Barry and Jodee Siff have packaged the

  • The Colorado Sprint Triathlon on June 3rd, 2017
  •  The Boulder Peak Triathlon on July 9th, 2017 complete with a Pro Prize Purse of $25,000!
  •  The Harvest Moon, which is the original 5430 Triathlon (Long Course) on September 17th, 2017

Into the 5430 Series.  In the interview, you will hear that the price for the combined 3 races is $300 plus processing fee.  That price for the series actually ends on December 31st at midnight.  We are releasing this week's episode a bit early to try and get the word out before the price goes up.

We'll talk about the Boulder Peak, the 5430 Series and all of the Without Limits lineup this year in the interview.  Let's get into the interview with Lance.  After that, we'll come back and talk about what's on deck for next week.

Dec 25, 2016

0:00:00 Intro and merry Christmas

0:10:14 Sarah Neilsen of South Suburban Parks and Recreation

0:30:27 Fred Jorgensen on attempting the Ultra Marathon Grand Slam at 70

1:05:18 Wrap up and upcoming episodes

Welcome to episode #53 of the Mile High Endurance Podcast.  This week we have Sarah Neilson of South Suburban Parks and Rec to talk about the Indoor Reverse Triathlon they have coming up in January.  You can get more information at https://www.ssprd.org/tryathlon

We also have another listener recommendation by the name of Fred Jorgesen. Fred is a local ultra-runner hoping to be the oldest person to do the ultra marathon Grand Slam. The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning™ award is recognition for those who complete four of the oldest 100 mile trail runs in the U.S. The "Slam" consists of officially finishing the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run and the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run all in the same year.

Before we get into today's interview, I want to thank Marc Evans again for talking about his book Triathletes In Motion.  Marc Evans, as you heard, is a true pioneer of the sport of triathlon.  Marc reminded us that there is more to your training than heart rate, power, running miles or time in the saddle and pool.  His book Triathlete's in Motion covers a lot of ground, things like nutrition, cardio vascular fitness, and all of the traditional things we think of with training.   His emphasis with the work is on flexibility, balance, proprioception and technique.  In the book are self-assessments you can perform to identify your weakest link from a bio-mechanics perspective and then how to address that weakest link.  As he suggested in the interview, you want to address one weak link at a time and progress to the next one.  Marc is now focused on product design with his company Human Kinetics and www.humankinetics.com.  Please reach out to Marc if you enjoyed the interview and let him know or put a comment on Facebook and Mile High Endurance page.

Dec 18, 2016
  • 00:00 Intro
  • 22:11 Marc Evans Interview
  • 1:16:25 Upcoming Episodes 

Welcome to Episode #52 of the Mile High Endurance podcast. Mile High Enduranceis your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals. I'm your host Rich Soares and I'm excited that co-host and coach Khem Suthiwan is back this week.

I'm honored that Marc Evans would join us this week and shine a bright light on how to unlock potential performance through attention to training your biomechanics. Marc Evans is the foremost expert on the subject, author of Triathlete's in Motion, President and founder of Me3 Marc Evans Endurance Education, and CEOof Sports Engineering Group. Honestly you don't want to miss this.

Before we get into today's interview, I want to thank Sherpa John Lacroix for joining us last week to tell us about the HPRS. As I said in the wrap up, I was really taken by surprise by Sherpa John and race courses he designs. It's rare to hear that much thought go into making a great course, let alone a portfolio of great and HARD courses. Intentionally very, very hard. Fascinating. Be sure to check out the Fat Ass series and member ship at www.humanpotentialrunning.com.

If we go back two episodes to the Meredith Kessler, you may recall our discussion on verifying pre-race hydration with the use of "pee sticks". Well Khem, I went ahead and placed an order for some on Amazon and they arrived this week [arrive Thursday]. We are going to have to test these bad boys out. Here's what I bought and what they do.

Okay, that's enough of what is going on before and after today's interview, let's get on with today's interview:

As you may recall from a few weeks ago on episode #48 we had David Warden on the show to talk about bio-mechanics. During that interview, David Warden mentioned coaching advice he received from Marc Evans while in a swim session. Marc advised David on his stroke rate that unlocked his swim speed. Marc Evans is the author of Triathlete's in Motion, which I have referred to on a number of occasions. I've owned a copy of Triathlete's in Motion for a while now. I heard an interview with Marc shortly after the book was published and remember for the first time realizing there was this whole new dimension of training. The ah-ha that I remember from listening to that interview was performance that can be unlocked by having optimal bio-mechanics and appropriate muscle recruitment to achieve optimal efficiency and injury avoidance.

Dec 11, 2016

Today's interview is with "Sherpa" John Lacroix of Human Potential Running and I'm hoping you will find the mission and racing at HPRS to be as interesting as I did.  

  • [00:00] Intro 
  • [9:26] Interview with "Sherpa" John Lacroix
  • [57:13] Upcoming Episodes and Wrap Up

Khem says hello and will be back next week.  We had some scheduling challenges with recording this weekend, but I did have lunch with her today to do some podcast planning and she says hello.

If you are new to Mile High Endurance, I welcome you.  It is my goal to bring you great weekly content to help you be a better athlete.  I am always on the lookout for the latest thinking, products and performances to help you learn the sport of triathlon and endurance sport in general.

The way the content works, I feature the guests on the milehighendurance website with links to guests.  There is also a section for resources which are links to white papers, training videos for swimming, running, weight training.  There are links to motivational videos and more. 

I announce the released episodes on Sunday morning on Twitter and Facebook, so be sure to follow the show on Twitter at MileHighPodcast and check out the Facebook Page at Mile High Endurance.  The episodes get released on iTunes and GooglePlay and other podcast subscription sites on Saturday evening, so if you subscribe to auto download, the show will be there on your phone ready for your Sunday morning training session.  

Okay on to content.  First and foremost I want to congratulate Meredith Kessler on her win this weekend at Ironman Taupo 70.3.  Congrats to Meredith!  As you should would know from last week's interview with Meredith, she also had just won Ironman Arizona just a couple of weeks prior to the interview.

I want to thank Meredith Kessler for being on the show last week and answering my questions about Life Of A Triathlete: Race Preparation.  If you have already listened to that episode, you know that Meredith is awesome to talk to.  She is completely driven to share her knowledge, successes and failures with athletes, be they pros or age-groupers.   If you have not heard the interview, check out episode #50.  Meredith shares extraordinary detail on the things that have worked for her and the things that have not, from equipment, to gear, to nutrition and hydration, we cover a ton of ground.  Including "pee sticks"!

In the interview Meredith, on the topic of hydration, she recommends pee sticks that her nutritionist provides her to test her hydration leading up to a race.  I'm going to follow up with her now that Taupo 70.3 is over, I'll reach out to her and see if we can get our hands on these and test them out.  Khem called dibs on them so I'll have to share.  If I have to share, I'll expect Khem will also help us test these out and see how they work.  This is really fun and geeky stuff.

http://www.active.com/triathlon/articles/holiday-gift-guide-for-triathletes

  1. Xterra SUP
  2. Roka Aviators
  3. Misfit Speedo Shine 2
  4. Oakley Radar Pace sunglasses
  5. Tom Tom Spark 3
  6. Garmin forerunner 735xt
  7. Pearl bioviz
  8. And more

This gave me an idea.  I would like to hear from you as to what you think are the best triathlon related Christmas gifts you desire.  Either post it on FB or shoot me an email at Rich@MileHighEndurance.com and we'll discuss it on the show next week

Okay, let's get on with today's interview:

Today's interview is with John "Sherpa" Lacroix.  "Sherpa" John is founder of the Human Potential Running Series.  You can check it out at http://humanpotentialrunning.com/.  The Human Potential series is portfolio of trail races ranging from half marathon to 100 milers.  This is an interview that really took me by surprise.  John was a referral from a friend (ironically also named Jon) and I really did not know too much about this Sherpa and the HPRS until I started doing my interview prep.  Then, while talking to Sherpa John, I found myself really digging and getting into the what John's providing.  It isn't just an ultra series.  He is really selling grass roots experiences to help individuals discover themselves.  Here's a quote from the website.

Human Potential is the little voice in your head that dares you to dream it, moves you to do it and wills you to experience it.  It is unlimited.

I hope this interview captures you the way it did me.  Sherpa John is not just looking to create courses for every distance, he is looking to design trail courses the way some regard a Pete Dye course, such as the Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, South Carolina From <http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/play/worlds-ten-toughest-golf-courses-935176/>

You'll hear what John has to say about his course designs in the interview.  I think you know where I'm going with this, but suffice it to say the word "epic" comes up more than once I think.  Okay, well let's get into the interview with Sherpa John.

Dec 4, 2016

Welcome to Episode #50 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals. 

Today's interview is with Ironman Arizona habitual champion Meredith Kessler.  Merideth is also co-author of the book Life of a Triathlete, Race Preparation.  We were able to catch up with Meredith on her performance in Arizona, her newish book and her plans for Taupo 70.3.

  • [00:00] Intro
  • [13:49] Meredith Kessler
  • [1:16:54] Wrap Up
Nov 27, 2016

Welcome to episode #49 of the Mile High Endurance Podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm Rich Soares with me ist Khem Suthiwan. 

  • [00:00] Intro 
  • [13:00] Interview with Bob Seebohar
  • [1:11:06] Sweat Rate
  • [1:22:00] 6 Ways to NYC Marathon
  • [1:25:20] Wrap Up

 

Today's interview is with Bob Seebohar.  Bob is Sport Dietitian/Author/Educator.  He is the owner of https://www.enrgperformance.com/ and author of Metabolic Efficiency Training (now in its second edition).

I've been trying to catch up with Bob and this interview is well worth the wait.  In this interview you will hear the many benefits of metabolic efficiency, including reducing the stress on the GI system when training and racing.   We cover a lot of ground in this interview and you will definitely come away from this weekend's interview with some insights into how to improve your general health and race performance.

Nov 20, 2016

Welcome to Episode #48 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm your host Rich Soares with co-host Khem Suthiwan. 

  • [00:00] Intro 
  • [06:09] David Warden
  • [48:18] Wrap Upn

Today's interview is with coach David Warden.   David is a competitive athlete, retired host of the Tri-Talk Podcast, and a highly respected coach.  He takes a very science-based approach to helping athletes Swim, bike and run faster.   We'll hear more from David shortly.  I'm ready to ease into light training and working on my bio-mechanics.  I suspect that I have room for improvement having seen my Swim Labs videos and feel that I have some flexibility issues that affect my run. This makes the interview with David particularly interesting to us.  Here's the interview.

Intro:

I'd like to introduce coach David Warden.  David is a competitive athlete, retired host of the Tri-Talk Podcast, and owner of David Warden Coaching.  Welcome back onto the show, David! 

A lot of listeners have heard our earlier interviews and many probably used to listen to you.  For those who are newer to the sport or podcasting, would you mind giving a litter review of your resume? 

Before we get in to the interview, I'd like to do a quick follow up to an interview we did 8 months ago.  Do you remember the rapid fire questions?

  • Tubular or Clincher?
  • Compression or No Compression?
  • 1-Piece or 2-Piece?
  • Wax or Shave?
  • Aero or ventilated?
  • Real food carbs or highly processed carbs? 

Questions:

Let me give the listeners a little background on how we landed on this topic.   I get a chance to talk to a lot of people who are new to the sport of triathlon and see themselves doing the sport for at least a few years.  The question I get asked is, where to start?  What is the best thing to focus on early in their triathlon career?  My feeling is the first priority with an athlete, especially a new athlete, is injury prevention through good bio-mechanics.

I know bio-mechanic development is something you have some perspective on, so I'm excited to have you back on to talk about this topic.  One of the things I'd like to do is make sure we have a definition of terms.  The term bio-mechanic development may mean different things to different people.  How do you define the term?

What's the Nature vs. Nurture score for bio-mechanics?  How much control do we have over what we were born with?

Last week we spoke to Dr. Nate Williams about functional strength/balance testing.  It would seem that functional testing or some other testing might be necessary to baseline an athletes bio-mechanics.  What, if any baseline assessment, do you like to do with your athletes? 

Okay, we've talked a bit about newer athletes.  I don't presume bio-mechanic development is only for new athletes.  Can we talk a couple of different cases that you have been presented with and how you have customized or integrated bio-mechanic development into their training.

How do we know good form when we see it?  Or, how do we measure it?  What quantitative tools do you use?

For those listeners who are curious, what are you doing in your coaching career now? 

Are you working on any big projects (eg James Lawrence 50 IM dist in 50 days)?

I wanted to talk to you about the NYC Marathon before we wrap up.  How did how your race in 2015 go?

Nov 13, 2016

Welcome to Episode #47 of the Mile High Endurance podcast. Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals. I'm your host Rich Soares with co-host Khem Suthiwan.

  • [00:00] Intro and NYC Marathon report 
  • [25:38] Dr Nate Williams
  • [55:46] Wrap Up

Today's interview:

Khem, today's interview topic is about being proactive about functional testing and addressing strength imbalances or flexibility issues.  How do you incorporate this topic into your coaching with athletes?

About the guest:   Nate has been helping me with a two lower leg issues this year.  In the spring it was a tight right calf.  More recently, it has been a tightness in my left shin area.  We've been discussing the importance of functional testing and strength balance.  I learned quite a bit about this personally when I rehabbed a meniscus repair a few years ago.

The interview is on sight.  There's a couple of spots where there's background noise, but those are brief so stick with it.   We do a brief discussion in his office and then move into the gym to perform a cursory functional test on me.

 

Nov 5, 2016

Welcome to Episode #46 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm your host Rich Soares with co-host Khem Suthiwan.  Today's episode is really going to be about the NYC Marathon and sharing the experience with you.  I am in New York City as we record this and Khem is holding down the fort in Denver.

Since our interview with MBE, I've been enjoying my 2 weeks in "taperville" as called it last week.  I did my 12 mile run as 5.7 and over distance pace and then the final 6 at my sub threshold pace with Tom Beal (the beer can trophy guy).    Sorry for the specificity of the 5.7, but Tom did not want to hear on the podcast that I ran 12 miles when I only ran 11.7. 

 

If you listened to the wrap up of last week's show you would have heard the summary of the marathon plan that I wrote and executed.  I want to make sure the folks know this was a plan that was unique for me and my goals and capacity to train for this marathon.  This plan was designed to take an athlete that has a decade of experience at long distance triathlon, marathon and ultra-marathon experience and transition them from short-course triathlon to marathon distance in less than 3 months.  For many athletes that ramp up might not be safe.  I would classify the plan I did as intermediate-advanced.  I will be making a Blog post with the basic tenets of the training plan and optional novice and intermediate, as well as an advanced plan versions.  The basic construct, including the combining of the L-S-D and Tempo runs in the Race Specific Preparation phase.  If you want to hear the description of the plan, please go check out the last 10 minutes or so of Episode #45.

Also in last week's show I mentioned some of our upcoming guests for "September" (yes, I said "September") but what I intended to say was November. Hopefully you all figured that out.  Still ahead in the month of November are interviews with:

Dr. Nate Williams

Performance Sport Chiropractic

Being proactive about strength imbalances and flexibility issues

Coach David Warden

Of David Warden Coaching and Tri Talk Podcast

Using the off-season to focus on technique and form

Dr. Bob Seebohar

Metabolic Efficiency Training

About the book Metabolic Efficiency Training and Testing

"Sherpa" John Lecroix

Human Potential Endurance

HPRS Race Series; growing sport of Ultra Running, and the necessary efforts to preserve the old school roots of the sport’s culture

Intro:

The guest interview on this week's show is a fellow NYC Marathoner, ultra-runner, yogi and good friend Bronwyn Morrissey.  Welcome onto the show Bronwyn.   Before we get into the discussion why don't you tell the listeners a little about your running background.

 

So Bronwyn and I met in our professional lives.  Bronwyn has been a business partner with Pulte Mortgage, and came out to watch and support the inaugural Pule Mortgage MBA Opens Doors 5K Fundraiser in 2014.  We got to talking about running and found that we had a similar passion.  Ironically 3 years later, both of us are given the opportunity to represent MBA Opens Doors Foundation at the NYC Marathon.  We are recording this week's episode from our hotel rooms in Manhattan.  The topic today is about the NYC Marathon in particular.  It is part "documentary", part "how to guide", and 2 parts "marathon training tips".

 

Before we get into the discussion on the NYC race in particular, why don't we take a minute or two to talk about the MBA Opens Doors Foundation, the work they do and the amount of money that we have helped raise for the Foundation.

  • Official mission from website
  • MBA Opens Doors Foundation covers the cost.  Every $1 donated goes to a family.
  • Number of families helped each year
  • Amount of money collected
  • # of athletes running for MBA Opens Doors

 

  • Discuss the experience of arriving in NYC and attending the Expo
  • About the number of runners and waves - http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/30/sports/new-york-marathon-in-six-charts.html
  • Advice or Lessons Learned about navigating the NYC Marathon logistics 
  • Top Training Tips - The main focus of today's discussion is for Bronwyn and I to share some of our marathon training tips.  I had originally had this ambitions idea of each of us coming up with our Top 10, but realized after preparing the outline that we should probably stick to 2 or 3 each.   With that, we'll take turns sharing out training tips or advice for marathon preparation.
    • Bronwyn - training tip #1  - Moderation and 10% progression
    • Rich - training tip #1 Hydration and hydration systems
    1. This is such an obvious item that I don't feel I have to explain the basic reasons for hydrating, but I will with you some of the things that I have experienced in my training and some of my suggestions. 
    2. I am a heavy sweater and have struggled with keeping up my fluid needs in hot races in particular.
    3. Start practicing early in your training.  For me, on a mild temperature day (say 60 degrees), I would not typically take any fluid for a run less than hour.   In hotter conditions, say 75 degrees or hotter I will likely take 6-12 ounces with me.  As you begin your marathon plan, you should plan to practice drinking to thirst and to need.  A lot of experts recommend drinking to thirst, but I'll tell you my thirst sometimes gets overridden by stomach jostling and/or lack of focus.  There are times when I simply did not get thirsty and still ended up dehydrated.  There are various protocols you can follow to determine your fluid loss including weighing before/after and noting fluid consumed.
    4. Practice taking in 3-4 ounces every 15 minutes or 6-8 every 30 minutes.  As your training runs start to approach and exceed 3 hours, heavy sweaters are more likely to notice effects of dehydration which include insert effects of dehydration.
    5. Make fluid available and convenient.  If you are training with a group like Team in Training, you often will have supported training runs with nutrition and water provided for you at aid stations.  If you are not fortunate enough to have a supported training session, you need to bring your fluid with you.  I have used a number of different hydration systems including waist belts with bottles (Fuel Belt and Amphipod), handhelds (Amphipod and Nathan), and hydration packs (Nathan).  I personally have found useful applications for all 3 types.  I personally prefer my hand held for shorter distances and racing on occasion.  I use my Nathan pack for anything over 10 miles.  My least favorite are the belt and bottle systems.  It's too much effort to fill multiple bottle and I have limited success keeping all of my bottles on my waist and end up having to stop and pick up a bottle if and when it is not properly secured in its holder/holster.  My Nathan pack can hold 70 ounces of fluid.  The pack itself is light weight, breathable mesh, lots of pockets for food, sunscreen and other supplies, including toilet paper and a cell phone depending.
    6. Make sure you clean it right away.  Nothing will ruin a hydration pack faster than leaving sports drink in your pack and leaving it in a warm garage for a week.  Even if you want to get off your feet after a long run, you will want to empty out remaining fluid and wash with warm water and dish soap.  Be sure to run the warm soapy water through the tube and mouthpiece.  It should drain out with the assistance of gravity if you hold the nozzle below the pack and bladder.  Be sure to rinse and drain out thoroughly and enable it to dry well.  Be sure when draining, to also open the mouth piece and allow the water to drain out the tube.  I then ball up half dozen or so paper towels and insert them into the drained bag so to keep the plastic walls of the bladder from touching and allow airflow in and out of the bladder.  I then hang it upside down so it can dry before my next long run.  So there you go. 
  • Bronwyn - Tip #2 - yoga and rest
  • Rich - Tip #2 Consistency
    1. In order to get the most out of your training plan, you really want to be consistent about your training.  Keep in mind, the human body is an organism that responds to stimulus of stress and recovery.  To adapt, your body will recognize the training patterns and adapt accordingly.  If you are on a build phase, your body will recognize the increasing volume, expect and respond.  If you don't supply your body with a consistent and progressing load, the body will not respond to training it does not receive.  In fact it will regress.  Think of a plant that responds well to light, water and plant food.  Lets' say you are trying to grow a prize winning corn plant for a contest in the fall.  Would you intentionally rob it of light, water or  fertilizer for periods of time.  Probably not - you'd give it a steady supply of the stimulus it needs to grow.
    2. Plan ahead.  Make sure your figure out your real life constraints and work with a coach to design a plan around your life so that you don’t have competing priorities that rob you of the planned training. 
Oct 30, 2016

Welcome to Episode #45 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm your host Rich Soares and I'm here with co-host Khem Suthiwan.   We have Mary Beth Ellis on the show today and we'll be talking to her in just a bit.

  • [00:00] Intro Khem Suthiwan
  • [09:30] Mary Beth Ellis with Khem
  • [43:12] Marathon Plan and Upcoming Guests
  • [55:01] Wrap Up

It was great to get Mary Beth back on the show again.  She's been really great about sharing herself with us and as you heard we'll check in with her from time to time and see how she's doing with team Sutto and the next chapter of her adventure.  One of the things that MB had mentioned in the interview were the risks of racing on antibiotics.  I thought I'd do a little research of my own on the topic.  I found an article that talks about the side effects of exercising on antibiotics, including increased risk of tendon injuries, diarrhea, Cardiac arrhythmias, photosensitivity, and generally decreased athletic performance.  The article is posted on the Resources page of the Mile High Endurance website. 

In the intro I mention that I would provide a summary of the marathon training plan that I wrote for myself and that's what I'm going to do here.  [Description of plan]  So that's that plan that got me to this point.  We'll see how next weekend goes.  I'd like send a big thank you to my friend Kathleen Romalia who has been running with me the past few weeks.

Upcoming guests and shows:

  • Next week we'll be recording from NYC before the marathon.  I'll be interviewing one of my friends and fellow MBA Opens Doors runners, Bronwyn Morrissey.
  • One of my beliefs about running, is that you should take steps to prevent injury or you will ultimately end up with an overuse injury or worse.  Another belief is that people should and can enjoy running.   I talk to a lot of people who don't enjoy or don't think their body is designed to run.  Hogwash!  I would argue that many people who say that running is too hard or they are not "able to" run, that they could if they had the right balance, strength and form.  All of these things can be assessed and trained.  To talk to us about strength and balance assessments to see where an athlete may have imbalances in functional strength or weak stabilizing muscles, which can lead to injury.  We have an interview with Dr. Nate Williams of Performance Sports Chiropractic coming up.  Dr. Williams has been helping me rehab some tight spots during my training.  He and I have a similar philosophy.
  • David Warden on form and technique training in the off season.  About David
  • Bob Seebohar on Metabolic Efficiency and his book on the subject

So lots of great stuff coming up.  If you haven't already liked the MHE Podcast on Facebook or followed @milehighpodcast - go do it now.  I put posts out about new episodes, but also requests for discussion.  I'll announce upcoming guests on Facebook and ask for you to pose your questions.  I'll try to get those answered for you in the interview.

Well I guess we should wrap up.  We'll be with you next week from the Big Apple.  Until then - stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the triathlon journey!

Oct 23, 2016

Welcome to Episode #44 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm your host Rich Soares and I'm here with co-host Khem Suthiwan.

  • [00:00] Intro 
  • [09:40] Schoolyard Cross and Clint Bickmore with Khem
  • [17:52] Interview with Chris Soden
  • [1:00:01] Wrap Up

We have a different show for you today.   This week's guest interview is a follow up with Chris Soden at the Denver Fit Loft.  We'll do the set up on that in just a bit, but first let's talk about why this show is a little different.  We are out of the recording studio and recording on site at the SchoolYard Cross: Dawson School in Lafayette CO.

Interview Setup: 

As you may recall from episode #39, Chris invited me into the DFL for a Retul "New Bike Fit".  In that episode we wanted to take the listener through the experience and hear the power of a good fit.  We used the Retul system, coupled with Chris' expertise and found the optimal position (my 3d picture in space) for my riding goals, comfort, etc.  The next step was for Chris to go do some research on bikes that could support my position well for the budget that I have in mind. 

The interview today is designed as the follow up discussion that any athlete would have with Chris or their Retul fitter.  Chris will go through is process for identifying appropriate bikes for me and why.

Looking ahead to upcoming interviews, we have a number of folks that are scheduled including Mary Beth Ellis, coach David Warden of DW Coaching and the Tri Talk Podcast.  Next weekend is the show before the NYC Marathon, so we'll be talking about my pending trip.

As always - Stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the triathlon journey!

Oct 16, 2016

Welcome to Episode #43 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm your host Rich Soares and I'm joined by co-host Khem Suthiwan. 

[00:00] Intro and about today's guest interview Guest Intro, Kona reflections and NYC Marathon prep 

[16:22] Interview Dr. Jason Karp, author of The Inner Runner

[54:07] Post Interview Summary, Coaching Discussion "off season skill focus" and wrap up

Also mentioned:

303 Cycling

Aero Edge

Roka

School Yard Cross

Lance Panigutti

Without Limits

Training Peaks

Boulder Body Worker

Infinit Nutrition

Audi Boulder

D3 Multisport

Coeur

Endurance House

Rudy Project

Swim Bike Run

Denver Fit Loft

 

 

 

Oct 9, 2016

Welcome to Episode #42 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm your host Rich Soares and I'm excited to bring you a great show with my co-host coach Billy Edwards.

  • [00:00] Intro 
  • [23:32] Interview
  • [1:09:49] Wrap Up

 

Guest: Clare Gallagher is the 2016 Leadville 100 women's champion. Not only is she this year's champion, she also has the second fastest time for a woman in the history of the race, behind Ann Trason’s 1994 record of 18:06:24.  She is a recent graduate of Princeton, moved to Thailand where she has been doing humanitarian work and founder of earthraging.org.

Summary of the 2016 Ironman World Championship and discussion of the top pro finishers.

Also mentioned:

  • Sugarland band
  • Dr. Nate Williams of Performance Sports Chiropractic
Oct 2, 2016

Welcome to Episode #41 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   I'm your host Rich Soares and I'm excited to bring you a great show with my co-host coach Khem Suthiwan.

  • [00:00] Intro 
  • [31:57] Interview with Danny Dreyer
  • [1:20:19] Wrap Up

This episode is coming out the first weekend of October.  If it hasn't felt like autumn yet, it will soon.  The race calendar in the northern hemisphere are dwindling as we head into the off season.  Just as April was a great time to nail down your northern hemisphere race calendar, now is a great time to start thinking about your key races and goals.  With your "A" race and goals in mind, you can then start to build your training strategy.  Notice I did not say training plan.  Now before I go too much farther, I want to acknowledge that I’m using TrainingPeaks when I do my Annual Training Plan.  There are a number of links on the MHE website to Training Peaks articles and videos on ATP and training concepts.

Before I design a training plan, I first want to start with my strategy.  Before I develop a strategy, I want to know what I want to achieve and when (what is my “A” race and when).  This tells me what level of fitness I have to have, and the skills required to meet the challenge, and the climate I need to be prepared for.  (Eg, type of race and skill - ultra marathon v duathlon v triathlon; climate and course – IM Whistler v Cozumel) – THIS IS THE REQUIREMENTS INPUT TO THE STRATEGY

Obviously I next need to take stock of my current level of fitness and where I am in my existing (2016 Annual Training Plan).  I will typically wait until my race season is over an I’m in my Transition Phase. 

I will use my Performance Management Chart (assuming all of my data is in Training Peaks) to assess where my current fitness level is at.  I also need to take stock of my strengths and weaknesses and compare my skills balance sheet to the demands of the event and environment of my key races.  What are the gaps?  What are my highest leverage assets?  What do I need to work on in the off season?  - THIS IS THE CURRENT STATE INPUT TO THE STRATEGY

THEN COMES THE STRATEGY.  When I do the math of X (Requirements) – Y (Current State) = Z (list of gaps).  Okay, if you haven’t already started creating lists and you are in a place where you can write or type something down.  Start doing this with me.  Create the X list of requirements (the A race, the distance, the skills, etc).  Create the Y list of current state (your current fitness, skills, limiters, etc).  

 Let’s add to this a list of Constraints and Risks.   That’s right, list out the things that are your priorities outside of your racing and training.  Write down your commitments to work and work schedule constraints.  What are the constraints from a weather perspective?  This is obviously geared mostly to listeners in the northern hemisphere, but there are big differences in daylight duration and weather depending on where you are in the N hemisphere, right?  How does that play in to your available time to train?  Holidays?  Family commitments?   Okay you get the idea.

The other questions I want to answer are what is the safest, life-suiting and effective way to reach your goal.  So if we do the math X (requirements) – Y (current state) = Z Gaps / divided by Constraints and you’ve got a good set of things that inform your strategy.  Now comes the question of what are the best things to work on during the off season?  Should you work on deficient skills in the off season?  Should you build a big base in the off season?  Should you work on increasing your fitness and FTP in the off season? 

I’d like to ask you to think about these questions and this equation over the coming week and next week pick up the discussion with one of my coaching friends and talk about how to put together your strategy, including the question about whether or not a periodized plan or a reverse-periodized plan is best for you.  On that point, I again suggest you go to www.milehighendurance.com and go to the resources page to see the links to specific TrainingPeaks articles.  I would also encourage you to listen to the interview with coach David Warden in episode #18 on the Episodes page.  The David Warden interview is about 18 minutes into the episode.  In that interview, David Warden explains the difference of the two methodologies and this will be a foundation for our “lessons in endurance training” discussion next week. 

Sep 25, 2016

Welcome to Episode #40 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   We're your hosts Rich Soares and Bill Plock bringing you another weekend of triathlon fun and information.

In today's show we bring you an expert in the running industry.  Danny Abshire, founder and President of Newton Running joins us to talk about running form, the requirements athletes have for running shoes, and the engineering of the Newton running shoe.

  • [00:00] Intro with Bill Plock
  • [19:26] Danny Abshire (Newton Running) Interview
  • [1:14:53] Wrap Up 

Obvious Mentions:

  • Danny Abshire
  • Newton Running

Also Mentioned:

  • Audi Boulder
  • Chi Running
  • Danny Dreyer
  • Dr. Jason Karp
  • Endurance House
  • Gear Fisher
  • Infinite Nutrition
  • Ironman Word Championship
  • Polar Bottle
  • Google
  • GoreTex
  • Poke Mon Go
  • PolarTech
  • Roka
  • Rudy Project
  • Team Snap
  • Training Peaks

 

Sep 25, 2016

Welcome to Episode #40 of the Mile High Endurance podcast.  Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   We're your hosts Rich Soares and Bill Plock bringing you another weekend of triathlon fun and information.

In today's show we bring you an expert in the running industry.  Danny Abshire, founder and President of Newton Running joins us to talk about running form, the requirements athletes have for running shoes, and the engineering of the Newton running shoe.

  • [00:00] Intro with Bill Plock
  • [19:26] Danny Abshire (Newton Running) Interview
  • [1:14:53] Wrap Up 

Obvious Mentions:

  • Danny Abshire
  • Newton Running

Also Mentioned:

  • Audi Boulder
  • Chi Running
  • Danny Dreyer
  • Dr. Jason Karp
  • Endurance House
  • Gear Fisher
  • Infinite Nutrition
  • Ironman Word Championship
  • Polar Bottle
  • Google
  • GoreTex
  • Poke Mon Go
  • PolarTech
  • Roka
  • Rudy Project
  • Team Snap
  • Training Peaks

 

Sep 17, 2016

Welcome to Episode #39 of the Mile High Endurance podcast, I'm your host Rich Soares.   Mile High Endurance is your weekly connecting to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.   Today's episode is co-hosted by Bill Plock of 303 Triathlon and the feature guest is Chris Soden of Denver Fit Loft.  We are out of the studio and down at the Denver Fit Loft recording full "new bike fit" service. 

In today's episode Bill and I do some catching up including his race with 106 West Triathlon (9000 feet elevation) by Human Movement, local races and 303 Triathlon's preparation for Kona.   We also learn Bill's favorite number.

Rich celebrates the six month anniversary of the Mile High Endurance Podcast and thanks all of the guests who have given their time to the show.  Rich also gives an update and a "lessons learned" from last week's marathon training.

  • [00:00] Intro with Bill Plock
  • [23:15] Chris Soden of Denver Fit Loft and fitting services
  • [38:25] Baseline Fit
  • [53:10] Retul Analysis
  • [1:05:14] Form Tips
  • [1:09:00] Zinning the Fit Bike
  • [1:16:47] Wrap Up

 Obvious Mentions:

  • 303 Triathlon
  • Denver Fit Loft

 

Also Mentioned:

  • Human Movement
  • Without Limits
  • Ironman World Championship
  • Danny Dreyer
  • Chi Running
  • Danny Abshire
  • Newton Running
  • Dana Philipps
  • Khem Suthiwan
  • RMTC Rocky Mountain Triathlon Company
  • Rudy Project
  • Infinite Nutrition
  • Training
  • Audi boulder
  • Coeur
  • D3 Multisport
  • Endurance House
  • Roka
  • Tim Hola
Sep 11, 2016

 

Episode #38

[00:00] Intro with Khem Suthiwan

[22:45] Coach Billy "The Kid" Edwards

[58:22] Wrap Up

Welcome to Episode #38 of the Mile High Endurance podcast, I'm your host Rich Soares.   Mile High Endurance is your weekly connection to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.  Joining me again as co-host is coach Khem Suthiwan.

We are recording today's show onsite at TriBella Sports, home of TriBella, Colorado Triathlon Company and the Denver Fit Loft.

Also Mentioned:

2XU
Joanna Zeiger

Sep 4, 2016

Welcome to Episode #37 of the Mile High Endurance podcast, I'm your host Rich Soares.   Mile High Endurance is your weekly connecting to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.  Joining me again as co-host is the 'spunky' Khem Suthiwan.

[00:00] Intro with Co-host Coach Khem Suthiwa of Mile High Multisport

  • Casco Bay Islands SwimRun
  • Triple Bypass
  • Trash Ball
  • Ultramarathons

[27:21] Interview with Josh Colley, Lifetime Fitness and Race Director for the Leadville Race Series.  Josh takes us behind the scenes on the Leadville 100 MTB and Trail Run races.  Tips for athletes and pacers for a successful ultra-marathon. 

[50:19] Next week's guest, Billy "The Kid" Edwards - soldier, pro athlete and US Navy Triathlon coach

Aug 28, 2016

00:00:00 Welcome, Show Overview, Race Report

00:19:40 Lake Catamount Sprint and Olympic Interviews

00:33:59 Carole Sharpless

01:05:03 Mary Beth Ellis

01:25:20 Wrap Up and Next Week Preview

Welcome to Episode #36 of the Mile High Endurance podcast, I'm your host Rich Soares.   Mile High Endurance is your weekly connecting to coaches, experts and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals. 

 

I have a great show lined up for you today.  Here's what's on the agenda.  First we have some big races and events out there that I want to share my reactions to before we get into the interviews.  The interviews themselves, I'm very excited to share with you.  I was able to catch up with both Mary Beth Ellis and Carole Sharpless.  Both pros have some great information for you.  I've been working to get another interview with Carole for a while, so I'm glad I finally get to bring you her perspective as a coach and information of the Rev3 Series.  Then, (how freaking lucky am I?)  MB just won her second Ironman of the season at Mont Trem Blanc last weekend.  She has secured her race for Kona and she is talking to us about MTB and her preparation for Kona.  Plus she has agreed to come back on the show after Kona, so I'm stoked.

 

 I want to make your consumption of the content as easy to access and use as possible.  you that I appreciate the feedback you

Aug 21, 2016

Welcome to Episode #35 of the Mile High Endurance podcast, I'm your host Rich Soares.   Mile High Endurance connects you weekly with coaches, pros and experts to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.  Joining me as co-host is Bill Plock from 303 Triathlon. 

On today's show:

[0:01:00]Ironman Boulder Race Report - Bill Plock

[0:10:00]USAT Age Group Nationals Report - Rich Soares

[0:25:23]Guest, Michael Mann of Swim Labs with my brother Roger Soares

[0:49:33]Guest, Pro Surfer Rocky McKinnon of McKinnon Surfboards

Aug 14, 2016

Welcome to Episode #34 of the Mile High Endurance podcast, I'm your host Rich Soares.   Mile High Endurance connects you weekly with coaches, pros and experts to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.

  1. [0:00] Intro and USAT Nationals (Todd Stockford and Tom Beal)
  2. [14:50] IM Boulder Recap
  3. [24:36] Tim Hola, Team Timex and Nationals
  4. [49:08] George Cespedes, Tri Animals
  5. [1:13] Onsite Interview and Nationals Wrap Up
Aug 6, 2016

Welcome to Episode #33 of the Mile High Endurance podcast, I'm your host Rich Soares.   Mile High Endurance connecting you weekly with coaches and experts to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.

I have a content-packed show for you today. There is a ton going on in the Triathlon and Endurance world right now and a very timely interview.  As you know it is the opening weekend of the Rio Olympic games.  It also happens to be the weekend prior to USAT Nationals.  When you think of Triathlon in the Olympics and USAT Nationals, who is the one person who you would want to talk to?  Barry Siff, of course.  Barry serves in leadership roles of both USAT and ITU and has an insider’s view of both events.   He is a busy man, but I was able to catch him prior to all of the traveling he will be doing over the next couple of weeks to Omaha and Rio.

Also on the show this week, Will Kelsey of Dirt Tri Magazine joins us to talk about the state and statistics around Off Road Triathlon.  I have been meaning to get into the topic of Off Road Triathlon for some time and this is our first foray into that topic.  As you will hear, road triathlon’s dirtier cousin, “Dirt (or “off road”) Tri” is a little more laid back and fun, and really opens up a lot of new races and experiences.

Before we get into the interviews, I’d like to give a couple of updates .

First – Ironman Boulder competitors:  To Bill Plock from 303 Triathlon and Guy Sigley from the Colorado Triathlon Company team.  Good luck this weekend and hope you get your Kona slots.  I would also like to acknowledge a good friend of mine Jamie Twedt who unfortunately had a bike wreck a week ago that has precluded her ability to race.  Jamie has such a great attitude and has managed to get herself on the finisher medal team.  Jamie, it’s going to be a long and fun night!

Second – Ironman Boulder underwear run:  I just did the Underwear Run last night and it was really a lot of fun.  The way it went down, I did see Bill at the UPR but after.  His schedule got wonky and he couldn't get there on time, but I did see him after and he looks good and ready for Sunday.  Back to the UPR.  After talking to Bill about he and his daughter Riley doing it, I offered it to my girls who are both runners and we did it.

We arrive and Michael had the gathering place in this small corner of a park across from the museum of contemporary art.  Michael had the crowd going with updates on the order of events, collecting donations, etc.  After a quick hello and picture (one my wife won't let me post on Facebook), we got under way.  The run was a mile through the busiest blocks of Boulder through the Pearl Street Mall, down past where the Ironman finish line will be on Sunday, into the Ironman Village, down the Bike Path (Run Course) and back to the Ironman Finish area and ultimately where we started.  There were maybe 50-75, maybe more people who participated. 

Sunday of course is the big race.   Again, good luck to everyone racing, volunteering and spectating.  The forecast looks good in the low 80s.  I'll be up there Sunday at 5am for the volunteer briefing for the water safety crew.  I'll be out there at the Boulder Res most of the morning.   I come home for a bit and then head back up by 5pm to try and catch Bill and my other fast friends finish.  I hope to catch up with Dave Christen and report about the race a bit in next week's episode.

Okay, the other big thing that is going on this weekend is the Olympics.  We also have USAT Nationals to look forward to next week.  This seems like a perfect time for this interview.

Jul 31, 2016

Welcome to Episode #32 of the Mile High Endurance podcast, I'm your host Rich Soares with your co-host Bill Plock from 303 Triathlon.   Mile High Endurance connecting you weekly with coaches and experts to help you reach your endurance and triathlon goals.

 

This week we bring you the second half of the Jim Galanes interview and an interview with pro athlete, coach and announcer Michael Lovato.

Jul 23, 2016

Welcome to Episode #31 of the Mile High Tri podcast, I'm your host Rich Soares.  Mile High Tri  connects you with coaches and experts to inform you on your triathlon and endurance sport journey.

We'll start this week's episode with a quick update from David Christen from Ironman Boulder.  He gives you an update on race preparations, changes to this year's course and finish, and what to expect whether you are competing, volunteering or spectating.

This week episode also connects you with another Tri Tech in July interview.  If you have been listening for long, you know Jim Galanes has been a previous guest.  Jim is a former Olympic Cross Country skier, a coach, co-owner of EPOC Performance Training and partner with FirstBeat software.

Before we get into the main subject of today's episode and learn about Firstbeat software, I want to announce a change on the podcast.  No, we are not going back to monthly.  Actually the weekly thing is working out well for me.   Nothing will change with the content or frequency.  The quality will only get better as I will explain in a few minutes.

You also know the show is an expression of my life and experiences here in the Mile High city.  I found triathlon or triathlon found me a decade ago.  It has changed my life and that of my family for the better in countless ways.  I want others to at least have the opportunity to have triathlon in your life.  Assuming it is at this point, I know you are all on your own journey and at different places along that journey.   You found different ways here and you will find adventures and challenges that will take you in other directions someday.

I produce this podcast to give back to the sport that has given so much to me.  The podcast enriches my experience and adventure and has not become a passion of mine.  If you ever want to listen to the original vision and background of the podcast, please go back to Episode #18.  In the intro of that episode I describe my motivations and goals for the podcast, but also my vision in terms of frequency, length and content.   Aside from the change from longer monthly to shorter weekly episodes, the vision, motivation and goals for the podcast have remained the same.

My motivation is simply to learn about, and explore triathlon, endurance sports and fitness in general.  Whether you are yet to start your journey or you are a veteran, I hope to bring information, experts, coaches and other resources to help you learn and develop to the athlete you dream of becoming.  I believe that information and education are empowering and essential to making decisions that ultimately lead to you reaching your goals.  As such, I usually try to get right down to business and keep an educational format with informational and entertaining guests.

The name of the podcast has Mile High in it because I live in a suburb of the "Mile High" city of Denver.   Smack dab between the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and Boulder Colorado (the triathlon and endurance mecca), this podcast is sourced in one of the most densely concentrated athletes, coaches and other resources as anywhere in the world.  One thing that I did not anticipate was the global interest in the podcast.  I have regular downloads from Canada, China, France, Portugal, Finland, Australia, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, UK, Singapore, Netherlands, Spain, and on.  In order to honor the international listenership, I want to make sure the content is relevant to all listeners.

If you have been listening to the podcast for long, you also know that I have a segment on the show called Try Something New.    I've used this segment to introduce other endurance sports like cross country skiing, cyclocross, and paddle-boarding in an episode or two from now.  The fact is, I found triathlon only after I had begun training for my first marathon.  I've used triathlon to branch further into cycling, swimming and other endurance sports.  As an athlete your journey may take you in and out of triathlon.  This podcast, while generally focused on triathlon, is interested in helping you succeed in triathlon or any other endurance sport.

The change I am making to the podcast is actually quite small and requires no changes on your part.  I am tweaking the name of the Podcast from "Mile High Tri" to "Mile High Endurance".  I have a number of reasons for doing this, but chief among those reasons is to make sure the brand represents the show. 

Over the course of the next week, the website will change from Mile High Tri Podcast to MileHighEndurance.com.  If you go to the old www.milehightriathlon.com or www.milehightripodcast.com, you will be redirected to www.milehighendurancepodcast.com.  The Facebook account will get a Face Lift to Mile High Endurance, as will the Twitter account.  I just received the new logo and I have to say it is freaking awesome.  You'll immediately recognize the 3 peak Swim/Bike/Run triangle, but asked my graphic artist who made the triangle to add an element to honor the growing international listenership.  I like the idea of this podcast provides content that helps athletes of all age, cultures, color or geography.  The podcast is head-quartered in the Mile High City, powered by experts, pros and coaches, and aimed at triathletes around the globe.  Keep that in mind as you anticipate the exciting new opportunities ahead. 

As for the Podcast and whatever you use iTunes, or other podcast subscription source.  The question is - do I need to do anything to keep getting the show.  The short answer is you should not need to do anything.  At some point next week, I'll switch the RSS feed to the new name.  Certainly new episodes will download under the new name.  You may notice a refresh of the podcast name and you may not.  I'll have that understood before I flip the switch and will be sure to post updates in Facebook as the change occurs.  The name should change in the RSS Feed to iTunes and other podcast apps just fine, but follow the podcast on Facebook at MileHighTriathlon.  This too will get a rename, but if you follow the podcast Facebook page, you'll get the updates leading up to the switch and should just witness a rename of the Facebook page.

Episode Subject:

In just a minute, we'll get into the interviews and the start with David Christen from Ironman Boulder.  Before we get started though, I want to give you a litte background on Jim Galanes.  We kind of dive right in, but I think it would be good to tell you a little about him if you don't already know. 

Jim Galanes is a three time Olympian competing in cross country skiing events in each 1976 (Innsbruck), 1980 (Lake Placid), and 1984 (Sarajevo) Olympics.   He has been coaching for the last twenty or so years and has become a very knowledgeable, science-based, expert on physiology.   His company, EPOC Performance Training, is partners with FirstBeat.  As you will learn in the interview, FirstBeat gives coaches and athletes insights into an athlete's Training Load by using EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption.

As you will hear, Jim uses FirstBeat to analyze my training and point how the data and charts to analyze if I met the objectives of my workouts and how my overall training load and recovery process is going.  Jim's background as an Olympic endurance athlete, coach and collaboration with scientists gives him some serious street cred when it comes to training athletes.  I have been a long time premium account holder at TrainingPeaks and use it daily.  I have come to find using FirstBeat does give me insights that I did not have before.  The combination of Jim's consultations with me and the addition of FirstBeat, I believe is helping me to train smarter. 

You will hear Jim analyze a couple of my workouts in Firstbeat.  It's interesting to hear Jim's analysis and I want to prep you a bit for what you will hear and the flow of the interview.  Jim suggested that we do a video call recording that could be used a content for either Firstbeat or the podcast.  I took advantage of the interview to record and edit an audio version.  The video version is a follow on project, and I don't have any information yet as to when that will be available.  Until then, I wanted you to hear it on this episode.

As I said, you will get to hear some of my workouts analyzed by Jim.  He gives me some feedback in this interview about level of intensity of some of my workouts. 

The interview is a joint project between EPOC Performance Training, Firstbeat and Mile High Endurance.   We recorded the interview as a video with screen sharing, and the final video interview should be pretty cool when it's complete.  Since you are getting the audio version and don't have the visual of the screen-sharing, I put screenshots on the website in podcast blog in the bottom right hand corner of the main page.  It is out there on the current www.milehightripodcast.com site and will be there at the new www.milehighendurance.com site when it goes live this week. 

Similar to the Dirk Friel interview, I was really excited to bring Jim Galanes to you and glad he spent a full hour with me.  The content is too good to edit down and I want you to hear the full discussion.   We'll break the interview into Part 1 and Part 2, about 30 minutes each.  Part 1 will of course be in this episode, right after the Dave Christen interview.  Part 2 will be next week on the 31st of July.

Okay so with that I think I'll stop the monologue and get into the interviews.  I'll see you on the other side in just a bit in the wrap up.

 

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