Welcome to Episode #65 of the Mile High Endurance podcast. 

Our first guest interview is Will Murray, who is one of the smartest coaches in triathlon.  Will is a USAT Level 1 coach who has some great reads, The Four Pillars of Triathlon and Two Minutes To A Better Workout.  Will helped us dissect the book Four Pillars of Triathlon and he came on the show and helped me with a feeling of panic that I used to experience in open water swimming.  We'll talk a little about that in the interview. The focus of today's interview with Will is on the presentation that he gave in Boulder a few weeks ago and his article that was just published on TeamUSA.org.

Thank last week's guests Dirk Friel and coach David Warden.  Dirk Friel for sharing ski mountaineering racing with us and the @aspensnowmass Power of Four Race and for sharing his TrainingPeaks file with us.  And thanks also to coach David Warden for confirming my growing conviction that strength training is essential for endurance, speed and training.  Stick a pin in my growing conviction (and I dare say embarrassment), that I have neglected this part of my training.

I am giving myself a C- for last week's interview with David Warden.  I normally do a good deal of research on my guests and I got complacent with David.   I am so embarrassed that I did not do my research better for the David Warden interview, of all interviews.  How did I not know that he contributed to the book and how I did not have a copy is beyond me.

I am guilty of complacency and am going to make it up to you.   I ordered and have received my copy of Triathlon Science. It is a very comprehensive body of work with a collection of expert coaches, thought leaders and physicians. I just cracked it this week, but you can bet I'll be sharing new insights.

The other follow up from David's interview is the offer he made to use his old episodes.  I'm going to research this episode and put some options for the listeners on Twitter Poll.  If you do not already follow @milehighpodcast to get the twitter polls.

One episode that we are definitely doing next is what I'm titling "the big shave".  We'll get David's episode on which method of hair removal is most effective.  David gave me permission to essentially do a cover band remake of the test.  I'm going to also add to this a summary of online research on what the possible reasons are that men (some men) go to the length of shaving their legs.  We will attempt to answer the question - Why the "F" would you do that?

Folks if you live here in Colorado, you are going to want to hear about the Team Colorado program.  Regardless you do not want to miss this interview and I do not want it to get stale, so it is going to come on right after the Will Murray interview.

Alright, let's get into our two interviews today.  If you have not heard previous interview (even if you have) you are in for a treat here.  Will is a USAT triathlon coach with a specialty as a mental skills coach.  He is a psychologist by training and has authored numerous articles and books.  I recommend that you go to the MHE endurance website and check the links to Will's recent article and book on the Main page and there are several links to his work on the Resources page. 

If you are listening from your laptop, click on over there and read the articles.  There are several Team USA links under the Swimming Headline that are Wills.  There is also a new one under the General Resources Heading.

I don't want to steal too much from the interview.  Let's get into the interview.

milehighpodcast.  By following you will get the announcement of each episode on Sunday mornings.  Be sure to like the posts and let  your friends know.  You can subscribe and get the downloads automatically on iTunes and Google play.  Easy to find.

Check out the Mile High Endurance website and milehighendurance.com for more on upcoming interviews, past interviews, resources, blog, about the show, and discounts.  

Let's talk briefly about upcoming interviews.

• Simone Cordery-Cotter of Rudy Project is going to talk to us about how to equip yourself with equipment that has the latest safety engineering and designs
• MBE and Phil Whitehead joining us to talk about a couple of topics
• • Phil's question to the show about what his target goal TSS should be in his lead up to Kona.  We have his coach MBE to come on the show and talk about how she is advising Phil on this question
  • Will is also the race director for The Lakesman Tri full distance in the UK.  Check it out on the MHE Main page or go to www.thelakesman.com.  It's coming up on the 18th of June.

• Scott Thigpen - author of the book "Trail Magic" which is about his experience with the Ride the Divide.  Scott, I am enjoying the book.  I just have about four books on my nightstand at the moment, but we are going to get you on soon.
• Longer term, I want to share that we are in the early stages of ideation around a collaboration of experts to help us understand how important neural development is in our performance, endurance and more.

I need to scoot here.  I'm doing a 2 hour brick with Brady Nelson and Aaron Monroe and I need to get myself over to Cherry Creek High School.  We're going to ride the CC Trail and Res roads and then do a 30 minute run after.

Thanks for again for joining us this week.  If this was your first time listening, we hope you enjoyed and will join us next week.  Don't forget to join us next week for the Super Anniversary Special and our two awesome guests!

Have a great week everybody!  Stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the endurance journey!

Welcome to Episode #64 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, Khem Suthiwan and Bill Plock and we're excited to have you join us this week, our super anniversary special. 

We want to do a bang up job for you this week and therefore have two very special and dear guests of the show.  We have Dirk Friel from TrainingPeaks with us to talk about the Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race and coach David Warden, former Tri Talk Podcast host, still an competitive athlete and international coach. 

We are recording from the TrainingPeaks office in Boulder for the in-person interview with Dirk Friel.  Before we get into the interview with Dirk let's catch up with our MHE co-hosts Khem Suthiwan and Bill Plock.  How's it going guys? 

Let's do some updates:

Our guest interview is Mike Dion, Film Maker of ultra-bike races told through movies like Ride the Divide, Reveal the Path, and Inspired to Ride.

Welcome to Episode #63 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 Khem Suthiwan and we're excited to have you join us this week.

Neuro Halo Sport experience and strength testing preparation

• I admit that in the past few years I've becoming increasingly complacent about strength training.
• In the past month, I've I have been giving strength training a priority in my training and have maintained the following schedule more or less
• Ready to start testing physically, but don't have the right support structure yet.  Amy Boone Thompson from Wellbridge send me a contact at Anschutz yesterday. 
• Sill using the Halo 2-3 times per week and it's now an easy part of my routine. 
• Describe how it works.
• Learn more about the Halo Neuro Sport deal on the MHE Discounts page.  Save $150 on Halo Sport.
• One Year Anniversary Episode is coming up next week and there's a special guest that I have not yet announced.  Stick around to the wrap up for more on next week's interview.
• We'll have some funny stories for you next week and have some laughs
• Thanks again to Terry Laughlin from Total Immersion Swimming for joining us last week and talking about how to get the best endurance adaptation return on your time investment in swimming  If you enjoyed the interview with Terry, please visit www.totalimmersion.net and sign up for the TI newsletter.  If you have not yet checked out the Effortless Endurance ($49.95) and Freestyle Master Courses ($59.95), you should check them out.  In each you get a Image Guide, Workbook and Library of Videos that breakdown the stroke process into small components and provides instruction, focuses and drills to dial in the proper form.  Don't forget to use code MHETI10 to get 10% off.

Alright, let's get into today's interview.  It was a couple of weeks ago after our interview with Brian Burk when we talked about the power of inspiration.  Brian, as you know, is author or "Running to Leadville" and his story of the dream participating in the Leadville 100 Trail Run and the epic ultra-marathons along the way.  Brian's writing is inspiring and we got on the conversation of other sources of inspiration for ultra-endurance events. 

Khem brought up the idea to get Mike Dion on the show.  Khem, do you want to give a little background before we introduce our guest?  Khem intro/background on Mike.

• After watching this movie, I'm trying to decide if I'm more motivated to do my bucket list BC to Baja or not.
• It's good to see what can go wrong and would do exactly what Mike said was "we pack our fears" on events like this.
• Like the idea of doing a mini version.  I'd be willing to do a 2-3 day thing.  Maybe with a couple of friends.
• www.Bikepackingsecrets.com
• www.inspiredtoride.it

Let us know you like the content by following the Podcast on Facebook at MileHighEndurance and Twitter at @milehighpodcast.  By following you will get the announcement of each episode on Sunday mornings.  Be sure to like the posts and let  your friends know.  You can subscribe and get the downloads automatically on iTunes and Google play.  Easy to find.

Check out the Mile High Endurance website and milehighendurance.com for more on upcoming interviews, past interviews, resources, blog, about the show, and discounts.  

Let's talk briefly about upcoming interviews.

• Dirk Friel will be joining us to talk about the Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering race that he competed in last weekend - this is going to be the Anniversary episode
• Speaking of the anniversary show, many of you know that Coach David Warden was one of my inspirations to start the MHE podcast.  He used to host the Tri Talk podcast and is also known for coaching James Lawrence (aka Iron Cowboy) in his quest to do 50 ironman distances in 50 States in 50 Days.  I've invited David to join us to talk about a couple of topics.  I'm going to turn the interviewer's role over to David and he's going to interview me about the first year of the show.
• Coach Will Murray of D3 Multisport to talk to us about how to get the most out of your workout
• Simone Cordery-Cotter of Rudy Project is going to talk to us about how to equip yourself with equipment that has the latest safety engineering and designs
• Scott Thigpen - author of the book "Trail Magic" which is about his experience with the Ride the Divide
• Phil Whitehead - Lakesman Triathlon and Alan Couzens

Thanks for again for joining us this week.  If this was your first time listening, we hope you enjoyed and will join us next week.  Don't forget to join us next week for the Super Anniversary Special and our two awesome guests!

Have a great week everybody!  Stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the endurance journey!

No more one-size-fits-all training! Are you interested in learning how to do Outside-the-Box thinking about endurance that is both Big Picture and 100% personalized and customized? If so, join the conversation we'll have with Terry Laughlin, Founder and Chief Executive Optimist of Total Immersion Swimming

Welcome to Episode #62 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 and we're excited to have you join us this week. 

Thanks for again for joining us this week.  If this was your first time listening, we hope you found this valuable and will join us next week. 

Let us know you like the content by following our guests and MHE on social media.  Check out the Mile High Endurance website and milehighendurance.com for more on upcoming interviews, past interviews, resources, blog, about the show, and discounts.  

Check out the Halo Neuro Sport deal on the MHE Discounts page.  Save $150 on Halo Sport.  We'll see if we can get some more deals added to that page.

Also, as announced with Terry, Total Immersion is giving MHE listeners 10% off on their self-coaching courses and anything in the store really.  Go to the "Discounts" page on MHE and you will see discount code MHETI10

Let's talk briefly about upcoming interviews.

• Mike Dion, Film Maker of Ride the Divide, Inspired to Ride and more.
• Dirk Friel will be joining us to talk about the Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering race that he is competing in this weekend - this is going to be the Anniversary episode
• Coach Will Murray of D3 Multisport to talk to us about how to get the most out of your workout
• Simone Cordery-Cotter of Rudy Project is going to talk to us about how to equip yourself with equipment that has the latest safety engineering and designs
• Scott Thigpen - author of the book "Trail Magic" which is about his experience with the Ride the Divide

Thanks for your continued following of the podcast.  Join us next week for Mike Dion on the film making of epic documentaries like Inspired to Ride.

Have a great week everybody!  Stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the endurance journey!

Obvious Mentions:

Total Immersion

303 Triathlon

Also Mentioned:

Ironman

Team Colorado

Ironman Boulder

TrainingPeaks

Dirk Friel

Audi Power of Four

Without Limits

5430

Ironman World Championship

Phil Whitehead

Alan Couzens

USAT

Colorado Athletic Club

Wellbridge

Amy Boone Thompson

Danny Dreyer

We thank you for giving me the next hour or so and exited to share this week's guest with you.  Brian Burk, author of "Running to Leadville - Life, Love, Loss and a 100 mile ultramarathon through the extreme Colorado Rockies.  More on our feature interview in just a bit. 

Brian Burk - Amazon Link to "Look Inside" of the book

When I look for opportunities for guests on the show, I have a couple of things that I'm looking for:

What is the candidates relationship to endurance sport? Are they relevant?

Do they possess enough knowledge on the subject and are they credible?

Will the audience find them interesting?

When I started reading the book, this is the caption that caught my eye and I identified with:

"I've come to face reality, I may not have the drive, genetics or time to be in a position to ever place first in my age group or ever win an event, But I can do epic.  I will do epic and I will live an epic life.

I read started reading the first chapter and was immediately engaged by trying to figure out is the character in the book named "Brian" really the author's persona on the page.  Before I knew it, I was engrossed in the story that was unfolding in front of me with each turn of the page.  The first chapter of this story was emotional and I admit I cried.  But then I'm the sentimental type

Khem, I'll have to pass along this book.  It's funny how this book surprised me in terms of how interesting I found it.   Here's a funny analysis.

I really like football.  Football is exciting. Like many, I have a date with the NFL every Sunday afternoon for at least a couple hours.  Yet, when it comes to movies or books about football, I couldn't give a flip.  Don't care, don't want to watch inspirational movies about football.

Running, let's face it, can be boring.  It can be boring to run (speaking in the first person).  Ever spectated a running race?  Real exciting right?  No, not real exciting.  I'm not talking about the finish line of a marathon, I'm talking about standing on the sidewalk in the middle of the course. 

So to pick up a book, that I know is not "instructional" on the topic of running, I was like -really?

I'm so glad I bought the book.  I was really entertained by this story and blown away about how he drew the characters from his life in the story.

Thanks for joining us again this week.  Guess what's coming up in just a couple of weeks, Khem? 

It's the show's 1 year anniversary coming up.  March 10, 2016 was the first episode and in that first month we had a total of 104 downloads.  April 276.

Let us know you like the content by following our guests and MHE on social media.  Check out the Mile High Endurance website and milehighendurance.com for more on upcoming interviews, past interviews, resources, blog, about the show, and now discounts.  

Check out the Halo Neuro Sport deal on the MHE Discounts page.  Save $150 on Halo Sport.  We'll see if we can get some more deals added to that page.

Thanks for your continued following of the podcast.  Join us next week for Terry Laughlin from Total Immersion Swimming.  Please share with a friend, or running buddy, or post on your club social media page.  Have a great week everybody!

Stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the endurance journey!

Welcome to Episode #60 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 and we thank you for giving us the next hour or so.  We have Daragh Kneeshaw from Aspen Snowmass on the show today to talk to us about the Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race later this month and the Trail Race coming up this summer.

Thanks again to Mark Mastalir for joining us to talk about the Halo Neuro Sport.

I really need a few minutes to reflect on this.

• I've now used it to "prime" before a couple of workouts
• The elephant is in the room - I've been asked does this work?
• Mark and the team at Halo Neuroscience are going to try and make us successful
• More workouts
• • The swim workout that I mentioned went great, but with a twist
  • I feel it at work best when I'm doing a powerful muscle contraction
• Questions I'm getting
• Published Research on the mile high endurance resources page (by Sunday AM)
• Neuro Halo is offering a MHE listener discount.  Normally $749.  They are knocking $150 off the price for any MHE listener.  Simply use MHE150 at checkout and you will save a chunk of money.  Simply go to www.haloneuro.com, click on the Green Order Halo Sport button on the upper right of your screen and proceed.
• Also, 30 day money back guarantee, including free return shipping if you are not convinced
• I've made some updates to the website with a Sponsor page and a banner ad at the top 
• Back to the question - does this work?  How do you know? 
• Takes 2-3 weeks to see measurable results - so I don't know yet
• I spoke to Mark and Danny at HN and asked if they could guide me on a good isolation test (with a sample size of one), but to help me answer the question.
• Halo Sport accelerates improvements in muscle memory, strength, explosiveness, and endurance.  It does not improve cardio vascular fitness and biomechanics efficiency.
• I am going to set up a 3 week strength training protocol and measure my performance before and after starting this coming week.  More on that next week.  I encourage folks to follow my progress with the Halo Sport

If you listened to Khem's and my interview with TrainingPeaks co-founder Dirk Friel a few weeks ago about new features in TP.

At the tail end of that interview, we talked about Dirks races in 2017.  Now Dirk, as you probably know was a former professional cyclist.  So what does a former pro cyclist do for races and athletic activities in the winter you ask?  Well we'll tell you.  He does that Audi Power of Four Mountaineering race.

The Audi Power of Four Race Series is a premier endurance race series utilizing the unique and amazing terrain of each of the four Aspen Snowmass mountains. Each race is designed to test the limits and skills of both elite and recreational athletes.

The Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Sport Division has a 6:00 AM race start in Snowmass Base Village. The Power of Two Rec Division begins at 8:00 AM at the base of Aspen Highlands.

Bill, you first looked this up and shared it with me.  What made this race appealing to you?  What are the four mountains? https://www.aspensnowmass.com/our-mountains/snowmass

Aspen Snowmass has two additional races in this series.  There's a Trail Run with 10K, 25K and 50K distances.  There's also 33 mile mountain bike race across all four mountains.

We've got Daragh Kneeshaw with us to talk about Aspen Snowmass, the 4 mountains, the race series and much more. 

Let us know you like the content by following us on Facebook and Twitter.  Check out the Mile High Endurance Page for more on upcoming interviews, past interviews, resources, blog, and more.   Be sure to visit HaloNeuro.com to check out the Halo Sport and their website and follow them on Twitter and Facebook to follow what Mark Mastalir and crew are offering.

Bill - Any things that you or 303 Triathlon want to tell the listeners to be looking out for?

Thanks for your continued following of the podcast.  The show is growing by leaps and bounds all of a sudden and we are really thrilled by the growth.  Please share with a friend, or running buddy, or post on your club social media page.

Have a great week everybody!

Stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the endurance and triathlon journey!

Welcome to Episode #59 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 and we thank you for giving us the next hour or so.  We have a very different kind of guest today.  Mark Mastalir, the Chief Marketing Officer and Halo Neuro Science joins us to talk about an innovative product.

Thanks again to Amanda Stevens-Sadler for joining us to talk about metabolic efficiency training and diet, as well as a bit of a discussion on swimming form.  If you missed that episode - are you crazy?  Get on the website or iTunes and listen to it.  She really was a lot of fun to talk to and had great information to share.

If you did listen and enjoy the interview with Amanda, would you please go to her Facebook page at @docamandastevens and tell her you liked what she had to tell us.

Episode #57 was just 2 weeks ago.  We spoke to Terry Laughlin, author of "Total Immersion" and Founder of the swim coaching company of the same name.  His insights in the interview were amazing.  We ran out of time and agreed to get him back - soon.  I've been in touch with Terry and we are just trying to line up dates.  Now I'm already starting to prepare my questions for Terry.  As I'm re-reading part of Total Immersion recently, I came across the following quotes.

"Because SSP (Sensory Skill Practice), as I call it, is a good deal more important - each drill heightens the kinesthetic, or sensory, experience of how 'right swimming' feels.  In SSP, we practice swimming while focused on feeling"

"Just one repetition of a new drill may start the learning process, may even begin tracing a faint neurological imprint that will make the next repetition easier and more natural.  But real skill requires that the groove be cut deeply through many repetitions, done the same way." - muscle memory through repetition, right? 

This is not ground breaking right?  Have we heard this before?  Of course we have.

Back in mid-December we had Marc Evans, author of Triathletes in Motion.  He is probably the foremost expert on bio mechanics and the importance of training the body and developing strength and flexibility to achieve optimal form for your best performance.  During the interview, we asked him where the greatest opportunity for athletic performance improvement could be found.  He said that the greatest opportunity lies in the connection between our brain and the neuro muscular skeletal system.

You'll hear more about it in the interview, but there is another book that is extremely relevant to today's subject.  The book is titled "Make It Stick - The Science of Successful Learning" by Peter Brown.  In short the book takes the latest research on how we has humans learn effectively and what learning methods have been debunked or proven ineffective by contemporary research.  Mindless repetition does not improve retention and learning.  Hard effort thinking like trying to recall information without cues.  Asking questions before you read so your brain is activated trying to search for an answer to a question while it's reading - really working.  Traditional learning teaches a subject one topic at a time, right?  If you were attending auto mechanic school, you might learn fuel systems, then electrical systems, then the air flow system, then suspension systems, etc.  What contemporary research tells us is that understanding how the fuel system, electrical system and air system work together.  Learning 3 or 4 topics within a subject at the same time, may seem hard and it its. However, it is the context of how things relate that makes learning occur faster.  Learning can be equated to walking across a grassy field.  If you plot a straight line across this field and walk lightly across it a few times and you might start to wear it down a little.  Drag or shuffle your feet across the grass and it's harder, but you may wear a path faster.  The path through the grass is a metaphor for the neural connections that are developed in our brains.  The harder the work, the faster the neural connection development.

The brain is plastic and always changing.  We can make it change faster with proper learning approaches and techniques.  What applies to learning the inner workings of a car or applies to memorizing equations for your next math exam, also extends to bio mechanics, proprioception and movement.  Early in the book Make it Stick, they talk about a study of the 3 foot toss.  Two groups tested for accuracy throwing balls into a basket place 3 feet away.  One group practiced from 3 feet, and only 3 feet.  The second group practiced from 2 feet and 4 feet, never from 3 feet.  Guess which group tested with a higher accuracy and percent of balls in the basket?  The answer - the group that practiced at 2 and 4 feet because they had context.  Because it took greater concentration.  Because it was harder.

There are brain games that people subscribe to for developing their brains performance and increasing the activity in the brain and exploiting the plasticity of the brain to develop neural connections.  How is learning to do something physical any different.  We are an organism learning to do something new or be better at something all the time. 

You will hear in the interview today all about the company Halo Neuro Science and the product Halo Neuro Sport.  You will hear about the medical research and origins with years of research on how to stimulate the neuro motor cortex for epilepsy patients.  We are going to learn how Olympic athletes in many sports, including triathlon, are using this device to shorten the learning curve and lock in desired muscle memory faster. 

Coming up:

• Daragh Kneeshaw, Aspen Snowmass' Audi Power of Four Mountaineering Race
• Brian Burk, author of Running to Leadville
• Terry Laughlin of Total Immersion

Let us know you like the content by following us on Facebook and Twitter.  Check out the Mile High Endurance Page for more on upcoming interviews, past interviews, resources, blog, and more. 

Check out 303 Triathlon for the latest news on triathlon in Colorado.

We 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.

Stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the endurance and triathlon journey!

Welcome to Episode #58 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.  Bill Plock and I had a blast talking to guest Dr. Amanda Stevens about metabolic efficiency training and eating.  We discuss swim form and drills to help you achieve balance in the water.

With the scheduling of the interview this week and trying to figure out when to record the intro for this week's episode, we were not able to get Khem Suthiwn with us this week.  She'll be back next week.  Khem, wish you were here with us.

Interview setup:

• We brought Amanda up a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about the top minds on the topic of swimming.  Bill, you brought her up in the conversation and I wrote down a note to reach out to her.  We sent her an invite and she graciously agreed to join us.
• We brainstormed topics and came up with metabolic efficiency, avoiding overtraining, and swimming coaching.  We pulled off our first Twitter Poll and actually got some good play on the poll.  Here's what you told us.
• Twitter poll, results
• • 29% - Swim Technique
  • 13% - Over Training
  • 42% - Metabolic Efficiency
  • 16% - Race Strategy
• Needless to say we decided to spend most of our time talking about metabolic efficiency/eating for health and swim coaching
• Dr. Amanda Stevens-Sadler is a professional Ironman triathlete and consultant focusing on sports medicine and general health and wellness.
• As a professional triathlete, Dr. Stevens-Sadler competes on the Ironman World Circuit.
• I don’t want to steal too much from the interview.  We'll get to know Amanda and her background in just a minute.
• • Dr. Stevens-Sadler, her husband, Randy, and their whippet, Dash, currently live in Arizona
  • During downtime or recovery, she enjoys reading and watching movies and always seems to have a project to work on.
  • An Enid, Oklahoma, native, Dr. Stevens-Sadler earned her undergraduate degree at Texas Christian University and later graduated from the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine.
• Dr. Stevens-Sadler enjoys and encourages a healthy lifestyle and is an expert in a range of topics, including sports medicine, injury prevention, fitness, nutrition and preventive medicine.

Amanda Stevens can be contacted at the following:

https://dramandastevens.com/

https://www.facebook.com/DocAmandaStevens

https://twitter.com/DrAmandaStevens

If you enjoyed today's interview, please let us know by going on Facebook and Like the site and Interview Post.  Please Like the Twitter posts and follow there as well @milehighpodcast.

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. 

Coming up on the show we have:

 Stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the triathlon journey!

Welcome to Episode #57 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 you host Rich Soares with co-hosts Khem Suthiwan and Bill Plock.  We have a very cool interview with Terry Laughlin of Total Immersion today.

Thank you to Dirk Friel for coming back on the show and talking about TrainingPeaks recent features.  I really didn't hype it up, but I would encourage you to go to the website www.milehighendurance.com and note there is a new menu item called "Blog".  Under that you will see MHE Blog and Photos.  In the MHE Blog you will see my complete write up and step by step exploration of the new features in Workout Builder and Annual Training Plan.

Okay, let's get into today's interview with Terry Laughlin, founder of TI.  Let me start with the reason I wanted to get him on the show.  We have been focusing this northern hemisphere "off season" on topics related to form, technique, strength/balance to create the greatest opportunity for efficiency and injury prevention when your season begins in earnest.

Back in episode #48, Khem and I interviewed coach David Warden on the topic of bio mechanics.  In that interview, David mentioned getting coaching help from Terry Laughlin of TI and how it helped improve his speed and efficiency in the water from a below average swimmer to a top ten percent swimmer.

Well I took a mental note during that interview.  I too studied TI In my first year or so of triathlon.  It's been a while since I read the book and I thought it would be great to bring Terry to all of you.  I hope you have read TI, taken the course work, or receive coaching.  Whether you have or you haven't, I think you will find Terry has a talent for teaching swimming technique.  You will hear how incredibly well he describes techniques and feel of the water for streamlining and power. 

We're going to have Terry back in a few weeks or so to talk about "the ability to repeat effective swimming motions (or strokes) for a duration, and at a pace, of your choosing."  We also talk about the 3 M's of Endurance: Metabolic, Motor, Mental.

Speaking of upcoming interviews, let's talk about the lineup.

Folks, please do me a huge favor this week.  Take two seconds to open up your Facebook app and type Mile High Endurance into the search field and follow the podcast.  Please do the same thing on Twitter at MileHighPodcast.

Also, please take another minute this week to pass along the podcast to a friend or relative who is into endurance sports or health and fitness in general. The referrals and growth are much appreciated.

Please also give some love to Terry Laughlin and Total Immersion and go to their Facebook page and website to learn more. 

If you have been out to the www.milehighendurance.com website this week, you have seen some changes.  There are now sub menu items on the website.  I've also changed some of the content.  Where there used to be a menu item for "Episodes", that has been reworded to "Interviews" and then there are sub menu page selections for 2016 and 2017 interviews.  I've also added the date of each episode and made it much more mobile friendly.  There were also a few links that were broken and are now fixed.

Stay tuned, stay informed, and enjoy the triathlon journey!

Welcome to Episode #56 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 Bill Plock from 303 Triathlon.  Welcome back this week.  Today's guest interview is with Dirk Friel from TrainingPeaks to talk to us about some of the newer features in TrainingPeaks.  We'll get into that in just a minute.  How's it Bill? 

Catch up with Bill.

Thanks to Michael Rodgers for joining us last week to talk about the NYC Marathon.

We've been talking about this week's guest for a few weeks now.  Dirk Friel, co-founder of TrainingPeaks, has been a guest on the show in the past.  This week we caught up with Dirk to talk to us about some of the new TrainingPeaks features. 

My inspiration for the topic.  I had upgraded to the Coaching Edition and had received an email from Tony at TrainingPeaks offering to give me a 45 minute overview of the coaching version.  During the orientation session, Tony was walking me through how to create an Annual Training Plan (ATP).  I have been using ATP, and had struggled the task of data entry and calculations to design and build the ATP.  My specific thought was "jeez it would be great if you could just enter the target Training Stress Score and have that automatically produce an ATP volume required to prepare an athlete for their A Race.  It seemed like a reasonable question, so I asked Tony.  He chuckled a bit, and I expected to hear Tony follow the chuckle with a "it's right there in front of you", Instead, Tony explained that the functionality did not exist yet, but was actually scheduled in an upcoming release.

In preparation for the interview I was poking around with the TSS/CTL/ATP tool and the Workout Builder.  The more I played with them the freaking cooler it got.  As a guy who works a Product Manager for a software development team, I have an appreciation for how "in-tune and intuitive" it is.  I usually work too hard to try to figure out some software functionality.   When I let myself mouse around, I began to find that there were controls exactly where you want them and an interactivity between the data tables and the graphical display that is dynamic.  Meaning, you can create a table from drag and drop templates, you can adjust things like set length by dragging, or go to the table and make data changes directly.

The same is true for Workout Builder.  From Calendar, either click on Workout Library or create a new workout by clicking on the plus sign on the day you are adding a workout.  Depending on the type of workout, you can pick the Training Method (eg, % of FTP, % of MHR, RPE, etc).  You can drag or click blocks, within a block, you can hover over each and see the duration and intensity displayed in the text.  You will also see the zones dynamically specified for the individual athlete.  You will also see starting time/distance in the hover over text box.  This helps you make sure you have the right training volume to reach your target.

If you want to increase the intensity, you can over the top of the graph bar and you will see the mouse arrow change to a double-arrow.  You can left click and move the intensity up or down. 

Likewise, you can adjust the duration by hovering over the side of the graph bar, reveal the double-arrow curser.  Left click and then drag to be longer or shorter.

If you want to increase or decrease the number of reps in the set, you can hover over the block and you will see a +/- on the left side of the block.  You can click on the + to add reps or the - to remove reps.  Note that you can see the projected TSS.

Let's get into the interview with Dirk Friel and hear what he has to say.  

Welcome to Episode #55 of the Mile High Endurance podcast. This week's interview is with Michael Rodgers of New York Road Runners.  Michael talks to us about the NYC Marathon, the many options to gain entry to this epic race, what it takes to run it, and the many things that NYRRs do to grow communities and create opportunities through running.  Michael is a 5 time Ironman finisher and planning to Lake Placid in 2017.

• 00:00 Intro
• 15:24 Michael Rodgers from NYRR
• 59:54 Wrap up and coming episodes

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-hosts Khem Suthiwan and Bill Plock.

Thanks for giving us the next hour or so.  If you are new to Mile High Endurance, welcome.  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. 

Last week we had Lance Panigutti on the show to talk about the Boulder Peak and the 5430 Series.  Last week we talked about the bargain price of $300 to register for all 3 races.  I made a bit of a deal about the 'early bird' price and encouraged folks to register before midnight on New Year's Eve.  We thought it was going to take a modest bump up to $330 - well it didn’t.  I just checked yesterday and it's $315.  $315 for the Sprint, Boulder Peak Olympic, and a half Iron distance race. 

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.

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.

• 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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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:

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!

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!

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

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

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.