Troubleshooting 8 Common Race-Day Run Problems

With the run being the final leg of a triathlon, your body and brain are fatigued with plenty of miles still to go. Numerous things can go wrong trying to reach the finish line. Coach Chris Navin brings his coaching and racing experience to the podcast to help us troubleshoot the eight most common issues athletes may face during the run. From injuries and aches to brain fog, nutrition, and GI issues, we cover it all! This episode will help ease those race-day run fears and help you confidently finish your race!

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
This is the Tridot podcast.
Tri Dot uses your trainingdata and genetic profile combined
with predictive analytics andartificial intelligence to optimize
your training, giving youbetter results in less time with
fewer injuries.
Our podcast is here toeducate, inspire and entertain.
We'll talk all thingstriathlon with expert coaches and

(00:25):
special guests.
Join the conversation andlet's improve together.
Together.
Yeah.
Welcome to the Tried out podcast.
I am very excited to keep ourseries rolling where we bring on
a different triathlon coachevery single week to help us troubleshoot

(00:46):
the most common things that gowrong on race day.
And today we are talking aboutthe eight common things that go wrong
during the run portion of thea triathlon.
Our coach joining us is coachChris Navin who leads Four Star Endurance.
Based in Chicago, Illinois.
Chris has raced over 100triathlons and is a metabolic efficiency

(01:08):
training specialist.
Coach Chris, welcome back tothe show.
Hey, thanks for having me.
Well, I am Andrew, the averagetriathlete, voice of the people and
captain of the middle of the pack.
As always, we're going tostart off with a warm up question.
Settle in for our main setconversation where coach Chris will
help us troubleshoot the eightcommon race day run problems.
Then we'll wind things down byasking an audience question to Coach

(01:32):
Chris on our cooldown.
Lots of good stuff.
Let's get to it.
Time to warm up.
Let's get moving.
All right, for our warm upquestion today.
While we're talking so muchabout running and what can go wrong
while we're out there, I wantto know what is the biggest race

(01:54):
day problem you personallyhave encountered during the run portion
of a race?
Coach Chris, what does thisanswer for you?
Oh, I've had a number ofissues over the years.
A lot of races with standalonemarathons, but also a lot of Ironman
races.
So I've had a lot of hiccupsalong the way, whether it's running

(02:15):
into hydration fueling issuesand I've had to throw up in the middle
of the run a couple times,sometimes more than once.
That's what you want?
Yeah, that's what you want.
I've also done a full Ironmanwhere I've had to power walk the
entire marathon because of atorn meniscus.
So I've had a little bit ofeverything over the years.

(02:36):
But yeah, it's, you know, thelife lesson to be learned is just
keep moving forward andlearning how to adapt to different
environments is part of thefun adventure of dealing with running
events.
My answer to this moralquestion, like you, I've had a number
of different kind ofcategorically things go wrong and
we'll talk about some of thatthrough the main set.

(02:56):
But what I think is probablythe biggest race day issue I've had
while running when we did Isay we, we had a lot of tri dotters
there at Clash Daytona anumber of years ago and I, I, I was
training a little bit.
I wasn't like actively doingmy tryd out workouts every single
day.
I wasn't in like PR shape byany means.

(03:18):
And so what I decided to dowas sign up for the sprint on, on,
on Saturday and then I did arelay for the middle distance on
Sunday and I was the runner inthe relay.
So I go out to do my sprintand did the swim, did the bike and
I Chris, I've run barefoot forsprint and Olympic triathlons dozens
of times, right?

(03:38):
And I, I've done them inseveral different shoes.
I've run barefoot in my vapor flies.
My vapor fly next percentsthat I was wearing on this day.
But for some reason, maybe itwas the Florida humidity, I don't
really know.
Maybe I got a pebble in theback of my shoe.
I don't really know.
But halfway through that 5Kand that sprint triathlon, I could
tell I'm getting a reallygnarly blister on the back of one

(04:02):
of my heels.
I've never had that problembefore and I saw it through to the
finish.
I kept running and sureenough, pretty, pretty bloody down
there after that sprint.
And so the next day I'msupposed to run 13.1 miles as the
runner in a relay and I don'twant to let my relay partners down,
right?
It was try to coach TonyWashington, try to coach Dan Caskey

(04:23):
were my relay partners.
And so I went to Walmart and Igot some, you know, pretty, pretty
heavy duty blister band aidsand made sure that thing was really
padded and I wore, I didn'twear my race day running shoe for
that.
I wore my training shoes whichwere fit a little looser, didn't
put as much pressure on thatheel area and I was able to run okay

(04:44):
through that, but I coulddefinitely feel that.
So I kind of had a race and ahalf there where I was really dealing
with gnarly blister and that'sthis answer for me.
But we're going to throw thisout to our Try Dot podcast audience.
So find this question in theTry Dot community hub.
Find this question.
It'll get posed to you guys onour Instagram Page and find it in
the I am Trotted Facebookgroup because I want to hear what

(05:07):
is the wildest, just mostunfortunate, troublesome problem
you've had while runningduring a race.
On to the main set.
Going in 3, 2, 1.
On to our main set.
And now that Chris and I havekind of kicked around some problems

(05:28):
we've had on the race course,we're going to walk through the eight
things that our team thinksare the most common problems athletes
experience when they're on therun portion of a triathlon.
And coach Chris, as a guywho's been there, done that, coach
there, coach that he's justgoing to walk us through, what should
we do when we encounter one ofthese problems on race day?

(05:49):
And common run problem numberone, Coach Chris, is at some point
during the run, you begin tofeel pain.
This can be tweaking a muscle.
This can be having just a sidestitch that won't go away.
This can be some.
Some joint pain coming in,some foot pain coming in.
It can be having a blisterlike me.
It can be having a tormeniscus like you.

(06:10):
But if we're running on raceday, we're in pain.
What do we do?
Yeah, I think I.
I like to say A, B, C, A,assess the injury.
You know, is it something thatis major or is it something that's
minor?
And, you know, if.
If there is any sign that thisis progressively getting worse as

(06:31):
you're moving along, that's asign that it might be, hey, you gotta
pull the plug and go, youknow, go to an aid station, go see
a medical professional, havethem assess for you if you're not
sure and decide whether you dowant to continue or not.
And usually the barometer isif it's something that just feels
like a little bit of a naggingpain and you might be okay to go

(06:52):
through with it, you might be fine.
But if there's a sign thatit's getting progressively worse,
you know, small muscle crampversus an actual, like, breaking
of a bone.
I've had a few athletes overthe years who have actually tripped
on a curb and broken.
My wife actually broke her toeon a swim, not on a run.
I've had athletes break theirfeet entering the swim, exiting the

(07:13):
swim.
How did that happen?
Yeah, my wife cracked her toeon a rock going into the swim at
one race.
But I've had an athlete atIronman, Arizona, that took a bad
step on a curb and actuallybroke their foot.
And they didn't know it at thetime, and they Just kept going with
it.
And so, you know, obviously inthat situation, the goal should be

(07:36):
shut it down, the race is done.
But if it's something that isminor, you want to start saying,
okay, now how do I deal with it?
So after you assess it, um,focus on just your effort level.
Um, focus on breathing.
So I say A, B, C, A, S, B, breathe.
Because oftentimes aches andpains and cramps, whether it's a

(07:57):
muscle issue, whether it's ahydration issue, something else,
they get exacerbated if youreffort level is too high or if you're
just not getting enough energyout of your body.
And sometimes taking a breath,like taking a deep breath, focusing
on your breathing can help getyou out of those situations where,
you know, you're helping yourbody get the fuel that it needs to,

(08:22):
you know, deal with whatyou're dealing with.
So, you know, B, just takesome deep breaths.
If it's a side stitch cramp,that's actually a great way to get
rid of the side stitch crampis to do hard, big exhales, big inhales,
and it'll slowly go away.
But you do have to drop yourpace down too.
So C is actually check yourheart rate.
So check your breathing andthen check your heart rate and just

(08:44):
say, hey, am I going on theplan that I set for myself or is
my heart rate running too high?
Because if you're dealing withan injury and you're going at too
high of intensity, that'sgoing to be a recipe for disaster.
So, you know, check your heartrate and then start slowing things
down and see how that pain isstill going.
Is it getting worse?

(09:05):
Is it staying the same?
Is it maybe alleviating alittle bit?
And usually by adjusting thatpace, if the pain is getting less,
that's a sign that, hey, maybethis is a manageable thing on race
day because depending on whattype of running event you're doing,
if it's a full ironman, forexample, that can be a long run.
And you want to make sure thatyou deal with anything early before

(09:27):
it starts gettingprogressively worse.
I would not have thought ofyour step two.
Just, okay, breathe, get yourheart rate in check.
Make sure that's good to gobefore deciding what to do from there.
So lots of good stuff there.
Chris, from you, common runproblem number two.
This one, I think, isextremely common to our age groupers.

(09:49):
I wanted to put it early in,in the show because of that.
This is where an athletebegins to struggle holding their
goal pace for no big reason.
Other than just good oldfashioned fatigue.
Right.
So you have a goal pace.
You have the pace your race Xtold you you should be able to hold
for your run, or you have acertain time in mind where, okay,
I want to try to hold thispace for the run.

(10:10):
You know, you're, you're,you're clocking along, you're doing
good, and then just, just allof a sudden you're just starting
to fade, starting to slowdown, heart rates creeping up, and
there's not an injury, there'snot, there's not, you're not dehydrated,
you're not, there's notangible reason.
Chris, if we see that goalslipping away and we're struggling
to hold the pace that we feellike we should be able to hold, what
do we do?

(10:30):
Yeah, it's, it's tough.
And you know, you can do asmuch planning as you can.
And especially if you'reusing, you know, I always say use
a, a smart tool like, like tryDOT for, you know, shameless plug.
But it, it matters to not justhave a pace plan based on your pace,
but have a pace plan based onyour environment, the conditions,

(10:53):
and to have at least one eyeon your heart rate as well.
Like I would even say focus onheart rate over pace.
And so if the pace is slowingdown for some reason, as long as
your heart rate is where itneeds to be, you're okay.
You're adapting for theenvironmental conditions.
Maybe it's a little more humidthan was forecast.
Maybe it, you know, the heatjust came up a lot higher than what

(11:16):
was forecasted even by Race Xthat gets the weather forecast and,
you know, kind of adapts for it.
Um, so you always, as, youknow, as an athlete, you need to
be ready to adapt.
And so you can look at acouple different things.
Like one, obviously just startbacking off and do the same thing
like assess where you're at.
I always focus on that, that,that be of breathing because oftentimes

(11:38):
when someone fatigues thatfatigue and accelerates because you're
not getting enough energy andwhether that's, you didn't take in
enough fuel or which is oftenthe case when people get tired, their
breathing goes down and theystop breathing in as much oxygen.
And you know, I focus a lot onmetabolic testing and VO2 max and

(12:00):
stuff like that and geek outon all that.
And a lot of you learn whenyou do stuff like that that oxygen
is one of the most primaryfuel sources for your body.
And if you can get more oxygeninto your system, you can get more
energy out of your body, right?
You oxidize your fat storesfor more energy.
And the longer in distance,like Ironman especially that fuel

(12:22):
source becomes much more important.
So just breathing is one ofthe most important things.
I sometimes when I cheer myathletes on at races, I'll actually
hold up a sign and I'll yellat them and I'll say, just breathe
to get them to remindthemselves to breathe deeper.
Like, get more oxygen in.
I use the analogy of a campfire.
You know, if you fan theflame, it's going to burn more.

(12:44):
And so if it's just a fatiguething, you can oftentimes kind of
biohack your body a little bitinto actually getting more energy
out of your body by justfocusing on your breathing.
Establish that breathing, youknow, work on that respiration first.
Oftentimes that can help youget out of a bad spot, whether it's
your mood or whatnot.

(13:04):
But the other thing which issometimes on course, sometimes it
isn't, is caffeine.
Love it.
Take advantage of any littlecaffeine boost.
So sometimes if you know thepace is just dropping down, maybe
you didn't get enough energyin, but maybe more calories isn't
the solution, but just thatextra little kick, that extra little
bump can help.
But if you do start usingcaffeine, continue to use it.

(13:27):
Because if it's a long eventand you kind of come off that caffeine
high, the crash can sometimesbe worse on the other side.
Like, I've.
I've had actually at least twoIronman races where I got so tired
on the run, I.
I'm like, I can't continue.
And I actually sat down on apark bench and took a mini nap for
a couple minutes and then pickmyself back up again once I felt

(13:50):
like, okay, maybe I just needto focus on my breathing.
Maybe I just need to get thatnext aid station, get a little caffeine
boost, and then was able tocontinue on.
But I needed those coupleminutes just to reassess where I
was, you know, have a clear head.
Because sometimes if you'redehydrated or you have low blood
sugar, you're not.
You're not thinking straight.
And so breathing is oftentimesthat first step to kind of get you

(14:12):
out of that bunk.
This is episode 297 of theTried out podcast.
And I have never heard a coachor an athlete say that during the
course of an Ironman, theylaid down and took a nap on a park
bench.
Chris, I'm just curious whatrace Was that at that you did that?
So I've done that at 2 so far.
1 was Ironman, Arizona, andit's right before the hill, if you

(14:34):
know, the hill on the backsideof the park.
I found a little dark spot.
It was still.
I was, you know, trying to be,you know, you know, not, not doing
anything that would be high risk.
So I was on a park bench thatwas right along the run course so
people could see me.
You know, somehow I passed outor whatever.
Somebody was there.

(14:55):
And then at Ironman, it waswhen Des Moines had a full Ironman.
It was a very hot condition day.
It was actually the, the, thesame race that I was power walking
the run and the, the runbecause I couldn't, I couldn't run
the run.
I had to walk, walk the run.
I was wearing a knee brace andeverything with the meniscus issue
I had.
I was just out there for solong and it was a very, very hot

(15:17):
day and I just got in thatdark spot, you know, late in the
race.
It was probably mile 18, mile20, something like that, the marathon.
And I'm like, you know what?
I got plenty of time.
I can afford to just sit downfor a little bit, kind of regain
my composure.
And that little five minutenap helped and I was able to continue
on.
But I would say if you everfeel that way, like, first and foremost,

(15:38):
don't go off in the bushes somewhere.
Find a place where otherpeople are around you and can help
you in case it's somethingelse that's at play.
Yeah.
And really with that, it'salmost a comical version of it.
Right.
It's the extreme side of this,but it gave you a chance to reset,
right?
Yeah.
And so for a lot of peoplelistening, okay, in your local sprint,

(15:58):
your local Olympic, you'rehalf ironman.
Okay.
You might not be like Chrisand find a bench to take a nap.
You might.
I don't know.
But maybe that reset is justwalking an aid station, you know,
giving yourself from where youare now to the next stop sign and
just walking for a minute, reclearing your head, you know, and
just breathing right.
And resetting your head.

(16:18):
And so, yeah, lots of goodstuff here.
I'm always on board foranybody who encourages me to take
caffeine and more of it.
And I'm always down for a nap.
So, Chris, I really like howthis podcast is going so far.
Common run problem numberthree is you start fighting muscle
cramps.
I almost rope this intoproblem number one, but to me it's

(16:39):
just a little bit differentwhen you're cramping as opposed to
feeling an injury like pain.
So if we're feeling cramps onthe run.
Coach CHRIS what do we do?
Yeah, and oftentimes peoplesay, oh, just take more sodium.
Muscle cramping has to do withelectrolytes and whatnot.
Um, but that's, that's reallyonly half the picture, if not a third

(17:01):
of the picture.
Typically, um, you know,usually muscles cramp not just because
of hydration and electrolytes,but oftentimes because they just
don't have the glycogen storesthe energy to use.
Um, you know, the example Iuse for running is, you know, if
you do the math for a typicalrunner running a marathon, and you

(17:24):
look at how much glycogen yourbody has stored, and that's, you
know, glycogen is the storedsugar, the carbs your body has, whether
it's in the muscle tissue, inthe blood or in the liver.
And if you add that up, theaverage person might have somewhere
around 1500-2000 calories inthat tank.
And for a marathon, if you ranat a high intensity, like around

(17:47):
your threshold of typical kindof hard running pace, and you didn't
take in any other fuel, youwould bonk and your muscles would
run out of glycogen completelyat mile 18 and a half.
And when people take a littlebit of sugar, they might prolong
that a little bit further.
So usually in a marathon run,it's around that mile 18 to 20 point

(18:07):
that you start seeing peoplehaving calf cramps and issues that
start slowing them down.
And usually, and I think we'relearning this now, sports science
over the last 10 years, therecommendations for how much fuel
to take in and how you can getyour body to perform better with
more in the tank, as long asit's the right balance, you can prolong

(18:30):
pushing a harder pace, but youcan also help avoid cramping.
And so I always say make surethat you are looking at it not just
from an electrolytestandpoint, but when it comes to
getting some carbs in yourbody, that can help quite a bit with
muscle cramps.
And I think that oftentimes is overlooked.
So it's really three different things.

(18:50):
It's the electrolytes, it'salso the fluid, you know, the liquid,
and the carbs, you know, yourbody stores.
I think it is three and a halfto four grams of water of water weight
with every gram of carbs.
So when you're taking carbsin, you need the fluids as well.
And with the electrolytes, youknow, one of the muscle relaxant

(19:13):
electrolytes is magnesium.
And oftentimes all sportsproducts have sodium chloride, calcium,
potassium, but not all of themwill always have magnesium.
Usually if it has calcium,it'll also have magnesium, because
those are usually in a ratiowith each other.
So look at electrolyteproducts that have magnesium and

(19:35):
calcium as well.
So more carbs and moremagnesium and calcium.
And, you know, whether that's.
I like the salt stick chews.
Those have a good amount ofactually magnesium and calcium in
them.
But just look at the labels.
Look at the labels of theproducts that you have.
And I always have in my littlerace belt, I have a little pouch
of those, because I know,like, if I do start cramping, that's

(19:59):
going to be my.
My way to get myself out ofthat situation.
Or look at the aid stationsand take advantage of some of the
products that you'll see on course.
So don't think just hydration.
Make sure you're getting ontop of the carbs as well.
Yeah, I'm glad you said that.
I.
There's, you know, I, Ihydrate religiously because I grew

(20:19):
up in Florida.
I live in Texas.
Like, it's just.
It's.
It's a way of life, right?
Like, it.
On a Wednesday with zeroworkouts, I'm hydrating properly.
Right?
Like, it's just.
It's just life in the South.
Um, and.
And so many people justsimplify cramping to electrolytes.
It's like, well, it's not that simple.
Cause there's.
There's plenty of workoutswhere I, I probably overdo with the
electrolytes and still canhave some muscle cramping.

(20:41):
And so you kind of learn.
Okay, it's.
There's more going on here, right?
And the science tells us that.
So I'm so glad you broughtthat knowledge to the podcast.
Just to remind people, pictureit holistically.
Picture it as there's.
There's a couple levers therethat can influence those cramps and
get fuel on board, getelectrolytes on board.
You know, give yourself achance to kind of reset and give
your.
Give your muscles the fuelthey need, not just the electrolytes

(21:03):
they need.
And the other thing I wouldadd, too, like, with the.
I mean, this goes a little bitback to the assessment side, but
when you have a muscle cramp,oftentimes where you feel that pain
is not always the problem area.
Like, oftentimes it's, youknow, kinetic change in the body
and it's the muscle group orthe joint or something above or below

(21:24):
that might be tightening upand pulling on something.
And you feel the pain in thearea that's being pulled, but the
root cause is directly aboveor below that.
So you get a hamstring issue.
What you can actually look atdoing, too, besides the fueling part,
is massaging the muscles.
Try to get the muscles toactually physically relax above and

(21:44):
below that point.
If you've ever seen.
I think the most notable onein recent years was Christian Blumenfeld.
A couple races, like in a T100race, an Ironman race, he would just.
His legs would seize upcompletely on the run or getting
off the bike, and he wouldstop and massage.
And people thought, oh, hisrace is done.
And then he gets right back inand he keeps going.
But he just figured out, andhe knows his body well of, like,

(22:06):
where that issue is, and heknew where to address it and be able
to continue on.
So that's another thingbesides the fueling, you know, fueling
hydration, electrolytes,sometimes just addressing and making
sure that the kinetic chain,the muscles above and below, wherever
you feel that pain, are notthe ones that are causing the root

(22:26):
cause of the issue in thefirst place.
Yeah, really good additionthere, Chris.
Common run problem number four.
We're going from cramping topooping, kind of sort of not really
GI issues.
Right.
There's a variety of ways a GIissue can manifest.
Sometimes this is just havingan upset stomach that's hindering
your performance.

(22:47):
Sometimes your stomach canshut down and it just doesn't want
to take in anything.
But, you know, you need totake in something.
Sometimes this can be palatefatigue, where you've got a gel in
your hand, a bar in your hand,and it's just not appetizing to your
body.
If we're.
Sometimes.
This is what I led with.
This can be.
You got the poops and you keepvisiting the Porta Potty a little

(23:08):
more often than you want to.
Chris, if any of these GIissues begin to make themselves realized
on race day, what do we do?
Yeah, there's a lot to that.
I know GI issues can come outall different ends, but yeah, runners
troughs, as we call it.
Sometimes just the act ofjostling your insides around causes
things to push through.

(23:30):
But sometimes people havemedical issues, too.
So always, like, if this issomething that is chronic, you have
something that's happeningquite often, make sure you get it
addressed.
Sometimes people, if they haveCrohn's disease, some other types
of conditions, things thatjust make their bodies respond differently.
Whether it's a nutritional thing.
That's part of the journey offiguring out how to be a healthy

(23:52):
person.
Not just a fit person, but ahealthy person overall.
So figuring out how to dealwith the GI issues, I think is a
common thing.
But, you know, the.
When.
When the gut shuts down, itcan be hard to figure out.
You know, how do you deal with this?

(24:13):
Oftentimes it's a fluidbalance issue.
And like, something just went off.
Like you.
You took in too much water.
And that's usually the firstthing that I try to look at right
away is, you know, what.
Again, assess.
You know, what was the.
What.
What was the issue?
This is something that'shappening, a GI issue that's very
late in the race.

(24:34):
And, you know, if you'redrinking a lot of water and you're
not allowing your body toabsorb that with herbs and electrolytes.
Right.
Everything in moderationshould be the theme.
When you're doing an extreme event.
Make sure you get that addressed.
So if you've been taking in alot of water, sometimes it's just
a matter of getting a littlebit of electrolytes and a little

(24:54):
bit of sugar back in the body,not necessarily getting more water
back in the body, and justsomething to help you restore that
fluid balance because theosmolality of your system is off.
But sometimes it can just be,you ate something bad, you digested
something bad.
I've thrown up at least.

(25:15):
I can probably count three orfour Ironman races.
I've done about 20 plusIronman races.
And yeah, I've had the issueswhere I've thrown up after a race.
I've had issues where I'vethrown up during a race.
I've had runners shots.
So depending on what happens,like some races, unfortunately, you

(25:36):
know, you can get somethingfrom the water, from swimming and
bacteria, something yourbody's maybe more sensitive to.
Some people have allergies todifferent foods.
A lot of things can go wrong.
And if you do end up having a.
An issue with things comingup, make sure that you're focusing

(25:57):
on establishing that fluidbalance again.
So carbs and electrolytesespecially, I think is typically
the solution.
But again, it can vary.
And you do have to kind oflearn what.
What works for you if runnerstrots are the issues.
And, you know, that's kind oflike a chronic thing for you.
One of my biggestrecommendations is to actually, before

(26:17):
the race, try to make sure youget everything out of your system.
You know, look at your prerace routine and sometimes just going
for a quick jog to kind offorce things through before the race
starts.
Go take care of that.
That oftentimes solves issues completely.
For people that have that aslike a chronic thing, like, you get
nervous, the gut in themorning sometimes is a little bit

(26:39):
more.
You're waking up earlier thanyou're used to waking up and.
Yeah, yeah.
And if you're, if you'retrying to like, shove food into quickly
and whatnot, like, dialing inthat morning routine, you know, is
really the most important thing.
But doing a quick jog beforethe event is usually what really
does help for a lot of peoplethat tend to have that particular
issue.
Yep, great stuff, Chris.

(27:00):
Everything in moderation.
And hopefully we have our longworkouts right.
Hopefully we're kind ofpracticing and training how our body
responds to different amountsof fluid versus sodium versus this
versus that.
But then you get on race dayand the conditions are different,
the pressures of race day are different.
And you'll even see, Chris,the pros sometimes get this wrong.

(27:21):
Right?
It's their job.
They race for a living, theytrain for a living.
And sometimes they'll justmisdo that, balance that ratio of
taking this to that, to thatto that, and stop and walk at mile
18, mile 9, mile, whatever.
So if you find yourself withrunner strats, you're in good company.
Some of the best in the worldhad this happen to them too.

(27:42):
Yeah.
And sometimes it's not aphysical or nutritional thing.
It's mental.
Like just the nervous energy,the nerve gets to you and change
how your, how your gut responds.
And, you know, I think the,the theme of this podcast is also
like, how to deal with it.
Right.
So sometimes thinking about,like, hey, what are the different
things that can help me?
And at least over the yearsof, you know, I've done over 130

(28:04):
triathlons, I've done 40 plus marathons.
I've learned a lot of little things.
And so I have like, usuallysomething to deal with everything
in my, my gear bag, but alsoin my race belt.
It's actually run with somegood things just for a couple of
people.
If this might work for you,you can experiment.
Chewing gum.
I keep chewing gum in my, inmy race belt.

(28:25):
So if my stomach gets upset,sometimes just the act of cleansing
your palate and chewing withyour mouth gets your.
Body to use like a minty gumor like a fruity gum or just.
A regular kind of plain, youknow, standard chewing gum.
Something more minty probably.
Um, also I've been ginger chews.
Ginger can sometimes settleyour stomach.

(28:47):
Um, so for some folks, gingerworks really well.
I actually used to put gingerchews in my race belt as like an
emergency situation item.
Um, and then also like, if, if.
Because I've thrown up at acouple of races, what I, What I've
done, what I've learned is.
Tends to work for me,surprisingly, to kind of like, re.
You know, step get back fromthose situations.

(29:09):
Like, you empty out a lot offluid right away, you end up being
dehydrated.
And sometimes it's hard toactually get things in, like you
just don't want to eatanything after that.
So I do meal replacementshakes, like a boost and ensure,
like a ready to drink itemthat you can find at a convenience
store.
I put those at least for fullIronmans in my special needs bags.
So if I ever have an issue, atleast at the, you know, in transition,

(29:32):
each transition, I usuallyhave one and also in special needs.
And so that kind of planningahead of time is something that I've
just learned works for me andis a way that I can deal with those
situations if they do happen.
Yeah.
And it's so funny, Chris, Ilove the suggestion of, of just having
some stuff in your race belt,your race pockets, your.
Your personal needs bags, ifyour race has personal needs bags.

(29:56):
I literally, like, the daybefore Ironman Waco, my coach and
I were talking about like, oh,yeah, I should probably throw like
some, some Pepto Bismol orlike, something.
And I've never done a fullIronman just.
Just in case my stomach gets upset.
And we just never in all thethings you're doing, all the boxes
you're checking, right.
To get ready for race day.
Just never went to theconvenience store and grabbed a couple
of things that I might want tothrow in there.

(30:17):
And so I didn't have that onrace day.
And sure enough, upset stomachfor the first time ever during a
race.
And yeah, so I was like, man,I should have taken the extra 30
minutes to get all that ready.
But what works for some people too?
And I've seen, because I'vealso had athletes, you know, that
volunteer or volunteer specialneeds, and you see the different
things that people put intheir bags.
My wife likes like the chews,the Tums, so like a calcium chew

(30:44):
and that, that helps herwhenever she gets an upset stomach,
that's her solution.
So she puts that in her, youknow, transition bags and her special
needs bags.
So finding out what works foryou or if you're not sure.
Yet just having options issometimes a good, good way to plan
ahead.
Drink a ton of milk and thengo for a hot run and then test what

(31:04):
product calms your stomach down.
That's what we're saying here, right?
CHRIS Common run problemnumber five is you begin to feel
chafing blisters or hot spots.
This can be on your feet, thiscan be on the skin around your tri
kit, especially on longerraces or saltwater races.
Coach CHRIS if you start toreally feel some friction somewhere,

(31:27):
it's bothering you out on thatrun course.
What do we do?
Yeah, a lot.
So usually the painful onesare when you get a lot of your own
sweat and salt, you know,dipping into a wound.
And so any chafing spotusually happens from, you know, there
being a heat liquid like wateror sweat and salt mixed together.

(31:51):
And if there's any open woundthat ends up causing a lot of pain,
usually if that does happen,almost every race, at least the big
ones, they will have medicaltent or medical supplies at the aid
stations.
Just go and see if you can getVaseline or Aquaphor or one of those
products that can act as a barrier.

(32:13):
They have it in so manydifferent places.
Medical staff on the course,sometimes roaming around, you know,
police, if they're blocking anintersection, they might have something
in their, in their vehicles.
But if it's really bad, thenyou need it addressed right away.
Yeah, get, get some type ofbarrier on it over it.
But be careful because youdon't want to just like pour water

(32:35):
and then have a bunch of yoursalt dipping into a wound.
So clean the area if you can,you know, wipe it clean.
I usually, and I've beentrying to find for the longest time
and finally found, I thinkit's Aquaphor.
Makes little tiny packets ofAquaphor that are just like, it's
like a single, you know, thing.

(32:55):
You can buy them in bulk.
And I now put those in my, myrun belt.
So I always have that on therun just in case, whether I have
an issue or somebody else.
So sounds like your run beltalways has everything.
Yeah, I have a little bit of everything.
So if you ever see me in arace and you have an issue, nine
times out of 10, I'll have asolution for you.
But.
But yeah, and then for, Iguess this would be more for after

(33:18):
the race, but A and D cream.
So Vitamin A.
Vitamin D is actually good forhelping the recover.
So if you have that next dayor you get in the shower after a
race and you have that realpainful you know, chafing.
Mark, get that baby ointment.
A vitamin A, vitamin D.
The A and D cream is a reallygood solution for that as a whole.

(33:39):
Or.
And this is another thing Ihave in my race belt, I should probably
just reach over.
I have my race belts back hereto do a little show and tell, but
is hydrocolloid band aids.
So the blister band aids, Iput them in a Ziploc bag so they're
waterproof.
And I always have at least twoof them in my.
In my race belt.
So if you get that back of theheel chafe like you mentioned, you

(34:02):
can just very quickly put thaton and have that barrier because
those are designed to repelmoisture out.
They're more hydrophobic thanother band aids, and they create
a water seal barrier, essentially.
So whether it's during therace or after the race, the hydro
colloid band aids are the wayto go.

(34:25):
If you're at a conveniencestore, I know the band aid brand
has them always in a silver package.
So just look for the silverpackage at a convenience store if
you want to just have thoseextra items to help out on race day.
Yep.
No.
All.
All great tips.
The.
The other one I'll throw outis our friends at Two Tom's, which
as a company, our favorite,like every trydot pool school has

(34:48):
two Toms on deck because theirwipes are so good for all the swimmers
in the pool that are puttingfins on and swimming with fins.
It's so good waterproofblister protection.
But they actually have aproduct called Blister shield, which
now I keep packets of in mybag after experiencing that Clash
event as a tennis player.
I've been playing a lot oftennis lately, and I've also used

(35:11):
their blister shield when Iplayed a couple days in a row.
And I can feel a hand blistercoming on.
I'll just give my hand alittle wipe and then go play.
And no issues whatsoever.
So lots of good options there.
And.
And yeah, it's so interesting.
Like, okay, because there wasthat, like, obvious, like, oh, I
have a blister right nowfeeling at Clash Daytona.
And that.
That story I shared when I didIronman Waco, my first Ironman, I

(35:34):
remember, I think I was atmile 16, 17 on the run, and it was
the first time I'd ever felt,like, hot spots on my feet.
And I'm like, I'm gonna getdone with this race, and my feet
are just gonna be torn up.
And I got done, and my feetwere fine.
It Was literally just a feeling.
Right.
And it can be so, like, elusive.
So I like what you saidearlier, like, stop.
Kind of like equating it tohaving an injury.

(35:54):
Stop.
Evaluate what's going on witha spot.
Is it just something I'm feeling?
So I've been in the sun for a while.
Is it my skin actually beingrubbed raw and I should address it?
If so, absolutely.
Stop.
Try to get some help.
Try to get some items.
Fun fact, Chris.
Fun fact.
Yeah.
A and D cream.
Try that.
Coach Matt Bach, who makesappearances on the podcast, uses

(36:14):
A and D cream as chapstick.
He swears by that.
He swears by it.
He made us all do it.
I'm in Arizona one year.
He goes, everybody put some ofthis on your lips just for fun.
And I refuse.
But he made me do it anyway.
There's a lot of good antichafe products out there, and I think
if there's anyone newlistening to this podcast too, that's
one thing that triathleteslearn the hard way, usually with
a lot of bike mileageespecially, is, you know, figure

(36:36):
out what products work asshammy cream.
The lubricant makes a big, big difference.
So being, you know, preparedahead of time obviously helps, but,
you know, learning how to dealwith it on the fly helps as well.
And, you know, some races,too, will have sponges at the aid
stations.
Like, just getting the saltaway from a wound can make a big
difference as well.

(36:56):
Yeah.
And just protect gettingsomething over it.
Like, you could even tryplastic bags, like getting a plastic
bag.
Or volunteers will sometimeshave latex, like a box of latex gloves
at the aid stations.
Grab that, you know, rinse itoff and put that on top and just
have it between your.
Your tri suit and whereverthat chafe is, just to act as a barrier

(37:18):
to help avoid more chafing.
So get that.
You know, that fluid barrierestablished is usually the key to
get rid of the chafing areas.
All good ideas.
Common run problem number sixis you encounter weather conditions
that were not expected.
This can be it just gettingway hotter than you thought.
The course being way moreexposed to the sun than you thought.

(37:41):
This could be high windskicking up, rain kicking up.
I was at 7.3St.
George one year as aspectator, not an athlete, when it
started hailing on theathletes that were out there on course.
And I was at a coffee shopdrinking coffee, watching the hail
fall down and all of myathlete friends who were racing that
day.
But, Chris, if we're out thereon course, we're running, we're exposed
to the elements and someweather rolls in.

(38:03):
What do we do?
Yeah, I think just having themindset of, you know, how to deal
with a situation is always challenging.
You know, sometimes you're,you're not thinking straight when
you're a little dehydrated orunder fuel.
So make sure, you know, assessand get some fluids in you or get
some sugar in you, but alsojust think about how to deal with

(38:23):
different things.
So let's talk like extremecold, for example.
Um, you know, there's a lot ofcreative things that you can do on
the fly.
One of, I remember one race Idid a beach to Battleship.
It was a full, full Ironman,North Carolina.
And the, the wind picked wayup, it was overcast, it started raining,

(38:44):
temperature dropped like crazy.
And I had issues that actuallystarted on the bike where my hands
got so cold I couldn't griponto my handlebar anymore.
And what ended up saving me.
And I actually did this again,I think more recently it was Ironman,
California.
It just rained all day.
And I use latex gloves, bikemechanics gloves on my bike, I have

(39:10):
them and I actually startedputting them in my run gear for wet
condition races becausethere's something that's easy, you
can throw it off in the trashat the start of a run if you don't
need it, or later on in the day.
But just getting yourextremities so your hands especially
warm does a really good job ofgetting your body warm again and

(39:34):
just creating a wind barrierfor your hands.
The part of your body that'smoving the most and getting the,
you know, wind cooling effectis probably one of the most important
things.
So get your extremities fromnot going numb is always the first
and foremost thing.
Also on the fly, likesometimes depending on where you're
running, you might find aplastic bag.

(39:55):
And cyclists know this.
If you put a plastic bag downthe front of your jersey, it acts
as a wind barrier if you'redoing descents off of mountains.
That's how a lot of cyclistswill stay warm.
They'll put newspaper orsomething in the front.
So actually I did that at samerace, Ironman, California.
I think I was struggling and Iwas with a couple other athletes.
One athlete dropped outbecause of hypothermia and I had

(40:18):
told somebody else on the.
I found out after the racethat she dropped out.
But I told a few otherathletes, like, just grab that plastic
bag, shove it down the frontof your jersey and keep your torso
warm.
And that will help your Bodywarm up as well.
So sometimes you can get justreally creative with what's on course.
But you could also just thinkabout like, you know, what are other
things that you can do toprotect yourself from the wind, especially

(40:41):
on cold conditions.
So anything you can do to addextra wind layers.
People put plastic bags intheir shoes sometimes.
So taking your whole foot outof your running shoe, putting a plastic
bag over your foot and puttingit back into the shoe, you know,
I wouldn't recommend itbecause it could cause blisters potentially.
But in a pinch, if you'rereally struggling, you know, learning

(41:04):
how to deal with that cold is important.
But yeah, I've had races wherehere in Chicago we run on the lakefront
and we get strong winds offthe lake.
And I've had runs where Iactually run seeking where the direction
of the wind is.
I changed my running route soI would keep running behind trees
and large objects just out ofthe wind every couple minutes.

(41:27):
And running away from the windeven for a couple minutes can actually
warm you up quite a bit.
So while it might becounterintuitive and counterproductive
to some degree, you couldactually run in the reverse direction
or turn around and runbackwards for a couple strides and
that actually can, can warmyou up as well.
And then in hot conditionraces, the other extreme, learn,
learn how to deal with the conditions.

(41:48):
You know, obviously, hopefullylook at the weather forecast ahead
of time when you're on the run.
Looking for shady spots on therun course, which you can do the
opposite in cold races.
Look for running in the sunwhenever you can to stay warm.
And I, I have on a run coursebefore very egregiously not taking
a tangent to stay in the shapeon a hot day.

(42:09):
Right, yeah.
Well, you know, sometimes thepriority is, you know, you and your
body, not the time that you'regoing to be setting.
If it's a survival mode race.
I know we here in Illinois, wehad a downstate race.
I was always in the heat ofsummer, the cutting edge half classic
down in Effingham, Illinois.

(42:30):
And we used to call it thedeath march, not a run, it was a
swim bike and a death marchbecause the heat index would always
be around 105.
One year was 115 degrees ofthe heat index.
And you're just in survivalmode, you know, and it's, it's not
about running, it's aboutpower walking, it's about finding
the shade.
It's about using the aidstations to cool your body.

(42:51):
You know, whether that's, youknow, just Getting more fluids in,
dumping water, ice.
Sometimes you have the trisuits that have little pockets you
can put the ice cubes in.
I also encourage the armsleeves, like the sun sleeves.
You can put ice down the frontof those or just pouring water on
that because that will coolyour body down.
As your arms are swinging,you'll get more of a wind effect

(43:12):
to help you stay cool.
But yeah, any little tip andtrick that you can put together,
have that in your mentaltoolkit and then also physical toolkit.
In some cases, just havingthose extra items can make a big,
big difference because, yeah,not some triathlons are very standard,
but some are intentionally,you know, extreme condition races.

(43:32):
And the adventure is figuringout how to deal with those situations.
Yeah, I do want to say, too,Chris, you mentioned earlier, sometimes
on the run course, when thisweather is kicking up, we're not
always in the perfect state of mind.
And if you're out there andrace officials pull the athletes
off the course for somereason, either temporarily as a pause

(43:55):
or permanently, race is shut down.
Listen to them know thatthey're not doing that without absolutely
having to.
But here in Texas, 70.3,Galveston Ironman in the Woodlands,
there's been several yearswhere those races have been either
paused for 30 minutes or.
Or just, hey, everybody's donefor lightning.
Right.
Which is a dangerous condition.

(44:17):
So.
So trust the officials.
That happens.
You know, there's.
There's been years of thoseraces are paused, and then they let
everybody back onto the course20 minutes later.
And.
Okay, yeah, like, some peoplemight have skirted that and stayed
on course.
Some people might have cheatedthe system.
Yeah, your.
Your timing and your placementmight be messed up a little bit,
but, you know, do your best tolisten to the safety.
You know, the safety.

(44:37):
Brief briefings and decisions that.
That are being made by therace director in real time.
That's.
And that's really important.
I.
I had one full Ironman race Iwas doing where I was on mile 70
of the bike, and the weatherlooked fine, but all of a sudden
the police told us, pull over.
Everyone's getting off the course.
There was a lightning storm ona different part of the course, and
we had to just wait and waitfor an update.

(44:59):
And then eventually they said,okay, they're canceling the race.
Everyone has to get bused back.
We're like, why bus back?
We have our bikes.
We can bike back.
And so they gave some athletesthe options, like, yeah, if you want,
you can bike back.
You have to turn your chip in.
But there is a storm coming.
And people are like, I want toget my training miles in.
And they just went, sure.
Athletes.
We waited.
We waited for the bus and thebus picked us up.

(45:21):
And on the way back, it wasthe most torrential downpour, like,
felt like a tornado comingthrough, hail, you name it.
And we were so glad welistened to the officials and took
the bus back rather than.
We ended up seeing a couplepeople about four hours later that
came back and they got peltedby hail and had to seek shelter somewhere

(45:42):
else.
So listen to the officials.
If they're telling you tostop, stop.
There was a reason why.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Live to see, live to fightanother day.
Common run problem numberseven is you experience a tech failure
of some kind.
We talked about this one lastweek on the bike version of this
conversation.
But a tech failure on the runcourse is usually your watch dying.

(46:03):
In a longer race, it can beyour heart rate sensor beginning
to malfunction or your runpower meter beginning to malfunction.
Coach CHRIS if there's sometech that we're used to having and
we're out on the run course,how do we handle that?
Yeah, I think one common issuewe see a lot is, yeah, just forgetting
to charge stuff and batteries dying.
So make sure you have that aspart of your plan to, you know, juice

(46:25):
up things ahead of time.
I've done whole YouTube videoson like the little Garmin settings
to change to boost the battery life.
So if you're, if you'reworried about that, definitely look
into, you know that and makesure you pack your charger and spare
batteries.
Now with electronic shiftingespecially, too, all the time I've
been guilty of that.
I was at a ride, I wasactually bike marshaling for a local

(46:46):
half marathon here and Icharged, I was charging one of my
batteries and I forgot to putit back on my bike.
And so I rolled out the doorand all of a sudden, like, oh, missing.
Missing a battery.
Can't shift my gear.
Luckily, I have the SRAMshifting, so I could take the battery
from my front derailleur andput it on my rear and I at least
could shift my, my rear, reargears on the bike.

(47:06):
But that's a bike issue.
So I would say yeah, for, fortech stuff, obviously the battery
thing is, is usually the maintech issue that people deal with.
The other issue, though, wehave a lot of nervous athletes who
are so dependent on, like,seeing their heart rate to gauge
their pace, and we get so tiedto that.
And I'm, I'm a big tech techgeek I love my data.

(47:27):
I look at my heart ratepowers, data all the time.
But learning how to paceyourself without that is important.
You know, whether it's justfor dealing with those situations
when things go wrong, or justhaving a second way to assess things.
Because oftentimes, if youhave, like an optical heart rate
on your wrist and all of asudden the heart rate doesn't look
correct, like, some deviceswill have issues like cadence law

(47:50):
and whatnot.
The PPG technology, theoptical technology is not as good
as an ecg, a chest strap.
So for heart rate stuff, whatI encourage runners to really focus
on is, is learning how toassess your pace based on your respiratory
rate.
So if you're not familiarwith, like, asymmetric breathing

(48:11):
is something I talk a lotabout, is, you know, if you run and
you count how many steps youtake as you breathe out and how many
steps you take as you breathein, you can correlate your breathing
rate with your cadence.
And that very closely ties toa heart rate zone.
So if you're running at areally high intensity, you might
be breathing out two steps andbreathing in two steps, like, and

(48:34):
that's zone five for most people.
If you're at a three, twobreathing rate, like, you're exhaling
for three steps, inhaling fortwo, that asymmetric rate, that's
usually a zone four, like aracing zone.
And then if you're doing likean Ironman or a longer distance,
you know, ultra marathon,going down to a 3, 3 or a 3, 4, asymmetric

(48:55):
breathing rate is idealbecause then you can just learn how
to deal with, you know, theenvironmental conditions you can
deal with.
You know, when you get crampsand other issues, you can still gauge
your own effort level withoutneeding that heart rate just in case
that that heart rate monitoris, is acting up on you.
But I also like that tipbecause it makes you focus on your

(49:16):
breathing.
And if you get more inhaling, you.
Get more oxygen in yoursystem, you're going to get more
energy.
So it's a little more justbreathe, baby body hack.
Yep, just breathe.
Because nine times out of ten,just breathing and getting more oxygen
into your system will helpyou, you know, adjust for cramping,
fueling, other issues.
But also, whenever those techissues go wrong, and I use it competitively,

(49:38):
actually, when I.
When I'm in a running eventand I'm running next to somebody
who I might be competitivewith, I listen to their breathing
rate.
And if I can keep my breathingrate more in check than theirs, then
I know I'll have that extragear later on in the run, so competitive
athletes can use it as well insome fun ways.
Yeah, good stuff.
The other one I've seen that Ifind very helpful, and I'll share

(50:01):
this with runner friends ofmine that I don't have a Garmin watch,
don't have a HARI monitor, butthey're getting more into it and
they kind of want to know howto gauge their effort.
There's videos on YouTube,from cycling magazines, running magazines.
One in particular that I sawhas a cyclist on a indoor bike trainer.

(50:22):
And she's out loud reading abook as she's pedaling.
And it shows you how well isshe able to talk while pedaling and
correlating that to a heartrate zone.
So obviously in zone two,she's able to read the book just
fine without it sounding likethere's any break in the text.
Zone three, there's a littlebit of huffing and puffing, but she's

(50:44):
still reading it very effectively.
Zone four, there's quite a bitof breathing in between words.
It's taking her a little whilelonger to finish complete sentences.
And in Zone 5 and Zone 6,she's barely getting anything out
at all because of the effortmaking her out of breath.
And so finding a video likethat, just to give you a gauge of,
okay, I'm out on course, mywatch has died.
I'm kind of interested in howhard am I pushing?

(51:05):
How well can you talk to thepeople around you?
How well can you make acomment to somebody at an aid station
or an athlete going by you or,you know, a spectator going by, you
know, are, are you labored inconversation or are you easily holding
conversation?
That's also a really good wayI like to self regulate.
Okay, what, what RP am I at?
What zone am I probably inright now?

(51:28):
Comment Run.
Problem number eight.
Chris, last one for thepodcast today.
This is an athlete.
They're on the run course onrace day and they're just finding
it hard to concentrate.
Maybe they're starting to feel foggy.
Maybe they're hitting a darkpatch mentally where they're really
finding it difficult to press on.
Coach Chris, what do we dowhen we face a tough moment like

(51:48):
this in the run stage of a triathlon?
Yeah, a couple things.
One, obviously, I always goback to that breathing thing.
Sometimes if the breathing isthe first domino to fall, that ends
up becoming a downward spiralthat affects everything else.
So always assess, focus onyour breathing.
Get that started.
But.
And then also, you know, theencore stuff, I think we talked about

(52:09):
as well, like getting acaffeine as a, as something to give
you a little bit of a boost ifyou need that extra boost of energy.
So those are always the twokind of first things.
I also like to have a focus on biomechanics.
So if you're having troublefocusing on, you know, what pace
you're doing or whatnot, focuson something simple.

(52:29):
You know, focus on your cadence.
You know, sometimes a littlehack when you're, when your energy
is not there and you're havingtrouble focusing.
What I go to is my kind offallback when I know I'm like, okay,
mentally, I might not be therea hundred percent, but I can at least
have one thing that I canfocus on.
And I just try to pump my armswith a higher cadence and short arm
stride.
And what that does is it getsmy, my cadence to increase a little

(52:52):
bit and it gets my, my legs to go.
Because the reason your armsswing while you run is, is because
your body is trying to balanceitself out, right?
Your right foot goes forward,your left arm swings forward so you're
not falling down on that side.
And so you can hack yourbiomechanics by just focusing on
swinging your arms a littlebit quicker.
And just having somethingsimple like that, a biomechanical

(53:14):
thing to focus on is very helpful.
Any type of running form.
Tip.
Have that in your mentaltoolkit and just say, hey, when,
when something else is, you'restruggling, you know, and you've
tried everything else, you'vetried to slow down your pace, you've
tried to focus on yourbreathing, you try to get more carbs
in, you know, what else isthere to do, and sometimes you just

(53:34):
need that little thing tofocus on or that distraction, so
to speak.
The other thing, though, whenit's more like, you know, mentally
you're down and you're justnot feeling great, I often say give
out positive energy, like,fake it until you make it.
If you see spectators on thecourse, if you see volunteers at

(53:57):
the aid stations, say thankyou to them or cheer on your fellow
competitors.
And when you give out a littlebit of energy, even if you're feeling
down on the inside, justgiving that energy out, you get that
energy back.
And oftentimes that's a littlehack you can do to elevate your mood
again and give yourself thatfinal boost whenever you're struggling

(54:19):
out there on the run, youknow, just find that way to just
dig deep, give a little bit ofenergy out, and you're going to get
that back Tenfold.
I know one, one hack and Ithink she used to do this on the,
on the bike more than the run.
Chrissy Wellington, a wellknown, you know, pro triathlete,
Ironman, undefeated in Ironmandistance, you know, legend of the

(54:40):
sport.
She used to write smile withan exclamation point on her water
bottle.
And she found that every timeshe would look at that, it would
remind her to smile and thatwould elevate her mood and it would
also make her competitorsthink she was like crazy.
Like, why is she smiling whenthey're going really, when she's
going really, really hard?
So she would play some goodgames of people too, I think it was.

(55:02):
But, but just remindingyourself to smile, you can write
it on your arm like a mantraor something just to kind of get,
force yourself to remindyourself of, you know, why you're
doing this or, you know, thatyou're enjoying this even when you're
struggling.
It's supposed to be fun, right?
It's supposed to be fun, fun.
But you know, we're, we're,we're spoiled to be able to have
this be, you know, a hobby inthe sport that we get to do.

(55:24):
So I think it's important toalways, you know, give, give back
to the volunteers a little bitas well and spectators that come
out to cheer you on, but alsouse that as a way to, you know, encourage
others on the course andyou'll find that you'll get that
energy back and you'll get outof those dark spots when you're on
the run especially.
Great set, everyone.
Let's cool down.

(55:47):
On to the cool down portion ofour show where we ask our coach a
question from our audience.
And this week's question comesfrom an athlete named Alan.
And Alan wants recommendationsfor indoor cycling trainers which
could be the best price benefit.
There's a lot of ways to playyour indoor cycling setup and this

(56:09):
is a run focused podcast, butbelieve me, coach Chris Navin is
the right guy to answer this question.
Chris, what would you adviseAllen and other athletes who are
just looking for the best kindof, kind of price benefit?
Best per budget, per the pricepoint, whatever it is in Deutsche
cycling setup.
Yeah, I think there's a lot ofquestions that come with that of

(56:30):
like what are your maintraining goals?
And if you're more intervaltraining or course simulation or
just looking something super simple.
You know, if someone doesn'talready have a power meter on their
bike, sometimes I'll say, hey,just, just get a power meter for
your bike and a dumb Trainerand that's the simplest option or
any of the wheel on trainers.
You know, the, the Wahoo snap,the Saris M2 I think it is.

(56:55):
You know, those are verypopular wheel on trainers.
Elite also has the Tuo T u o Ibelieve those are real simple ones
because it's easy to get yourbike on, it's easy to get your bike
off, you don't have to dealwith taking the wheel off.
And those can provide a goodenough solution for most people.

(57:16):
But if they're looking formore kind of, you know, spending
a little bit more, those areusually around the $200 and under
price point.
Now with the sales andwhatnot, but with tariffs, who knows,
prices could be all over theplace, both high and low.
But for smart trainers, youdon't need to spend an arm and a
leg.
Like there are those, youknow, thousand to $2,000.
Smart trainers still thesedays with all the bells and whistles.

(57:39):
But there are some that are,you know, for $300, $400, you can
get a top, you know, topperforming, real direct drive trainer
rather that we see mosttriathletes who get into the sport
for a long time wanting tohave just because they're, they're
silent, they're moreefficient, they provide a little

(58:02):
bit of a better experience incore simulation and better power
range in the inclines and all that.
So Wahoo has like the kicker.
Core is a really popular one.
Jet Black is another brandthat has a really, really good, actually
pretty fully featured directdrive trainer for around $400.
So I would say, you know,look, look at the features and, but

(58:25):
also think about what, whatare your priorities with, you know,
with what, how often you'regoing to use it and what you're using
it for.
Some of the simplest solutionsfor others have actually been just
getting like I have thefeedback sports omnium trainer which
is a foldable roller.
It's not really a full, youknow, trainer, but I just use that

(58:48):
with a power meter on my bike.
And you can spend a couplehundred dollars on power meter on
your bike, get a portabletrainer and you can take that anywhere
you can put on your back porch.
So if you need a versatile ora solution to travel with, sometimes
that can actually be a lowbudget option, but also a very simple
option from a setup andversatility standpoint.

(59:09):
Yeah.
One that I never thought of,Chris, because I had a power meter
on my bike already.
And if you have a power meter,yeah, you already have the watt numbers
that you're pushing.
Right.
Without investing in A smart trainer.
And so yeah, you can just geta dumb trainer and train just as
well as somebody with a $3,000indoor setup.

(59:29):
Watts are watts if they'rebeing read accurately.
And then, so if you're gonna,to your point, if you're gonna buy
one thing, if you're buyingthe power meter, well then you also
the power meter outside andyou're benefiting from that data
when you're outside.
So I do like that solution.
I know for me, when I waslooking at this as a first time purchaser
of a smart trainer or of anindoor training setup, I, I just,

(59:53):
I was not interested indealing with the setup of making
the tire connect to thetrainer because you have to do that
just right for it to readaccurately and then you're rubbing
the tire every single time andyou're burning through your tires
faster.
So, so to me it was worthsaving up a couple hundred more to
get an entry level wheel on trainer.

(01:00:14):
This, this is going to dependdifferently for everybody, just depending
on what you prioritize andwhat your budget is.
But I saved for a little whileto get one where I could actually
take my wheel off, put my bikedirectly to the trainer.
But that was important to meto not have the wheel rubbing and
have to deal with that everysingle time in my setup.
So yeah, some great optionsthere posed by coach Chris and a

(01:00:36):
little more $0.02 put in by me.
But these days, thankfullythere's a lot of options and the
price point for some of thegood options have come down significantly.
One last resource I'll quoteis if you go to Zwift's website,
Zwift is very motivated tomake it easy for people to ride their
bike indoors because thenyou're going to sign up for Zwift,
hopefully in their line of thinking.

(01:00:57):
So I just pulled up theirwebsite while Chris was talking and
they have so many differentproducts on here at different price
points, different ways ofconnecting your bike to a trainer
to make it easy for you toride indoors.
And so that's just a resource.
One thing I was going to addto that too is like, yeah, look,
look at price points as theychange quite dramatically.
Now that, that Zwift Insideris a great resource that lists all

(01:01:21):
those trainers, but alsosmartbike trainers.com I think it
is a YouTube channel they do.
I think their website actuallylists all different pricing for different
trainers because some of them.
I was going to actually throwout one more.
The, the Saris H3 Saris usedto charge $1,000 for that trainer.
Now it's same exact trainerunder $400 and so a lot of them have

(01:01:44):
just priced differentlywhether it's to clear inventory or
whatnot with tariffs, who knows.
So shop around because you canfind some really, really good options
at literally the 400 pricepoint if you're willing to spend
that much where you've got,you know, pretty much a top of the
line trainer might miss one ortwo features here and there, but
there's some great deals to behad and that'll make your training

(01:02:06):
so much more effective at theend of the day.
So definitely shop around andask others to join the Try Dot chats,
join the Circle app, theFacebook groups.
People are getting rid of old trainers.
People have different optionswhere they might just be looking
to clear out their closet.
So that's always a goodstarting point too.

(01:02:26):
Thanks for joining us.
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