Building a Powerful Body for Short Course Racing

TriDot Podcast Episode 281

Building a Powerful Body for Short Course Racing

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Announcer: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses your training data and genetic profile combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to optimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewer injuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire and entertain. We'll talk all things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join the conversation and let's improve together.

Andrew Harley: Yes. Welcome to the TriDot podcast. Last week on our show it was an Ironman focused episode. And so today we're going to show some love to our short course athletes. A lot of triathletes race both middle and long and Olympic and sprint distance throughout the course of their season. Some people exclusively keep it short, some people exclusively go long. So hopefully this episode applies to a lot of y'all out there who like going short and hard and fast and burning it to the ground. I've got two of our coaches on the show specifically to chat with me about how to build a strong body for short course racing. If long course racing takes building stamina, staying short and succeeding when you go short takes being strong. So excited to hear about that from our coaches. The two coaches on our episode today to talk with me about this are Ben Somerville. It's his first time on the show for a full length episode. He's been on our Coach Cooldown before giving some tips. But Ben is a two time national champion at the sprint distance. Let me say that again - a two time national champion at the sprint distance. He is a coach with Precision Coaching based in the UK and he is TriDot's Digital Marketing Manager. Also on this episode is Ryan Tibball. Ryan is a respiratory therapist. He holds certifications as a triathlon, cycling, running and strength coach. He is an Ironman and TriDot Coach Connect Advisor. And he also keeps it short and likes racing short course even though he's not a national champion. But that's okay. Ben, Ryan, welcome to the episode. Thanks for joining today.

Ryan Tibball: Thank you. Thank you, Andrew. And great to see you, Ben. You know, always across the pond too, but oh yeah, this is exciting. I love, this is where I started. I can tell you that right now. Where I started.

Ben Sommerville: Likewise. I'm really, really excited about it. Thank you for having me for my very first podcast. And this is my bread and butter. This is what I've lived and breathed for the past 13 years. I can't wait.

Andrew Harley: I had bread and butter for breakfast this morning. So just letting everybody know, that's the reality. I am Andrew, the average triathlete, voice of the people and captain of the middle of the pack as always. We're going to start off with our warm up question and then get into our main section, short course strength focus conversation. Then we'll transition to our cooldown where coach Ben will be leaving us with a coach cooldown tip of the week. Lots of good stuff. Let's get to it.

Announcer: Time to warm up. Let's get moving.

Andrew Harley: Today's warm up question was actually submitted by one of our athletes on the TriDot Community Hub. I got a direct message, which I am very open to. Direct messages with warm up question ideas. I always like hearing what you guys want to hear about. And Wilson Farrell sent me a picture and asked this question. He said, what is the best piece of gear you have for which the intended purpose is not triathlon or even fitness? And he included this picture of him using a grocery bag. It looks like a wine cooler grocery bag meant to hold wine bottles, you know, leaving the grocery store. And he is using this to transport his hydration bottles, presumably for a workout wherever he's going. Great idea. Great use of an item that is not a triathlon item for a triathlon purpose. So, Ben, Ryan, what is this answer for you? What is something that you use in your triathloning that is not a triathlon item? Coach Ben.

Ben Sommerville: We have something called talcum powder or baby powder.

Andrew Harley: Yep.

Ben Sommerville: And I use it in my triathlon race bike shoes and run shoes. So when I've got wet, sweaty feet, it dries them up. So then I can bike and run in comfort.

Andrew Harley: That's a great answer here. Right. Because it's - and a lot of triathletes do that. But, and so many triathletes do that, Ben, that like my first impression was, oh, that kind of is a triathlon item. But you're right, it's not like, you know, the fine folks at the talcum powder companies are not marketing their product specifically for triathletes. We just triathletes and runners have jumped on that bandwagon and use it. And yeah, great answer here. Coach Ryan, same question over to you.

Ryan Tibball: You're gonna like this one. I hope, hope our listeners will like this one. A fishing tackle box. Oh, and yeah, I do like this one. Yes, it is. It's actually in my office now where my bike is because it has my bike tools and everything keeping separate. Everything's kept separate in each little compartment. So, you know, have the allen wrenches over here, the CO2 over here, the extra bike tubes, you know, and various other things that have come off my various bikes, but nonetheless I have that tackle box and keeps it all in one place. So if I say go out for a ride somewhere else and I'm taking my bike with me, I just grab my tackle box and I got everything right there and I can load up my bike or if I have, or I need some extra pieces for whatever reason. So, yeah, fishing tackle box.

Andrew Harley: That is really smart, Ryan. That is really brilliant. And that solves a problem for me because all of my bike knickknacks are in, like, separate target bags strewn throughout my pain cave, right? And like, you know, it's - and so it's like, oh, if I need to replace the tube in my tire or if I need to, you know, find a certain size Allen wrench, like, I do not have that stuff stored properly. And so it takes me, okay, which target bag is this knickknack that I'm looking for in? And that would solve a problem for me, Ryan, if I adopted your methodology. For this answer for me, I walked throughout my house and I was like, man, I really had to think about this one because I like buying things so much. And my wife just laughed. She's behind me in the office as I'm recording this. I like buying knickknacks and little toys so much that if there's a triathlon version of something to do something for a triathlete, I'm gonna buy it. So this one was a little hard for me, but what I came up with - I have my spin bike, my workout bike in my pain cave right next to our window. And we have a pretty good sized windowsill that is right next to my bike. And so especially when I'm in a race prep phase and I'm getting ready for a middle distance or a long distance, and you're on the bike for two to four to six hours, my windowsill becomes like my counter, like my hydration station. And the thing is just lined with all of my bottles and bars and gels and whatever I'm going to consume over that 3, 4, 5, 6 hour ride. Anything I need for that ride is on the windowsill. And so that's obviously a part of my house that is not meant for triathlon. A lot of people buy like tables for that, right? Or they even sell like, you know, Wahoo and Garmin, they sell the tables that are shaped to go in front of your bike and people buy that. And nope, I just use the windowsill. It's the perfect size, it's plenty long, and I can just rip through the bottles one by one by one over the course of a long ride. So that's this answer for me. Great question from Wilson. Wilson, thanks so much for submitting that over to us. We're going to throw this question out to you both on the I am TriDot Facebook group and in the Community hub. We're going to ask you what is an item that you use for triathlon where triathlon was not its intended purpose. I think we're all going to get a lot of ideas out of this. So go find that post, let us know what you think, what you do and let us start reading other people's comments and learn. Hey, I can use a tackle box for triathlon. Great idea. Can't wait to see what you guys have to say.

Announcer: On to the main set. Going in 3, 2, 1.

Andrew Harley: Whether it's a super sprint, a sprint or an Olympic distance event, when you roll up for a short course race and hit the course, you're on the clock, you're going. There is no doubt it's a power game and your legs, your body have to be prepped for the intensity you're going to have to put out to get through that event. And so today I've got two of our coaches here specifically to talk us through how can we build a more powerful body for the swim, the bike, the run, how can we succeed at short course events that take just that fifth gear that maybe long course and middle distance racing does not take. So I'm excited to learn from National Champion Ben and strength coach Ryan on how to get strong bodies for short course. And guys, we're going to open this chat with a few fun stories and let's try to keep these stories to like 60 seconds or less. So just real quick. I think this will be a good lead into today's topic though. From all the times you guys have raced short course, what was the weakest or maybe the worst performance where you just did not feel like you had that short course juice? What was that occasion for you and why do you think you were out there without feeling like you had the short course speed? Coach Ben.

Ben Sommerville: This is quite a funny but not funny story at the same time.

Andrew Harley: That's what I was hoping for.

Ben Sommerville: Exactly. I foolishly entered quite a competitive sprint triathlon which followed six weeks after I had just contracted a very certain COVID 19 a few years ago and it was the first time I'd caught it. I was very ill and very suddenly, which wasn't like me, but curiously it was only for a handful of days, and so the FOMO got the better of me, so I kept my entry for the race. And fast forward six weeks later, I was on the start line, the starting gun went off, and I knew there and then I'd made a terrible mistake. Physically, mentally, I was entirely weak. It was an experience I've never felt before, nor still I haven't ever experienced again. So I regret that day. Hats off to my dad for giving me the positivity and support to keep going, even though I really didn't want to. So just never underestimate recovering from an illness or the intensity of a short course race. That was a very, very long hour.

Andrew Harley: Yep. And got that story in under 60 seconds. Well done, Ben. You're starting off strong on your first podcast episode with us, Coach Ryan.

Ryan Tibball: Well, arguably it really was my first official, I say official sprint triathlon 23 years ago. But I did do one back in college, and in that it was an intramural event, so I don't call it official, but it kind of piqued my interest. But years later, once into the sport, you know, my weakest time was that very first official one. So I never felt so weak on the bike. Oh my gosh. I thought I was doing my own random training back then, but I thought I was training really, really well. My workouts, I'd go out hard, really super, super hard, and then I'd have to recover for like five days. But nonetheless, in that sprint triathlon, my very first one, I nailed the short 300 yard swim. When I got to the bike, I thought all was well until I began getting passed up left and right, and I was like, what the heck? Everyone is passing me. And it was very eye opening, humbling to say the very least. But needless to say, I was most definitely hooked in the sport when my toe crossed that finish line. But it was just that bike, it doesn't haunt me so much anymore, but it used to for quite some years. So there you go.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And it's so funny the way you guys are describing these stories. It's exactly what I thought you would have in your back pocket, because it's a very specific feeling. Right. Like when you're out on course during an event, regardless of the distance, and you just don't have the juice, the power, the energy that you're used to having, you expect to have, you remember that feeling? Like it's a very specific feeling. I'm like, man, I'm trying to turn the legs over like I know how to do, and it's just not happening. This happened to me. I did a relay a few summers back. Shout out to TriDot Ambassador Ande Wagner. She invited me. USA Triathlon was holding their national championships in Irving, Texas, which is right down the road from where I live in the Dallas Metroplex area. And so Ande and her partner Rick were coming into town from Chicago to race. They invited me to do a relay with them. It was the first time USA Triathlon was doing a four person team relay event. And so you had four team members and each team member was more or less doing a super sprint. And so you would do a super sprint and then you would tag the next person in line and they would go. And so like all four of your team members were going to be done in 40 to 60 minutes. It was a very, very short and intense event. And I hadn't been training a lot. I'd been spinning the legs a little bit, but I wasn't training for anything specific and certainly not training hard or doing proper intervals or anything. And my team decided that Andrew was gonna start the race. And so I went first. I hadn't swam in months and it was something like a 200 meter swim. So real, real short and fast and actually didn't feel bad during the swim. Like, I'm like, okay, like I'm doing this. It's short. I'm keeping up with everybody in the field. I exit the water, I get on the bike and I just had nothing. Like the legs were not there. I could not get my heart rate down from that exiting the swim and transitioning. I was just gassed and I'm like, I had to have been like the next to last person coming off the bike. I'm a runner, so I expected to just like fly by people on the run. I continue to just have nothing because when you race that short once your heart rate is gone and it spiked, it's really hard to get that breath control back, that cardiovascular system back under control. And I just had no juice the rest of the race. And it's a very humbling feeling. And especially when you know your portion of the race is supposed to be 20 minutes or less to just have nothing. So let's learn today how we can avoid these kind of stories. Right. How we can have strength in our legs, strength in our bodies, energy in our system to really respond well when we hit the short course swim, bike, run. Let's talk through this today. So our focus today is going to be becoming a more powerful athlete. So why is short course racing a power conversation? What is unique about short course events that cause triathletes to benefit from having more power? Coach Ryan, great question.

Ryan Tibball: And I love how we're kicking it off right here. But you know, really looking at short course racing because of the typical durations of the race itself, power and strength, rather the ability to exert power and to sustain that power in the bigger zones of zone 4, zone 5, zone 6 becomes crucial. Sustainability and your ability to recover quickly from holding power and those power bursts is crucial. And if you're wanting that need for speed, you know again I love the equations of work equals force times distance and therefore power equals work over time. So you know, if you can get more work done in less time, you're more powerful. Bottom line. Essentially the goal is to get more work done in less time. But also you know I think really what needs to be touched on in order to really gain that power as well to help facilitate maybe access the power is you also think about nutrition and fueling. It is important in these short course events. If you are a short course racer, like many of us that is redlining, burning the matches in those sprint distances or Olympic distances, fueling properly and timely, giving your body that jet fuel it needs in a timely manner is also very important. Think of yourself like a sports car. If you put the regular unleaded in the tank instead of the premium or high octane fuel in your car, it'll only perform so well. But putting the right fuel in the body in a timely manner will give you the ability or at least increase your potential to access more power and more power longer and etc. So you know again we're going to focus on not necessarily as well as so much the strength piece but what comes before that. And we're going to talk some about what comes before that strength piece too in a little while.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. Ben, anything to add? Just on why is short course racing a power conversation?

Ben Sommerville: I think as you've both so perfectly put it is ultimately a power and a speed conversation and it requires a different engine. Ryan's almost stolen my analogy, my metaphor for the sort of the diesel engine comparison being your Ironman long distance athlete versus the twin turbo V12 Ferrari sports car of your short course athlete. Because it's just an intensity of responsiveness that you don't need for a long course race. And because sprint races can be held on such short and often technical courses and sometimes draft legal too, so you can ride in packs together with other athletes. Your ability to ride hard under pressure in a technical environment with people around you who you don't know what they're going to do, you know, and to come out the other side to accelerate again, to hold power, it's such a unique skill set and an entirely unique experience that it can't be understated and it has to be trained for and prepared for entirely specifically because the demands are so different.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, no, very, very well put. And definitely that diesel engine being an Ironman athlete, full distance athlete and the sports car being a short course athlete. Yeah. What a perfect metaphor for us to all understand there. I'm curious for the TriDot athletes in our audience, the athletes that are listening today that use TriDot for their training and we're all used to seeing the development phase of training. Then you get closer to race day, you slip into the race prep phase of training and we talk on the show a lot about what the race prep phase of training looks like for a long course athlete because there's a lot to it and frankly it's a long buildup for that event. While TriDot gets your stamina ready, what can an athlete expect to see if they have a short course race on their calendar in TriDot? What is TriDot gonna do specifically to make sure they're ready for that event? Ryan?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah. You know what TriDot's gonna do obviously, because it is personalized training for you. You know, think about what you're gonna see here is definitely more opportunities to work in those mentioned zones four, zones five and zone six. There's going to be more opportunities there. In other words, you've heard this many times on other podcasts is raising that tent pole, AKA your FTP, right? Functional threshold power. That is essential. And so you're going to see those opportunities happen a little bit more frequently. But at the same time, keep in mind, you know, TriDot's going to precisely prescribe those bigger zones with the appropriate amount of duration frequency within the workout and within the microcycle and mesocycle of training. And so it's going to give you that opportunity not only to get the work done and push yourself but also give you that opportunity to have that recovery that's needed to absorb that zones 4, zones 5, zone 6 work. And it's so important, you know we talk about, when I say frequency, I'm talking about hey, you can't do zone 5 work every single day of the week. That's just not going to happen. It's not going to be good for you that it would lead to injury. And I've seen athletes do that. And in fact, you know, prior to TriDot before I was doing that.

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Ryan Tibball: And I tell you what, I was hurt a lot. And so TriDot's going to precisely prescribe these things with the appropriate amount of time in those big zones as well as appropriate amount of recovery, active recovery. At the same time, you know, this is again a very important factor about absorbing your training as much that it is working out and nailing the training itself. So you know, we want to make sure, you know, TriDot's making sure it's like hey, let's minimize or even just honestly keep away that injury.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. But Ben, I'm curious for you since you do race short course so much, you know, we talk on the show about a long course athlete, a middle distance athlete, they're going to have race rehearsals two weeks out, four weeks out from their event. They're going to have this build of stamina where they're working out longer and longer and longer. When you have a sprint or Olympic on the calendar, what does your race week in those week or two or three before the event look like on TriDot? Is there anything extra special particular that is different from long course?

Ben Sommerville: For sure from like the top down, your race preparation phase across the entire time and obviously in the final couple of weeks before will look very similar to your development phase. Because there isn't the necessity for that stamina, endurance and for that build that you need for the endurance event like a middle or a full distance race. So yeah, as Ryan said, you will spend a significant amount of time up until the final moments developing those thresholds, raising that ceiling, you know, raising that tent pole, sessions where there's 30 seconds to one minute intervals where you're riding and running or swimming well above your sort of threshold. These are tough but these are worth it. And so you know within that there is some lower zone work distributed throughout, but it's throughout the entire training cycle rather than into one big block, you know, one big four hour easy bike ride on the weekend. You don't have that because the training doesn't require that, the race doesn't require that. And so certainly in the week of the race, it will be very similar to what you'd be doing two, three, four weeks before the race. It's all about keeping the intensity specific, which sometimes does mean high, but also it means the volume is low. So you've got time to prioritize that critical piece, that recovery. So you can maximize the training you're doing with your energy levels, but also you can recover effectively. And theoretically, if you're planning your training and you're racing very well, you can use the training as almost races and races almost as training. And you can go back to back, back to back, back to back. It is all a stacking sort of process where you can continue this week on week on week to push yourself, to push those limits. And so your training will be almost very similar week to week, whether you're racing or not, because it takes time to develop those thresholds to develop that power. And if you move away from that, then you're missing out on valuable adaptation.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, one thing that was really interesting to me, I so commonly when I put a short course event on the calendar, it's a C race or a B race. And so TriDot just kind of trains me through that weekend very normally. It doesn't have any sort of like race week workouts. It's just kind of a normal training week. And the very first time I had a short course event on the calendar as an A race and I got to race week, it blew my mind. I didn't even know, I didn't know at the time TriDot did this. It had some race week kind of primer workouts to really like have the body tapered correctly, rested correctly, but primed for the event. Right where there was more intervals at race pace, there was more kind of builds and progressions from Zone 2 up to race pace and then back down. And it was really interesting to see. It's like, oh, I've probably done seven or eight sprints and Olympics on TriDot before I had one as an A race to know that if it is your A race, there's some really cool kind of race week workouts that will have you and have that race pace dialed in. Guys, I want to go through the swim, bike and run. We don't have to spend an hour on each one obviously, but just hear from the both of you when you're talking to your coached athletes just week in and week out, your athletes, particularly that focus on short course events, what are the conversations you have with them about becoming a more powerful, stronger swimmer, more powerful, stronger cyclist, more powerful, stronger runner. The workouts themselves in TriDot are obviously designed to do this right. When you race short course, they're going to get you strong. But what do you have your athletes being mindful of within those workouts? What extra things maybe throughout their week do you have them doing in terms of strength or recovery to kind of really hone in on that strong body for short course? That's kind of what I want to hear from you guys today. So let's start with the swimming coach Ben. What do you kind of tell your athletes to do to be a strong swimmer?

Ben Sommerville: This is my favorite question. I'm a swimmer at heart.

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Ben Sommerville: And this point my answer also throws a little bit of a curveball. And whilst it's obviously really important to work on pacing, to work on the actual training that you're doing, workout to workout, stacking week on week, to me you can't underestimate the importance to be a strong swimmer. It's about having that presence and that technical skill and that confidence in the water. This is what really sets truly great swimmers and truly great and strong swimmers apart from the not so strong swimmers. Short course races in open water are often mass start. So instead of an Ironman race where you get drip fed in little by little, you can have your own time in your own space. There's 200 people all chasing the first turn buoy in 200 meters for a 90 degree turn. It's chaos, it's out of control, it's almost dangerous sometimes. And so you need to develop athletes, and I work with my athletes to get the technical skills and the confidence so that when they're swimming fast and under pressure, they're still swimming the fastest they can, you know, to justify and honor the training that they've done and the progression they've made, but with the least disruption because they've got the most control and the most confidence in that environment. And it's where the race specific training moves away from the lap pool, from the training pool, into the open water, into the lake, into the sea. You know, with friends getting used to swimming fast, with people very close to you doing entirely unpredictable things and understanding that you need to be able to respond fast, respond calmly and to respond smartly to what everybody's doing. Because inevitably there'll be some craziness that will come out of nowhere. And to be a truly strong swimmer, it's not just about being physically strong and fast, it's about responding to that. And I've got some stories to tell about things I've experienced in open water. But that is for another day, of course.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, I'm excited to hear some of those. I'll have to come up with a podcast theme where we can get Ben sharing his open water swim stories. Very curious what you've experienced out there. Coach Ryan, you and I live in the same metroplex here in Dallas Fort Worth. And so, you know, like, I know we have a lot of pool swims. Right. And a lot of the sprints and Olympics locally, sprints in particular have some pool environments. So Ben gave us some great insight there for when that short course race is open water. That's some great stuff there. But for the athlete that maybe focuses more on those pool sprints, that more controlled environment, and so now we're just talking about your fitness, being strong. What do you maybe talk through with that athlete about getting stronger in the water for that kind of event?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, and I love what Ben said. I love how he kind of really gave that comparison. But when you mentioned pool swimming. Yes. And this applies to everything. There are three things. Technique, technique, and technique. You know, but seriously, it is technique. And for those that have experienced TriDot pool school, I'm telling you right now, I've seen it, I've seen the results. And there's no question that that technique is going to be imperative. And not just short course, but long course. But really thinking about that short course, you get that technique down. Now, secondly, strength. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. You know, I know so many triathletes that don't lift or don't even worry about their upper body. They're focused on their legs, their glutes. They want those sexy legs and all that good stuff, you know.

Andrew Harley: Gotta look good in the Lycra, Ryan. Gotta look good in the Lycra.

Ryan Tibball: Absolutely. But hey, get to the gym and do that lat work, you know, the pull ups, the assisted pull ups. You can do that kind of stuff. Anyone can do assisted pull ups. Shoulder work as well. Again, anything that can help build that muscle strength, build that muscle stamina again to help sustain those short, fast sprint swims. And I'm going to, I got to mention this, you know, those CSS tests that, you know, I know a lot of people try to avoid that CSS testing in TriDot. What a perfect opportunity. And this is how I coach. It is. It's not a, oh, my gosh, I got to go do this. It is, no, it's an opportunity to actually really hone in on that 400 meter, 400 yard, 200 meter, 200 yard and focus in on giving your best effort, pacing yourself well, pushing it strong, making yourself uncomfortable in those. Those are opportunities that really don't have any consequences there that you're not losing the race because you're just doing your little CSS test.

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Ryan Tibball: And you know, it's so important to embrace those, just get after it and learn from those opportunities. You know, obviously you're not going to do that in an Olympic distance or anything. You know, you're not going to sprint that hard. But again, you are understanding and learning pacing, especially in that 400, for example. And then again, just to summarize, technique and that strength work will help translate into huge rewards in the water.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. What I'm hearing is if your short course event is open water swim, you know, regardless of the distance, it's immersion, it's experience, it's getting out there, it's practicing and practicing it, spending more time in the open water, getting comfortable in that environment. And if you're a pool focused short course racer, technique, technique, technique. So very, very insightful there, guys. Moving us onto the bike, you know, we hop out of the water, we go through T1, we hop on our bike. You start spinning the legs on the bike. Like I said in my story, like it's horrific to get out there and just realize, man, I do not have the juice in my legs I want to have on this bike right now. How can we build a stronger cycling body, stronger, more powerful cycling legs to really feel like we can get after it out there on short course bike legs? Coach Ben.

Ben Sommerville: Oh, this is an interesting one because this is something that I've had to learn quite a few lessons for in my many years as a sprint racer. Cycling is my weak, it's my limiter, let's put it that way. And as we keep saying, as we'll say again, it's a power and a speed conversation. And there's nothing that can impact that more or will be impacted by that more than when you're on the bike, you know, specifically for a sprint, Olympic distance, the time is so short, the speed demand is so high. And my best strategy, if people have the ability and the availability is, you know, to ride with other cyclists, to ride with people who don't necessarily say I'm a triathlete, people who are cyclists. Not only will you probably have to push beyond your limit a little bit, you know, to keep up with them, to push the power a little more, especially over some longer, more sustained intervals with the odd spike here and there. You know, the ego kicks in with some of these cyclists in those group rides. But it's also about the technical skills. Whether you're in a draft legal sprint race or not, whether you're burning yourself to the ground or whether you're going at your own pace, having the technical skills in a close call environment is really, really key to being a proficient and a well rounded cyclist. And as you know, speed wins or loses the race. And if you can maximize the speed with an efficient engine from proper training, great recovery, but also with great technical skills, you're going to have such a strong presence on that course that you can be so confident and so competent in what you're doing. You'll be a force to be reckoned with and you'll be, you know, instead of everyone passing Ryan, Ryan will be passing everybody else.

Andrew Harley: There you go.

Ben Sommerville: Yeah.

Andrew Harley: And Ryan does not have a problem in this area compared to probably me and you. You have a swim background and swimmer's legs. I have a running background and little tiny runner's legs. Ryan has a strength training background and has I think stronger legs than we do. So coach Ryan, same question over to you. What do you tell your athletes to just become a more powerful short course cyclist?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, I love exactly what Ben said, you know, there's some technical skill there and I'm going to come at it from a slightly different approach too. In order to access that power, you know, we first need that ticket in, how can we get to that power? And I believe, I'm a mobility certified coach as well, that having that mobility, having that ability to move within space and therefore accessing power, the muscles to do it. So starting with mobility and having that self evaluation or having an evaluation and finding out where are your restrictions in movement period, start there. Secondly, then start adding that strength in so now you can access the strength so you start doing lifts. Like one of my favorite things is I've had a coach say squat every day, you know, but you know, realistically triathletes can't do that. But if you're a crossfitter or a lifter, yeah, you can squat every day, practically. Squat, deadlifts, you know, develop those quads, those peaches, you know, your glutes, right? And those are going to be big movers in the cycling for sure. So lift. I always say that time in the saddle, time under tension, you know, I think Ben said it in another way is that, hey, when you are, you know, that time under tension, what I'm talking about is don't quit on a long interval. When you've got those 10 minute, 15 minute zone four works in your workouts, it's important that you just grit it out. It becomes not only a physical thing, but a mental thing. And this is where your opportunity happens in the bike is to have that mental grit. Build that mental grit. Make yourself feel uncomfortable and embrace it. And don't shy away from them. Don't break if you don't need to break. Just hammer through it, grit it out. Your rest is coming. Don't worry. Again, just lastly here, I would be remiss if I did not mention this, but a great bike fit, clipless pedals in order to transfer power efficiently into your mechanics. So getting that bike fit, getting those clipless pedals, great point. And if you're afraid of the clipless pedals, guys, if you ask anyone with those if they ever fell off their bike, you know, or whatever fell over and they say no, they're lying. So everybody does. And it's called that slow rolling stop at a stop sign where it happens. So you know, get the clipless pedals, transfer the power better and you know, again, this will help access power more efficiently too.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, really great point. And I like Ryan, you pointing out just how to be mindful during your TriDot workouts. Right, because we could have our bike workouts on the calendar. They're gonna be punchy. Some of those 30/30s, those 30/90s, I mean you get the legs really working, the power builder workout, you know, and coach Jeff Raines on the podcast frequently talks about how when you're given a power zone on your bike workouts, like it might tell you, like, oh, your zone four for this threshold is 180 to 200 watts. Okay, that's a pretty wide range, right? And so, you know, you can be a little more conservative and stay down at 180 or you can really push yourself and flirt with that 200 watt line. And so if you're a short course athlete, this is something that's really helped me, like when I'm training for short course events and thinking about that, and I don't have a long distance anything on the calendar for a while, I will really flirt with those upper limits of my zones on those power bike workouts, right? And when I am training for something more long course or middle distance, I'm gonna be a little more conservative. I'm gonna try to stay in the middle of those zones or work at the bottom of those zones. But if you're a short course athlete, like really don't be afraid to flirt with those lines and put some juice into the legs in your training sessions. Stay in the right zone, right? Do the right training, right? But recognize there's some wiggle room within the zone you actually have in your bike workouts. Moving us onto the run, it's the last part of the race, right? And so however we swam and biked, we're gonna feel it on the run. The more we can be a strong runner, the more we can absorb everything that just came before us and have a good experience on that 5k, 10k course. Coach Ryan, over to you first for this one. What do you tell your athletes about being a strong runner in a short course event?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, I could nearly repeat everything I just said about the biking, the mobility, the strength, the time on feet, the time under tension. One of the easiest places to reduce time under tension is out on the run. You're like, oh man, that eight, nine minute interval in zone four is like, no, I'm not feeling it, but you know, again, always grit through it. You know, I've had a really great coach tell me, in order to get faster, you have to work faster. And then, you know, this does apply to all disciplines, but with running too, technique, I come back to it. Technique, just like technique, is just as important as it is in swimming, as it is in biking. So the ability to efficiently transfer power to increase speed and performance. So proper footwear could be a piece of that. The equation in order to be more efficient with your power output, having a running economy analysis, taking a look at your body position, your running metrics, having somebody, a professional, take a look at, a coach, a running coach, looking at cadence, vertical oscillation, ground contact time, just to name a few of those. All these can be looked at, you know, if your goal is to be more powerful and efficient in your run. So summarize mobility, strength, efficiencies. And again, it applies to all three disciplines and especially on the run. It's like my favorite place to do the passing, do the work and really get it done.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. Something we didn't talk about with the bike, that to me kind of applies to both, and I see a big difference in my power output, you know, how much juice I feel in my legs in my training sessions, my races, is when I'm doing my warmup drills properly. Right. Because those are very, you're talking about form. Like, those are very, they're great reinforcement of good form both on the bike and the run. So on your bike sessions, when you get those single leg drills or the high cadence pedaling or the spin ups, do them. Take the time to do them and do them properly and let yourself build that pedal stroke. Like it's wanting you to build that pedal stroke. On your run, it's so easy to run easy for four or five minutes and then start hitting your intervals on a run workout. No, take the time to slow down, stop at a parking lot, you know, go in your driveway and do your run drills. We have a whole podcast episode about how scientifically there's so much benefit to doing that for your power, for your speed. My 5K PR came at a time where I was actually doing my run drills before every run workout like I was supposed to. It really freaking works. So that's something I'll add in here too, Ryan, as we're talking about the bike and the run is if you are skimping out on that or you're not doing that as often as you know you probably should be if you're a short course focus athlete, man, do those drills because it's really gonna go a long way to feeling power when you're out there.

Ryan Tibball: You know, I'm glad you mentioned that because right there, built into TriDot into your workouts are those drills, the videos there, they're so powerful. You know, Bobby McGee's in there doing his thing, and I mean, brilliant. And I tell you, it creates that muscle memory that we're looking for we need.

Andrew Harley: Absolutely. Coach Ben, over to you. Same thing. Talking about the run.

Ben Sommerville: Well, at risk of repeating both of what you said, and obviously I couldn't agree more. You know, do your drills and run fast. It is so crucial to developing good run form. But the one thing I talk to my athletes about is don't skimp on the basics, don't skimp on the details. When you've got a hill sprints workout, use it as a conscious opportunity to really focus on the form. So even when you're hurting, if you're going to hurt, at least run well whilst you're hurting. It's something I've said to myself and to my athletes a lot. At least look good. At least make your run form look good. And the same for on your bike. That cadence is super, super important, that technical ability to run and cycle a good, consistent, smooth cadence, transferring that power efficiently. So hill sprints, great workouts. Some of those easy runs where at the end you've got that little note, do some strides at the end, some short sprints, don't forget those. Don't just go, oh, I've done my 30 minutes, I'm going to go in and grab my shower and my dinner. Do the strides from lamppost to lamppost, just along the sidewalk, wherever you need to do it. Don't skimp on those basic details. They'll make a huge amount of difference because your legs need to move faster. Run fast, but also don't discount the opportunity. One of my favorite things to do, to run fast, I do it in isolation. I go and do a five kilometer running race. It helps you lean into that competitive edge where you're probably more willing to suffer and hurt a bit more when there's other people around you. I know some people are strapped on time. They can only do so much training and competing in their own time and other people's time. But if you can find a 5k race every now and then, put yourself into that uncomfortable position. And if you fail, don't worry because failure is only ever feedback and then you know what to work on for next time. Always think about the positive. You put yourself in that situation, you've given it a go. And if you fail, it's just feedback, you're ready for next time.

Andrew Harley: But Ben, I really like that reminder that when the training program, when TriDot dials up hill repeats or MAV shuttles or something where you are supposed to burn it to the ground, those workouts where you're in zone five for three, four, five minutes at a time, when you do get power on your schedule, like really go for it, like, don't be afraid of that. Really be willing to hurt and people, you know, you see posts all the time about the zone two. Oh, if I have to walk in my zone two, is that okay? Oh, I have to go so slow in my zone 2. This can't be right. It's that way for a reason. Like it, and that's kind of the other side of the coin. Go slow in your slow stuff because when the hard workout comes and it's going to come, that juice will be there in your legs to really go for it and really push it, right? And that's why the zone 2 stuff is supposed to be so zone 2-y is so that when the hard stuff comes, you're able to go hard and really reap the benefits of you going hard. And that's true for the swim, bike and run. So really good point there, Ben, about when you see that intensity on the schedule, be willing to hurt that day, be willing to really go for it. And you know, the day before and day after when it's zone two, go easy. So that way you can go hard the next time hard stuff comes around. Really good stuff, great pointers, great tangible stuff for the swim, bike and run. But another thing that I just personally find can be a struggle sometimes, in some short course races, I feel this. Some short course races, I feel strong the whole way through. But when you're actually out there on the course and you're transitioning from swim to bike to run, that's a weird thing for your muscles, right? You're going from being horizontal in the water for the swimming to being upright, sitting on a bike, producing power with your legs to being on your feet, spinning your legs. And you can feel strong in your workouts in isolation. But when it comes on the day of the event and you're going straight from discipline to discipline to discipline, some athletes I think get out there and find, man, why are my legs sapped on this bike? Oh, man, I just had a great bike. But why can't I really get the pace going on the run? There is an art and a science to being good at transitioning. And when I say transitioning, I'm not talking about being fast in T1 and T2. I'm talking about the muscles moving from one discipline to the other without freaking out, right? And staying strong through those transitions. How can we train our muscles to do that? How can we have more resilient legs, bodies to go from sport to sport to sport and not feel really wonky or uncoordinated or weak in the first couple minutes of each discipline?

Ben Sommerville: Coach Ben, I think this ultimately comes down to two quite significant things. And the first one is to embrace those brick workouts because practice makes permanent and you can do this in training and you can develop this ability to transition well both in training and racing. But embrace those brick workouts, especially those in TriDot that you'll see for the sprint distance athletes where it's bike to run, bike to run, the bike run bricks. You're coming on and off your bike for upwards of a couple of hours, maybe, that's intense. And as one of my first coaches said to me, it never gets easier, you just get faster. Or more likely, you just get more accustomed to being uncomfortable when you're running with heavy legs.

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Ben Sommerville: And so those bike to run brick workouts, even swim to run brick workouts, any ability to just go from one thing quite intensely to another is just great for the muscle memory. It's great practice. And so you build a level of resilience and a level of resilient mindset that you can just draw on in those difficult moments on race day, knowing, wow, I've actually put in a real shift in training. I can do this. This difficult moment doesn't last forever. And so it's really important in that moment to race your own race, to understand how you're feeling, how you're responding. And it could be just down to simply getting control of your breath, which I know is easier said than done, but making a conscious effort. When you're standing upright and beginning to stride through into T1, it's about getting control of that breath going physically and mentally, I am in control. And saying to yourself, I can transition to the bike now and be in the best shape possible. Because the best way to get to each stage in the best shape that you possibly can be is to race smart, to understand and be aware of how your body's responding and to apply your energy and effort in an appropriate way. If you go full gas from the beginning and just completely forget to stay in control and present in the moment, that's an absolute killer way to completely ruin your race. And you'll probably get in the way of other people too, because you'll make mistakes. You'll have some very angry competitors shouting you to get out of their way too.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. You can't have power and speed out on course if you're out of breath. Right. That's absolutely a reality. And in my opening story, that's what I experienced. Right. I came in this super sprint relay format. I came out of the swim, giving it all I had and was out of breath all through T1 and just never got my breath back and never had my legs throughout the entirety of the back half of the race. So great point there, Ben. And Ryan, you obviously in your strength training background and your respiratory therapist background know quite a bit about this. There is a cardiovascular component to short course racing that is not as much of a factor in long course racing. I don't think I've ever been out of breath or borderline out of breath doing a 70.3 or a full distance Ironman. Right. I just have it like you're not stepping on the gas that much to get your heart rate all the way up there. In short course you are. So Ryan, what can we do to really develop that cardiovascular system to respond well to those transitions, the intensity, all the things that come with short course racing?

Ryan Tibball: This is a big question. You know, I'm going to try to keep it as short as I can, you know, on a high level. You know, consistency is number one. Consistency is just absolute number one. You want to develop that cardiovascular fitness. It comes with consistency, you know that it is a combination of aerobic training, interval training, proper nutrition and recovery. So when we talk about consistency, we're talking about those things, but specifically on the cardiovascular endurance as it refers to the ability of the heart, the lungs, the circulatory system to provide and supply oxygen and nutrients to your muscles for those prolonged periods of intensities. You know, regular cardiovascular training does strengthen the heart, increases all of those things I just said. But thinking about from the cardiovascular endurance side, we oftentimes talk about VO2 max. You know, the higher the VO2 max, the more efficient the body can transport oxygen to the muscles, allowing individuals to sustain physical activity and extend those periods of intensity. So VO2 max can, and I want to make sure everyone understands this, VO2 max can describe your level of fitness, but not necessarily your level of performance too. So, and let me, what I mean by this is while your VO2 max may be great, do you have the mental capacity, do you have the nutrition, the recovery dialed in to support performance? So these are really important factors to consider when it comes to regarding cardiovascular health. Lastly, on the VO2 max, there is a genetic limitation, but I always say many people will not reach that full genetic potential because of mental motivation or simply just not doing the right training right and that's so important. And again, want to make that abundantly clear. VO2 max describes your anaerobic capacity, your threshold. So if you raise your anaerobic threshold, an increase in VO2 max essentially is an improvement in cardiovascular capacity. Keep in mind proper and timely aerobic work as well. Nutrition recovery also factors into that too. So you know it again, I can go so much more in depth here, but you know, it's such an important thing to think about is that athletes need to be consistent. Athletes need to embrace not only the physical part, but the mental part of developing their cardiovascular abilities, developing that speed, that power that they're looking for in short course racing.

Andrew Harley: In our workouts, Ryan, because like we talked about TriDot gives you plenty of opportunities to go short and hard and pick up the pace and get out of breath. Is just really nailing those parts of your workouts, the quality parts of your workouts, is that enough to really develop the cardiovascular system to succeed in short course? Or are there things aside from the swim, bike run training we should be doing to strengthen that part of our short course body?

Ryan Tibball: There are other things. Right. You know, as you said, yes, nailing those big intervals, but again, taking that opportunity for the recovery, utilizing that time to actively recover, utilizing that time to do your mobility and utilizing at other times to do your strength work. You know, it's like a, like I say, it's a big puzzle. You know, more pieces you put into that puzzle and put it together, the better you're going to be. And if you get that puzzle put all together, you're going to be a machine. And that's what, you know, ultimately maybe for a super competitive athlete, that's what they're looking for. And for the others that may, hey, I just want to finish this short course race.

Andrew Harley: Maybe that's, yeah, I want to point out to everybody, you know, Ryan didn't say to beef up your cardiovascular system, you need to work out more or work out harder or work out harder more. He said you need to recover better, do your strength, do your mobility, take your recovery seriously. Very, very interesting to note that, right. That that is a part of that because I think we just think, oh, like cardiovascular is going hard, it's being out of breath, it's working those lungs and all of it, you know, all of your training ecosystem supports that part of your development. So very, very good stuff there, Ryan. Ben, this question over to you because Ryan just said this and I want to speak to this. Not every short course athlete is out there to win a national championship like Ben has done twice, right? Some people are out there to just finish or just do the best they can with the fitness they have. I mean my first three or four sprints and Olympics, I just wanted to finish, right? I just wanted to like finish, have fun and somewhat feel like I was figuring out this wild sport of triathlon. And over time, you know, you might get to where your goal is to burn it to the ground, right? So if an athlete is rolling up to short course event and they're training with TriDot, they're building their fitness, but they're not necessarily out there to go short and hard and fast. Maybe they're frankly a back of the packer that is going to spend a little more time on course than everybody else. Maybe they're a beginner and they're still getting a handle on the sport. Long story short, if an athlete's out there and their goal isn't short, hard, fast, burn to the ground, red line the heart rate, does the principles we've talked about today of having a strong body apply to those athletes or is this kind of a conversation really just for the folks that are wanting to burn it to the ground on race day?

Ben Sommerville: I think that's such a really great question. And if I was face to face with that beginner athlete new to the sport, I'd first of all obviously say welcome. You know, you've made a great decision. And no matter whether they are a beginner or whether they're a lifelong veteran to our sport, completing any distance, like you said, is a difficult endurance challenge, whether you burn yourself to the ground or not. And so some of those might come in a little bit worried or a bit intimidated by that full gas mentality. So I encourage them to switch their mindset to completing it however they need to, they want to, or they can, because it will still be a hard event, a hard challenge, it's still a power event. Whether they are wanting to spend a bit more time on course, bring the effort level down. Effort's relative. If you ask a beginner runner to run a 5k as fast as they can, and you ask Mo Farah, the British Olympian, to run a 5k as fast as he can, whilst they're both running at a maximum capacity, I can bet you he's probably running a degree easier than the beginner is. Because your ability to cope with that pain, that discomfort, that suffering is entirely trained, it's trainable. And so I say to these people, embrace the training journey. Embrace racing your own race or do what I do. And I embrace racing the race that I'm in. I'm a much more competitive athlete. I have to respond to what's going on. I think little of how I'm doing and more about, okay, what's everybody else doing, how can I respond? And so for them, it's to enjoy and experience the day however they want to. And if that's to take it steady as she goes, then by all means, please do. Welcome to the sport. Get involved, learn and push your limits. Discover what you're capable of, because that's nothing to shy away from. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. And I promise to everybody, I speak to beginners now, underneath that discomfort and that suffering, there is happiness. There is enjoyment too. And so this is exactly why we do these events, right? If we're not doing it for those reasons, what is the reason we're doing it? And so there's no right or wrong answer. There's so many factors in play. As I said, I race sprint and short course races in a completely different way to others, but I still went down that same process where I started and I did my first one. I just wanted to finish and it was hard. And now I look back and go, I'm immensely grateful for that opportunity to just be humbled by this sport and you know, 13 years later, I continue to do it. And that's the experience I see every single beginner having today. It's just about embracing the journey for what you want it to be right here and right now and think little of what everybody else is doing. It's still a power event, it's still hard. You can still train specifically, but on the day, just get involved, get stuck in and have a load of fun. But obviously race safe and get home okay.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. For some folks, ripping out a sprint is running five minute miles in the 5K and cycling at, you know, 28 miles an hour. And you know, that's what ripping is. And for some folks, ripping out a 5k is 12 minute miles and ripping on the bike is, you know, 14 miles an hour. And either way, you know, we want you to feel strong out there and feel good out there and enjoy. You know, when you do feel that way, when you do feel prepared in your body, regardless of your pace, it just adds to the enjoyment right of the day. So very, very well said. Ben, to open our main set I had you guys share somewhat embarrassing stories on a short course failure of sorts. So let's close it out with short course success. Now that we've learned all about having a stronger, more responsive body for short course racing, give us a 60 second or less story on the strongest you've ever felt racing a short course event. Ryan Tibball.

Ryan Tibball: Well, I didn't actually have to look back too far. It was in 2021 Olympic distance CapTex Tri down in Austin, Texas. One of my favorite events, Olympic distance that I've ever done. Done it many, many times. You know there's a little bit of unfinished business on this course though. And since I have 60 seconds, I've used 20 there. Had a great solid swim. Was having one of my best bikes averaging over 23 miles per hour on a four loop bike course. Four loop bike course with five turns plus two U turns. I was very pleased with the speed I was maintaining there. I wrecked in the last two miles. I was going according to Garmin who alerted all my family, I was going 30 miles per hour at the time.

Andrew Harley: Wow.

Ryan Tibball: When I was on my way in to that last two miles I had yelled on your left. And the rider up front, he looked to his left, his bike went to the left, took out my front wheel.

Andrew Harley: Sure.

Ryan Tibball: And I was down on the ground and I was on pace and I call this one of my best races because I was on pace for seriously a 2:16 finish that day. And because of that wreck I obviously was a little bit slower. I took time to get up, my run suffered immensely but it put a little bit of a damper on the finish. But nonetheless I still look back and going that was a great performance. I was very grateful for that. I was very pleased with it for those, you know, all the reasons I mentioned.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. I'm reminded of TriDot coach Elizabeth James who is now a professional triathlete. She's on our team on the podcast frequently. She raced in the Olympic at Tri Waco in Waco, Texas, wrecked during the bike, broke her wrist, literally broke her wrist, got back on the bike, finished the bike and won the race overall female. Because that's, and now she's a pro and that makes sense because that's her caliber. But yeah, great story there Ryan. This story for me really, really easy as a runner. I like to run fast and the performance that stands out as a strong short course performance was the first time I felt like I had improved my swim and bike to the point that I could swim and bike really hard and still run really hard. And I still remember my first local sprint where I was able to go under 20 minutes on the 5K. You know, I had that kind of speed, obviously in an assessment, I had that kind of speed just going out and showing up to a 5k. But I always wanted to go sub 20 at a sprint because to me that was like, okay, that meant that I've really arrived in my strength as a short course athlete, that I can still run to my ability in this short course event. And just coming up to the finish line and looking down at the Garmin clock and seeing, yeah, I think I was third, fourth, fifth in my age group, right. So overall, still not the best athlete on the day, but just for me to cross the finish line, knowing I kept that run, 19:48, 19:49, whatever it was, I was really thrilled with that and just felt strong approaching that finish line, giving it that gas that I like to have on a running event. Coach Ben, same question over to you. Shut us down here.

Ben Sommerville: Oh, this is the hardest question you've asked me all podcast because it brings back so many great memories. I've been in the sport for, you know, doing sprint for so long, but I've only got to pick one and it has to be the age group sprint triathlon world championships in Hamburg, Germany, back in 2023. I didn't place on the podium. I'll admit I came 21st, but that's less about my feelings. But I can safely say I experienced what all those pros talk about, that flow state. Just something clicked from the moment that starting gun went off. And I've never experienced it since.

Andrew Harley: Wow.

Ben Sommerville: Probably a little bit another time. And the race wasn't a smooth road, like things went wrong. But I responded, I adapted. I didn't panic when those things went wrong. At one point, I was leading a bike pack of 30 other people from around the world, all my age group, all top of their game at 30 miles an hour through the narrow streets of Hamburg. My legs were screaming. And in that moment, I recognized this is what I needed to do to keep my position in the race and to give me a great chance to have a strong finish. So I just didn't panic. I was in that flow state and I was racing with friends, had a huge group of supporters all around us. It was just a special time and a performance and a result I'll be proud of forever. Really, really special time.

Announcer: Great set, everyone. Let's cool down.

Andrew Harley: We always end our show with our Coach Cool Down Tip of the week. And Coach Ben, I'm really thrilled to have you on today. You've done a Coach Cooldown tip before, but you've never been on for a full episode. And Ryan, I think you did okay. I think he did pretty good bringing us some short course wisdom.

Ryan Tibball: Man, he did fantastic.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, nice thumbs up from Coach Ryan. But Coach Ben, just leave us with our Coach Cooldown tip of the day. One triathlon training or racing tip. It can be anything you like, any topic you like, whatever you feel like you want to say. Give us just one more little triathlon piece of wisdom.

Ben Sommerville: Okay, so no pressure here. And also I take no credit for this bit of wisdom. This is a six word wisdom. And this goes all in credit to my first coach, Paul. If he's listening, I hope he is. Thank you. He said these six words to me when I first started this sport when I was 16 years old. He said go fast first and go longer later. And I've had those words inscribed at the forefront of my brain ever since. And I say it to every single triathlete I meet.

Announcer: Thanks for joining us. Make sure to subscribe and share the TriDot podcast with your triathlon crew for more great tri content and community. Connect with us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Ready to optimize your training? Head to TriDot.com and start your free trial today. TriDot, the obvious and automatic choice for triathlon training.

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