Legends Assemble! The Newest TriDot Experience is Live

TriDot Podcast Episode 267

Legends Assemble! The Newest TriDot Experience is Live

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: Hey everyone. Welcome to the TriDot Podcast. Really, really cool episode today. Excited to highlight for all of our listeners a brand new offering in the TriDot Experience umbrella. I've got a legendary coach and a key TriDot staff member here to tell us all about the TriDot Legend Experience. What is it? What will athletes get out of it? Who is it right for? Really, really fun one today and our triathlon legend here to talk to us about this is TriDot coach Mark Allen. Mark is the most successful triathlete of all time, having won the IRONMAN triathlon World Championships six times, the Nice International Triathlon 10 times, and he was the first recognized Olympic distance Triathlon championship. He went undefeated in 21 straight races for an astounding two year winning streak. And he has been inducted into the halls of fame for IRONMAN USA Triathlon and the International Triathlon Union. ESPN named Mark as the greatest endurance athlete of all time and I agree with him. Mark, thanks so much for joining to talk about this. Now I know you are freshly back in your office after your trip to Kona for the men's IRONMAN World Championship. How was your time there in Kona?

Mark Allen: Yeah, it's always epic. The race this year was, it had everything that you could hope for. It had Sam Laidlow looking like he had it locked up at the end of the bike in the first miles of the run and then kaboom. You know, his nutrition started to fail and his energy dropped and he ended up having to walk and jog. And so all of a sudden Patrick Lange, who had actually been moving up in the field anyway, he just took the bull by the horns and just ran away with it. And winning his third championship, winning it at age 38, winning it, setting a world's record, beating 15 other guys who went sub eight hours. I mean just, it's unreal. Put that in your pocket and think about it for a week. Like 15 guys went under eight hours and they still couldn't beat Patrick Lange. It just shows what an incredible athlete he is. It was a super exciting time also for TriDot because it was really kind of like The IRONMAN coming out party in the men's field.

Andrew Harley: Absolutely.

Mark Allen: People were really excited to see us there. They were asking, you know, what's TriDot about? We've seen so much about it. How does it work? How can it help me as an athlete? And so we got to talk a lot about just how cool it is. And so now on the heels of that amazing sort of success that we had in Kona, we're launching legends.

Andrew Harley: Yep. And what a time to do it. Right after we just saw the latest crop of men's and women's legends and champions get crowned in Nice and Kona. Really engaging race there in Kona for the men. And yeah, it was really cool to see TriDot all over the coverage, all over social media there on the ground. And another person who was a part of that in Kona was TriDot's vice president of marketing, Matt Bach. Matt himself is an accomplished athlete with an IRONMAN Maryland victory and 72nd overall finish in Kona on his resume. He worked on Wall street as a trader and portfolio manager for nine years, earned his MBA from Temple University, and worked in marketing at UCAN for a little bit before coming on board with TriDot. Matt, same question to you. How was your experience and your time in Kona?

Matt Bach: Amazing. Exhausting. Exhilarating. Exciting. Super exciting. As Mark mentioned, I mean, there were several records broken. The bike course record was Sam Laidlow 3:57. And then the course record set by Patrick Lange going 7:35. I mean, just astounding. I don't care how favorable the conditions are in Kona. They're never perfectly favorable. It's always hot and humid, no matter what. It was just amazing to see such high level of performance and such depth of the field. We had tons of TriDot athletes racing. We had a packed week of meetings with athletes, coaches, other brands. Everybody's there on the ground. It's just like a big reunion every year. So it was amazing. And then, you know, we got a treat with a bunch of dolphins jumping out of the water, saw some sea turtles and all the usual amazingness of Kona. It's just a magical place.

Andrew Harley: Yep. Love to hear it. Well, I am Andrew, the average triathlete, voice of the people and captain of the middle of the pack. As always, we'll roll through our warmup questions, settle in for our legendary main set conversation, and then wind things down with our cooldown. Lots of good stuff. Let's get to it.

Warm Up Question

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

Andrew Harley: Now I'm gonna tip our hands here at the day we're recording this podcast episode. It's gonna go out on Monday in November, but we are recording on Halloween, people. It is Halloween day. Lots of spooky activities going on today in offices and workplaces and schools and neighborhoods all across America and around the world. And so that makes me curious for our warm up question. If a kid were to knock on your door this evening while trick or treating and they have a triathlon themed costume, what would you be most excited to see them dressed as? Matt Bach.

Matt Bach: So many good possibilities here, but the one I'll go with this time is in honor of Kathleen McCartney who while we were in Kona was inducted into the IRONMAN hall of Fame. And it's because of her part in the race in 1982 in Kona with Julie Moss's crawl and how Kathleen McCartney passed her in the last 15 feet of the race before the finish line to take the win. Unknowingly, she didn't even know that she did it. And so that moment has such a massive impact on the sport, on Mark directly as well, and on many, many people in the sport of triathlon. It helped create that boom. And that's why Kathleen was inducted into the IRONMAN hall of Fame. And so I would love to see for the specific get up, the specific costume would be Julie Moss decked out as what she was wearing that day and crawling on my front stoop saying trick or treat and asking for some candy. I think it'd be pretty fun.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And yeah, that'd be part of the bit, right, is they'd have to crawl like they could walk to a certain point, but that last hundred ten feet to the door they'd have to crawl. Right, that's part of the bit with some gambie legs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think a fun one. And another nod to history. Like imagine if a family had like two boys and you dress one like Mark and one like Dave in their get ups for the Iron War, like what their tri kits look like that day and they would have to go trick or treating the whole evening side by side, right. And the Mark Allen kid could only reach the front door of their own house first in the last little bit. Mark, what would you think about that? A little Mark and Dave coming to your door?

Mark Allen: Yeah, I don't know if that would be the booby price having to dress up as Dave. But, you know, when I was a kid, we'd go trick or treating, and you actually—a lot of doors, they would say, well, do a trick, you know, so you had to have something that you would do to earn your treat. And so if I had a triathlete kid dress up as a triathlete, what I would say is, okay, you know, you've probably watched a lot of the pros when they come across the line now, like, especially the winner, you know, they cross the line, they grab the tape, they do a big dance, and then they flop down on the ground in complete exhaustion.

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Mark Allen: And, you know, just as a point of reference, I never flopped down on the ground in complete exhaustion. I was completely exhausted. But we never did the flop. But somehow that's become super popular. And so I would say, okay, I want you to jump up and down like you want, and then I want to see the flop and do the flop really good. Lay there for a while, wriggle around a little bit, you know, lay on your side, turn over, and then when you feel like you've done enough of that, stand up, and I'll give you treats based on how good I thought your flop was. That's what I would do.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. So the costume is—it doesn't matter. Regardless of the costume, that would be the triathlon bit for you, is making them recreate that for you.

Mark Allen: Sure, yeah. The costume doesn't matter as long as they look like a triathlete, you know, a tri suit, or whatever they're going to wear. There was a guy actually this year in Kona who said he wanted to dress exactly like I did in my final IRONMAN. So he wore a Speedo and kind of like a short crop top. And I'm like, okay, dude, go for it. Yeah, right. You know, I mean, actually, in a Speedo, your running actually feels really free. Like a tri suit kind of—there's a little bit of restriction, you know, and when you're running in a Speedo, you actually feel this openness in your stride that you just don't get otherwise. But if you're riding on the bike, you know, the piece that he didn't understand was that we had these neoprene pads that went over the seat, and, you know, they were about this thick, so it was actually comfortable. He didn't know about the pad. And so I saw him after the race, and he goes, yeah, it was really good on the run, but, man, it was really uncomfortable on the bike. And I said, did you put the pad on the seat? And he goes, what pad? And I go, oh, you missed the most important detail of that outfit.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, he didn't know. I wouldn't have known either.

Mark Allen: Yeah, there you go. A little bit of legendary history.

Andrew Harley: Absolutely. Yeah. We're learning more than we bargained for with this question. I'm all for it, but I wrote down several ideas that I think would be interesting. I've picked one of them while y'all were talking to share, because that's the thing here, right? One answer to the one question. Imagine a kid coming to your door. You open the door and they're dressed like a porta potty and you don't think anything of it. Like, oh, that's weird. They're a porta potty. And they open the door and there's no toilet paper inside. Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. Triathlon themed costume mixes really well with—

Matt Bach: The scariness of Halloween.

Andrew Harley: It does. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, guys, we're going to throw this question out to you, our audience, like we always do. I'm going to pose this question on the I AM TriDot Facebook group the Monday this show comes out and we'll also have this question posted in the TriDot community hub. Go to those places, find this question and let us know what would you love to see a kid dress as for Halloween if it was triathlon themed?

Main Set

Announcer: Onto the main set. Going in three, two, one.

Andrew Harley: Okay. Excited to talk with Matt and Mark about the Legends addition and experience of TriDot. Really, for a couple reasons. One, I want our audience and our athletes to know that this subscription level exists and that this experience is available. It's going to be a great fit for a lot of people. And if you have friends coming on TriDot, if you're telling your buddies about TriDot, we want to make sure all of our folks are educated in what is possible with the Legends edition of TriDot. So excited to learn that with Matt and Mark today. And Mark, I want to back up a step before we get into this new experience and talk about what this is building on top of, because we, for the last couple of years have partnered with you on the Mark Allen edition of TriDot. And this new Legends experience wouldn't be possible without you coming to TriDot and kind of formulating that Mark Allen edition that we've had as a fantastic offering for athletes these last couple years. So once you came to our brand, many coaches have followed and a lot of those coaches happen to be famous and legendary in their own right and it's kind of sparked this shift here. So Mark, I guess in a way of answering, why are all these legends now aligned with TriDot? I would love to hear you talk about what brought you to TriDot a number of years back.

Mark Allen: Well, you know, I've had my coaching online since 2001. I was actually the first person to deliver any kind of training online. And people initially, they said, how can you coach an athlete online? Like, you have to have them in front of you and you have to see them. And I'm like, well, there's clearly advantages to having somebody in front of you and meeting them for workouts. But the just day to day stuff of delivering training programs, that's something that can be done online and it can be done sort of like utilizing software, which is something that I did way back in 2001. I had a programmer download my brain as far as how I actually create workouts. And I thought it was going to be really simple. Like, you know, you go from A to B to C and then voila, there's the training plan. But he goes, I guarantee you just that point from A to B is about 20 steps and you'll understand when you start working on it. And so I realized, yeah, the thought process is a lot more complicated than I thought because so much of what I was doing as a coach was sort of second nature. So anyway, as things evolved and developed, all of a sudden, you know, 10 or 15 years later, everybody's delivering their training plans online and there's some real vast improvements on how the data that the athletes are generating now is handled, how it's managed. And I saw that my one human brain just was not able to take all of the information that I was gathering day to day for my athletes and really making sense of it. And I thought I need to partner with somebody that's actually got some kind of capability to take super data driven stuff and turn it into actionable changes in training plans and progressions and all that. And so when I was introduced to TriDot, you know, initially I thought, oh, it doesn't really look like it's that sophisticated. However, it's just like my A to B. You know, when you're an athlete and you're on TriDot and it kind of just looks simply laid out and it's easy to follow, you kind of go, it's not that sophisticated. But when you actually see behind—you open the hood and look what's going on from point A to point—there's 10,000 things going on. And so when I saw this, I thought, this is where I need to park myself for the rest of my coaching career. Because unless I am involved with something that can process that amount of data and make it make sense to the athlete and the coach, I'm going to be less than the dust because somebody's going to come up with this and I can't do this myself. So anyway, I came on about two or two and a half years ago. My athletes initially were sort of like, well, this is different than what you had us doing. I'm like, yeah, well, the way that I trained and that I had things set up, you know, coaching philosophy and sophistication has evolved and so this is a little bit different than what you're used to, but just try it out. And you know, the classic is a guy that I had who was Australian and he just was doubting it the whole way through. I go, just trust me, stick with it. He had IRONMAN Western Australia—IRONMAN Cairns as his goal race. And he'd been racing for a long time and he went to the race feeling like he wasn't properly prepared.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, sure.

Mark Allen: When in reality he was completely properly prepared. He set a PR by almost 45 minutes and you know, that was when the light bulb of course went on for him and it's like, aha. So anyway, with the partnership with TriDot, we introduced the Mark Allen edition, which is, for me it was super cool because we—as you know, you were there recording all of them—we recorded motivational Monday motivational thoughts for the week. We recorded how to do all of the drills that you see and that you get with your workouts. And then also we recorded just kind of an explanation of the purpose of all the workouts so that you're not just being fed workouts, but you really understand what the purpose of each of the workouts is. And some of the purpose of some is to push your body. Some of them it's to back off so that you recover, so that you develop that aerobic side of your physiology. So anyway, every day the athletes go on and they see my ugly mug and get some advice and you know, it's been a great experience for the athletes to kind of have that semi hands on touch and to really broaden their understanding and knowledge of drills, how to do them, workouts, why they're important and also to get that motivation. So that's had a great run. But you know, as we sit here today we're launching legends which is taking not only what I've done but enhancing that with other legends in the sport who've been around a long time who really understand with a deep knowledge both personal and educationally what makes triathlon tick. And with that you're not only going to be seeing me, but you're going to be seeing a lot of other folks that if you don't recognize a name and you're new to the sport, right away you're going to go oh these men and women are great. They are really making my just day to day—I'm excited, I'm going to be excited to get up and see what they have to say to me.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And Mark, like you said, you know I had the opportunity to partner with you on a lot of media that went into the Mark Allen edition of TriDot. And you know we partnered together on a lot of webinars that we would record and host live talks and events with Mark Allen Edition athletes. And you know, I know from where I sit our goal was to have an athlete feel like they were being coached by Mark Allen without them getting the one on one calls, right, and the one on one work with Mark Allen. Cause you're just one man. You only have so much time to actually talk on the phone with athletes and, you know there's athletes that just budget wise, you know, myself included for a long time, you know I never had it in my budget to have a one on one triathlon coach. And how can we bring who Mark is and what Mark's knowledge is to more athletes. That was kind of the mission of the Mark Allen Edition and it's been so great. And you know Matt, just as a company from a TriDot positioning, you know we've really enjoyed this with Mark. We've seen athletes respond very well to it. I saw a post one time where a guy just totally unprompted in the I am TriDot Facebook group was like if you are not on the Mark Allen edition, the Mark Monday motivation videos are reason enough to go upgrade and be on that edition. And we would see comments like that from time to time. And you could see athletes really enjoying being a part of that. And Mark, we would hop on the live webinars and athletes were able to ask you questions on the live webinars even though you weren't their one on one coach. And there's a lot of really great momentum with it. So Matt, what is the reason and kind of the vision for TriDot as a brand to expand this into what we're calling legends?

Matt Bach: Yeah, I guess going back to one quote, many hands make light work in a way where, you know, Mark, like you said, there's only one person and there's a lot that Mark can offer. But having, you know, Mark invites his friends into it.

Andrew Harley: Right.

Matt Bach: He knows everybody in the sport and knows all these other legends of the sport. It can provide more opportunities for athletes to interact and engage and learn from a variety of legends and people. You know, many people are huge fans of Mark Allen, but many people are also fans of people like Mirinda Carfrae and Craig Alexander and Tim O'Donnell and the other legends that are joining this offering here. And so you can hear from this variety of legends and hear from their different perspectives and the different things that they might be super specialized in and known for. And so with this level you get TriDot award winning AI powered triathlon training plus you get this unprecedented access to triathlon legends in the sport where, I mean, there's no other place where you could have this kind of access to people like Mark, people like the other legends and also special guests that will be joining along the way in the future too.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, like it's funny you say that, Matt. Like I remember years ago locally in my area, but before I was a TriDot athlete myself, that there was a local triathlon store that was having Craig Alexander do a group ride and like a talk afterwards at their store. And they were advertising it left and right, social media, word of mouth and whatever way they could, oh, come to our store on this day, Craig Alexander is going to be there. And whenever one of these legends, whenever one of these names we're talking about shows up to a location like that, like people go and people want to hear from them, people want to learn from them. And how cool is it that we have them all in the TriDot ecosystem, coaching with TriDot, their face in the app, their wisdom in the app, them doing all the things we're about to talk about. We're spoiled, right? And we need to stop and pause and realize like man, just to have access to picking one of these coaches brains one time ever, somewhere, anywhere would be really special. And they're going to be within TriDot, you know, coaching athletes ongoing. So really, really special and you know, part of the whole thing here. Matt, as we as a company have been talking about what we want the Legends experience to be like for an athlete, there is the aspect that you are learning from these legends of the sport. You're learning from Mark Allen, you're learning from Rennie and Crowie, Michellie Jones, Tim O'Donnell and potentially others in the future. But the other side of the coin is we want athletes to realize that you as you're crafting your own triathlon story, as you're in the midst of your own triathlon journey, you yourself can be a legend, right? And sure you're not going to go win six IRONMAN world championships like Mark Allen did, but you can be a legend in your own right, in your own way. Matt, what do we mean by that when we envision, okay, you're coming into this edition to learn from Legends, but we want to help you have a legendary triathlon experience for yourself. What does that mean?

Matt Bach: Yeah, that's exactly right. Where you might think on the surface TriDot Legends is referring specifically to the legends who are leading it. And it is, that's one of the meanings. But what I love about the name of the subscription level is that it's got multiple meanings to it and one of those really core meanings that we really want to make sure is clear is that you as the athlete—we love doing triathlon because it's epic. I mean completing a triathlon, completing a 70.3, completing an IRONMAN is an epic thing. It's an epic endeavor and it's something to be really, really proud of and it's something that many, many triathletes have—their families are super proud of them. Their kids look up to them and they see the grit that they have and the mental fortitude and the discipline to embark upon all the training that it takes to be a triathlete or an IRONMAN and their families and their local communities and their tri clubs that they might be part of. So they're almost kind of like a local legend in their own community. So focusing on the athlete—it's not you're learning from legends of the sport so that you might become a legend in your own right, like you said, where you have legends in the sport that are there to guide you so that you can become a legend to your kids or become a legend to your local community. So that's really the aspirational nature of what TriDot Legends is seeking to embrace and offer to triathletes.

Andrew Harley: Yep. So it's legendary coaches kind of shepherding you through your legendary training experience with TriDot. And they're coaching legendary athletes, the athletes at home on the app. We believe you are a legend. Mark Allen, how does that sound to you?

Mark Allen: Yeah, it's sort of hopefully helping you take what might be kind of an ordinary experience and making it extraordinary. And for every person, what is extraordinary is going to be different. You know, not like you said, not everybody's going to win six IRONMAN titles, but anybody doing this sport can really have a great experience. And, you know, having the legends together is almost kind of like an extension of how TriDot was developed. TriDot has looked at all sorts of different kinds of coaching philosophies and training philosophies, and it's just taken the best of the best and incorporated it into what the athletes get in their training. So for an example, in Kona this year, we did a lot of stage talks at the Expo. And, you know, I was on stage with Kathleen McCartney, with Michellie Jones, with Mirinda Carfrae. Well, Mirinda wasn't there this time, but—she was. We did some stuff together. And even for me to hear these other legendary athletes talk and share their perspective and share their knowledge, it's really cool. And so like you said, Andrew, there's no other place where you're going to get such access to people who've had so much experience in the sport and who want to share that experience with people that, you know, on the surface you might say, oh, well, they're just ordinary athletes, but everybody's extraordinary, you know, and so that's—to bring it back around—that's what we mean when we're talking about that legendary experience is having the best experience you can and maybe even something better than you could have ever imagined through the interaction that you'll have with us.

Andrew Harley: Yep. Mark, I want to give you credit because you were our original legend. You're our OG legend here at TriDot. Of all the legends we're talking about, your career came first. You were the first one coaching on TriDot. First one using the artificial intelligence in this way. You know, so you're kind of core here and you very easily could have been territorial. I'm with TriDot. This is my thing. This is my thing I'm doing with these TriDot athletes. It's the Mark Allen edition. It's not the such and such edition. But no, you from conversation one, the more the merrier. Would love to have these other voices. Yes, let's retool this. Let's make it better for the athletes. And when we look at who these athletes are, you being so involved in the sport, you watch Michellie's career unfold. You watch Rinny and Tim and Mike Reilly, who's a part of this as a legendary commentator, right. You watch Mike Riley's role in the sport grow and grow and grow. You watch Crowie win his world titles. So sitting where you are now with open arms, welcoming them all into kind of this circle of influence within TriDot, what is your thoughts on just who they are as legends and what we can learn from each and every one of them?

Mark Allen: Well, each one, like I said, each one of them has had different experiences than the other ones. You know, I never won an Olympic medal. Michellie Jones won the silver medal in the first ever Olympic triathlon back in 2000. You know, Mirinda Carfrae, she set the standard for women's racing at IRONMAN with some of the fastest marathon times ever. You know, one year her marathon split was faster than the men's winner, Freddie Van Leard. You know, and so you might wonder like, well, how did she do that? What secrets does she have? What mindset was she in? What has she learned not only as a top athlete, but as a female athlete? What can she—what can I learn from her? You know, and so I'm only one person and I know that I don't know everything about coaching, about every aspect of the sport. I might know some things and I share what I know. But then everybody else has their other sort of expertise or their little secret sauce that they're going to share with you. And so I think I've always seen that athletes really respond just amazingly well when I've done panel discussions with other top pros and now we get to do that with other legends.

Andrew Harley: So Matt, I'm curious for all of our athletes listening, right, I think they get what we're trying to do here, right? Providing an avenue for TriDot athletes to just soak up stories and experiences and coaching wisdom and racing tactics from all of these legendary coaches and figures in the sport. What does this actually look like tangibly in the app or in the TriDot ecosystem? What if an athlete bumps up their subscription to the Legend subscription? What is there, what is going on for them?

Matt Bach: So the Legend subscription will have obviously the training is a core piece of it and you have all the training features that are inside of TriDot in the complete level. It includes video content that's all in app video content or actually some of it is in app, some of it is also in the community in the new Legends Forum. Drill videos, coaching tips, workout explainers, motivational videos, strength, nutrition, hydration gear, all the different things that go into triathlon. There's so many thousands of different elements of triathlon to be successful in the sport and so that guidance is in there. So that way—and there are things from beginners all the way up to experts. Right. I mean I learn tips and things all the time from Mark and other Legends and other triathletes and other coaches because there are just so many different things that you could do and learn about the sport of triathlon. So many little factors that go into it. Live events, some virtually some in person at the races. The first virtual event for Legends will be on November 20th. There's an exclusive community. As I mentioned, it's an invite only TriDot Legends forum and there's discounts on the TriDot store on merchandise, TriDot pool school, TriDot trips. So if you want to go on camps with us there's—we've got a Legends specific invite only exclusive camp for those who are subscribed to Legends in the works. I haven't announced exactly the date or location on that yet, but that is one of the thoughts and early access to have a first look at TriDot features. And then we've got many other top secret future plans for what Legends might hold.

Andrew Harley: Yep. And by secret plans it's more of a list of ideas that are good ideas and it's which ones are we going to pursue with our Legends? And I've seen some of those things and yeah some really exciting stuff and I kind of view it as two things Matt. One, it's kind of like having a coach in your pocket. Right. You open up the app and you have all this content from these legendary coaches. So in your pocket there is Mark Allen and Mirinda Carfrae and Michellie Jones and all these folks. So there's the in app component of the Legends edition of TriDot and then there's also the ongoing things, right? The camps, the discounts, the early access to new features, the live calls that you can participate on with Legends, group training possibilities with the Legends through things like Zwift and Fulgaz. So there's like the in app Legends experience, but there's also going to be a good solid rotation of things happening outside of the app specifically for Legends athletes. So really excited to see how all that shapes up and what our athletes get from it as we go. But I want to spend a little bit of time here taking a peek at the in app experience because that is launched, that is live and we right now already have—if you're on the Legend subscription of TriDot in your app is all these people we're talking about coaching you in the sport. And so I have for us today a quick sample sound bite from each of those legendary coaches. So I'm going to play them one by one and you guys can hear what it's going to sound like to have Tim O'Donnell in your pocket and Mirinda Carfrae in your pocket and Craig Alexander in your pocket and Mark Allen in your pocket. So this first clip is Craig Alexander coaching you on a hill repeat workout. So if you ever have hill repeats, here's what Crowie's going to be saying to you about your hill repeats:

Craig Alexander (audio clip): What's a great way to combine a specific run strength building session with also improving your cardiovascular fitness? Hill repeats. Going uphill makes it easy to get your heart rate up after a lower intensity Zone 2 warm up. This workout requires you to do multiple hill repeats of 60 to 80 seconds working up into zone five. If you perform this session outside on an actual hill, then your recovery is just an easy jog back down the hill, back to the start. If you're on a treadmill, set it between 5 to 8% incline for the repeats and then drop the incline to 1% for the 90 second recovery period. It's time to get strong.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. So Mark, Matt, how do you think Crowie did there on just giving us some tidbits to focus on for a hill repeat workout?

Mark Allen: Yeah, he's one of the best runners ever. So I listen to him.

Matt Bach: Yeah, I was going to say not too shabby. You know, coming from one of the best runners in the sport, just known for his run, he knows a thing or two about it.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And so all these clips I'm pulling are what we call our workout explainers. So when you have a certain workout in TriDot, obviously there's the notes that TriDot gives you on how to execute that workout. There's the intervals themselves and there's the helpful videos and drill videos. And now there are these where you have a coach kind of giving you some focus points and things to think about as you go through that workout. And it was editing these—it was really fascinating to me to see just Tim and Rennie and Mark, Crowie, like you guys just come to life. It feels like you are telling us how to do this workout one on one, and it's super cool.

Mark Allen: And Craig on that one, you know, he told you how to do it if you're doing it on the hill and how to do it if you're doing it on a treadmill.

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Mark Allen: And so, you know, right there, that's priceless information. Like not everybody's going to be able to find a hill, or maybe it's too cold out, it's winter time and you need to do it on a treadmill. So how do I create that same workout on a treadmill? He told you right there.

Andrew Harley: Here is from one runner to another, here's Mirinda Carfrae actually telling us about a swim session. This is broken 1500s:

Mirinda Carfrae (audio clip): All right, today's session is a broken 1500. Now, if I asked you to go out and swim 1500 as fast as you could, you would be like, please don't make me do that. This session is really great because we'll break that 1500 up into smaller bite sized segments. And what we're looking for is your fastest average pace for each of those efforts. We're going to have a lot of rest in between each of those intervals. So yeah, it's a really great session. It's a tough session, though. It's one that you have to stay mentally focused to get that same time for the last interval as you did for the first interval. Enjoy the session.

Andrew Harley: It might feel counterintuitive to hear Rennie talking about the swim and not the run. But I want to make it very clear. We have all of our legends talking about all the sports. They're world champions. They're very good at all of the sports, trust me. Mark, Matt, what are your thoughts on Rennie there, her little coaching tips?

Mark Allen: Well, the key takeaway I got on that one is you want to try to have your last interval the same speed as your first one.

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Mark Allen: And you know, that's a skill that if you can learn it, you'll understand how to pace your swim in the race as opposed to blasting the first 4 or 500 meters. Then all of a sudden you've got a thousand more to go and you're dying. And so that's a really good focus. Just that last little piece that she gave, you know, that's the gold in that description of that workout that'll really help people develop their pacing, have that awareness, like, okay, I need to make sure that whatever I'm doing in this first couple hundreds is the same speed that I can go in the last ones.

Andrew Harley: And it's amazing, Mark, because as an athlete, you can know that, right? Like, it's in the description of the workout. And if you've done the workout before, you kind of understand that's the point of it. But just having somebody say it to you before you go do the workout, having your coach in your pocket reminding you of that, like, just makes you that much more likely to follow through on what you're supposed to do in the workout. Right? Matt, what'd you think of Rennie's broken 1500s there?

Matt Bach: Yeah, I had a very similar thought as Mark, and that highlight for me was the fact that you're supposed to have that last one be the same pace as the first one. And that really is one of those key critical points that if you're reading the text, you may not immediately understand, but if you listen to Rennie emphasize that to you—yep, you got it, go and kill it.

Andrew Harley: All right, our next clip. This is Tim O'Donnell, and I want to be honest with you guys, I don't remember what session I pulled from Tim O'Donnell, so we're going to find out together. Here is Tim talking about something:

Tim O'Donnell (audio clip): All right, today's your swim assessment. Are you ready to rock? I know you are. Let's do it. I want you to start with a really good warmup. It's very important that you're feeling good, you're ready to go. So check out your warmup. Make sure you do some sprints, some turnovers, get the blood flow and the body moving. That's really important. If you need a little extra warm up, that's okay. Take what you need to be ready to do this test because I want you to crush it. We're going to start off with a 400 for time. That's from a push. Make sure you don't do that from a dive. And it's really important to pace yourself on this 400. It's your best effort, but it's not a sprint. A lot of people get excited, and they want to just crush it in that first 50. They forget to breathe, they go out hard, and then they're starting to fall off on that back half. I want you to stay relaxed, feel strong on that first 50, that first 100. Make sure you're breathing. And then I want you to negative split, all right? I want you to come back strong. You better at least even split, all right? I want this to be a really nice, strong effort for 400. Then I want you to take 10 to 15 minutes, all right? Recover, flush all the lactic acid out of the body. Get feeling good. Do some kicking. If you need to really focus on a long stroke, bringing that length back, your lats might start to get tired after that 400 hard. Bring your kick in a little bit, flush the legs, and get ready for that 200, because I want that to be amazing. All right? And that better be faster than your 400 pace. All right? This is a 200 where you go for it. I want to see you give it your all, and I want to see you faster than your 400 pace. All right? Now go get it. Have an awesome assessment. Good luck.

Andrew Harley: Well, now I realize why I didn't remember what session it was. I pulled his swim assessment, and I hate doing the swim assessment. So I probably blocked it out of my memory. But great stuff there from Tim O'Donnell. Mark, what you think?

Mark Allen: Well, Tim was in the navy, and just the way he sort of delivered his commands, I'm just like, yes, sir, I am going to do it right. I'm not going to back off. I'm not going to blow it. I'm going to warm up, and I'm going to be ready to do this thing because Tim O'Donnell told me I gotta do it this way.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. Tim, to me, felt like a football coach in a movie, like at halftime, like taking a knee, like, all right, guys, huddle up. Let's talk about this. Matt, what'd you think there from Tim?

Matt Bach: I don't say this often, but after hearing that, I'm like, all right, I'm ready to jump in the pool, let's get going.

Andrew Harley: Wow.

Matt Bach: Yeah, you know how often I say that. It's not often. I love the energy. It just gets me jazzed up. And I love how Tim is very directly speaking to you. He's like, hey, you're going to do this, you're going to do this. One thing that I took of note there was on the warm up is a great tip. Hey, make sure you're doing some sprints. It's outlined in the workout, right, but emphasizing the fact that you really need to make sure that you get some sprints in there, get some arm turnover in there. Because I know for me, I swim early in the morning usually, and whenever I swim early in the morning, it's hard. I mean, even if I've had some coffee or something, you hop in the pool, you might feel a little bit lazy, especially if you're doing maybe just 200 at like a zone two or zone one kind of warm. You're not really in the zone and your body is not yet primed to be able to really race or go hard for a 400 or a 200. So making sure that that warmup is really priming the body. You're getting some good sprints, some good arm turnover, getting the blood flowing where it needs to go and sort of just getting you prepared to be uncomfortable because that's what's required when you're doing something hard like that.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, great point. And that's exactly what the hope was here, right, that again, TriDot does a really good job in the written descriptions of workouts of telling you what to do. But just hearing it from a coach, right, they're just able to expound on the why behind how the session was written. And Tim did a great job there. I've got one more clip and it's from our good friend Mark Allen. I will say Michellie Jones—Michellie Jones will be put into the app in this same form. She is a world traveler. She was in Nice for the Olympics, she was in Paris for the Olympics and then Nice for the Women's World Championship, Kona for the men's World Championship. And she has not been in the United States long enough for me to get a camera in front of her. She's already a part of a lot of our Legends initiatives, just not the in app videos yet, but she will be added. So just wanted to give Michellie a quick shout out. I do not have a sample from her. So this last one is our good friend Mark Allen talking to us about a race rehearsal. This is specifically talking about the run off the bike part of your race rehearsal:

Mark Allen (audio clip): All right, as soon as you're done with that race rehearsal bike, it's time to go out and do your race rehearsal run. Have your transition set up. Have it be as close to what you're going to encounter in the race as possible. Practicing transitions is just as big a part of the race as everything else that you do. Get comfortable with it. Know how to get off your bike, get out of your bike shoes efficiently, get your run gear on. If you're changing your kit, putting on a hat, changing your sunglasses, whatever, do it all now. Practice it. That's why we call it race rehearsal. And then the key in this run race rehearsal is to get into your race pace stride as quickly as you can. That's what you're training your body to do when you run off the bike is to signal to your body that the bike is not the end of the day. There is something that's coming up next and it's going to be a run. It's a triathlon—swim, bike, run, right? And so when you get off of the bike, get those shoes on, go out the door and start running. And as best as you can, get into your race pace stride and rhythm and speed as quickly as you can. Train that transition. It's a physiological transition that's taking place even though the bike and the run are using your legs. Of course, cycling is a limited range of motion. Running is full range of motion. This will help you. And also notice how your energy levels are when you start out the door for that run. Are you fueled up or are you running on fumes already? If you're running on fumes, you didn't do that bike part right where you're taking in the calories. Make sure that when you get off the bike, you start this run, you are ready to go, you're fueled up, you have the liquid you need in your system and you're ready to go. Have a great workout.

Andrew Harley: Such an important session, those race rehearsals. And I picked that one from Mark because from start to finish, 1 minute and 54 seconds, just chock full of reminders of the little things to pay attention to, to make sure you're truly treating that as a race simulation, paying attention to the details. It would be so easy for an athlete to go do the race rehearsal, do the amount of time they're supposed to do at the pace you're supposed to do it, and not capitalize on the opportunity to practice the details that Mark outlines there. Matt, how do you think Mark did?

Matt Bach: I mean, great. I love the detail. And no surprises on race day, right? You're rehearsing it for a reason. So that—and the detail that Mark shares so that there is nothing that is going to surprise you. Well, nothing is maybe a little extreme, but minimal things will surprise you on race day. You're prepared for what your legs will feel like when you get off the bike. You're prepared to take in the nutrition and handle any of the GI issues or whatever it is you might experience or cramping that you might experience because you've done that hard bike and now you're hopping onto the run. So—and I mean, that's just a couple of the things with the details that you mentioned there making it so that you are prepared for what's to come on race day in as best of a simulation as you possibly can while in training.

Andrew Harley: Mark, is it weirder watching footage of yourself than footage of the other coaches?

Mark Allen: Well, it's always, you know, when you see yourself, you're like, oh, I could have said that better. I could have—I forgot to say that. You know, the two things where those tips came from—one was I learned early in my career that even in an Olympic distance race, it's really important to make sure that I had calories on the bike. So that when I got off and ran that 10K run for an Olympic distance, that I was fully fueled up. And a lot of the guys that I competed against went a little light on calories on the bike, and they just, their run was that little bit off from what they could have done had they had more calories in their system. And that was one big key piece that I wanted to put in there. And then the second one was just that reinforcement like practice your actual transition itself. I did a transition practice at an Olympic distance race on Martha's Vineyard years ago, just to show people, like, okay, let's do it, you know, and so we did the wetsuit to the bike, and that was a disaster for everybody. And then getting off of the bike and throwing on their running shoes and realizing throwing on your running shoes can be actually very challenging if you haven't practiced it or if you forgot to loosen your quick tie laces. And so that's free time and to really emphasize to not only do the workouts but to practice that transition as quickly as you can get off the bike, undo the helmet, throw—however you're going to do that, whatever you're going to change so that as Matt said, when you're in the race there's no surprises. You're just doing something that you've practiced over and over.

Andrew Harley: Now a really cool thing, a point I want to make here, everybody listening is within the TriDot ecosystem, right, there are subscription levels that are geared towards athletes that just can't afford a premium or a one-to-one coach, right? Just people that are more budget minded and you get the fullness of TriDot training, just with some of the fewer features. And so there's that part of the experience which is great in and of itself. Then there is the Legends edition where you have all these touches, all those extra wisdom, all the extra opportunities and events with these coaches. But you can also have a one-on-one coach with TriDot and Mark Allen coaches his athletes with TriDot. Michellie Jones coaches her athletes with TriDot. So does Tim and Rennie with Team Salty Bear, so does Craig Alexander with San Diego coaching. Man, how cool that any TriDot athlete can be on this subscription and have you guys in their pocket. They can also be coached by you one on one. Mark, how much does that just help you further the relationship and further that athlete's experience in the sport?

Mark Allen: You know, when I coach people in the premium, I'm actually having a lot of interaction with them basically on a day to day basis looking at their workouts, commenting on how things went and especially if something looks sort of amiss like a workout got cut short or maybe their intensity levels weren't in line with what was prescribed for that day. You know, I'll shoot them a little note and we'll quickly understand what's going on. Like oh yeah, I've got this huge project at work and I need to cut back some of my workouts so I can sort of make those calls on well okay, let's look at tomorrow. Cut out that long run tomorrow. It's not necessary. You've done a bunch of them. You need the time to take care of your life, that kind of a thing. And there's also kind of like this added sort of accountability when somebody knows that their coach is there and they're going to be looking to see how they performed in their workouts. And with the TrainX score, you know, athletes kind of get that feedback right away. Like, ooh, I didn't really follow it well because I only got a 65 and the next time, you know, and I know that my coach is going to see that. And so I'm sort of like their conscience just sitting back there.

Andrew Harley: They're Jiminy Cricket.

Mark Allen: Yeah. So—and I love just that human interaction that takes place between an athlete and a coach. And you know, over time you really get to understand the personalities of each of the athletes that you coach and guide them in ways that they can hear and they can understand and that really support them.

Andrew Harley: Now Matt, for our athletes listening today who are interested in taking part in this and being a part of our cohort of athletes who are learning from all the Legends and having that legendary training experience, becoming legends themselves—what's the way to get plugged in and get involved and make the jump to being a TriDot Legend?

Matt Bach: Easy to get plugged in. All of our trials now, 14 day free trials right off our website, they put you right into Legends. So anybody that comes into us through our research initiatives like the TriDot project, that will be in Legends as well. So you'll get that experience for two months for qualified participants. And then anybody in the app that is currently subscribed at a different level, they can always upgrade to the Legends subscription just by using the app and going to their account page, their subscriptions page.

Andrew Harley: So Matt, one thing I really like about the Legend offering—and the Mark Allen edition, I felt the same way about it—was that to me it bridges the gap for a lot of athletes that maybe can't afford the one on one coach or just can't kind of talk themselves into going for the one on one coach. It gives them a way to learn from some top tier coaches without necessarily taking that plunge. And I'm just kind of curious to hear Matt, from your viewpoint—you are a triathlon coach yourself and you work for the company—how do you think that this Legends offering fits alongside of the kind of uncoached versions of TriDot and the full one on one coached version of TriDot?

Matt Bach: Yeah, I mean there are really two very distinct offerings, Legends versus Premium. As Mark was mentioning, there's still so much value to the relationship that you can have with a coach. I mean there are coaches who—athletes who invite their coach to be godfather to their child, invite them to their wedding.

Andrew Harley: Right.

Matt Bach: And the relationship that you have with your coach is a special one and it's a partner in your triathlon journey. And so that doesn't go away. Right. That is an amazing thing and that is something that is still on offer for anybody. And just the fact that you could set up and work directly with Mark Allen and have that relationship with Mark Allen as your coach is really, really special.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, it's unreal.

Matt Bach: It's not for everybody. Right. And it's not for everybody even just from a financial standpoint. Right. It's not inexpensive to have a coach. Generally it's $200, $300, $400 a month or more depending on which coach you're working with. So the price point with Legends is lower and it helps to bridge that gap where you can still have a legendary experience. You can still have access to this Mount Rushmore of incredible triathletes and coaches and icons in the sport of triathlon and lean on them for the wisdom and guidance and things that you can glean from them along with the AI powered, award winning training of TriDot at a price point that's much more affordable. So you can have this legendary experience without paying what you would for a coach. But if you want that relationship with a coach, it's still there. So they're two very distinct offerings. And yeah, I mean, very, very excited to be able to provide both of those along with our other subscription levels at lower levels for all of our athletes.

Andrew Harley: Now Mark, the roster of legends that are a part of this is already extremely strong and impressive. But do you think it could ever expand to include some new names in the future?

Mark Allen: Well, there's legends being made every year, every day. So we're not the first and we're not the last kind of in that category of people who've been able to be pretty successful in the sport. And you know, for me, somebody who's sort of legendary in any field is somebody who kind of has like a span of time where they actually excelled at what they did, not just like a one shot thing where they had a great race and then that's it because that legendary experience is understanding how to sort of take this passion that you have and having it work over a long period of time. And that's another thing that we want to bring as legends to focus for the athletes is like, this is a cool lifestyle. So how can I do this in a way that's sustainable, that enhances my life, that reduces the stress in my life? You know, we don't want triathlon to add to your stress. And so, you know, all the tips that we give and the knowledge that we share with you is going to come from people who've had a long stretch where they were doing really well in the sport. And that sustainability is something that not every athlete can say that they had, but all of us who are kind of in this legendary category, you know, we can all say that we had a long career and that we did it in a way that was pretty balanced. You know, we had our extreme days, we had our extreme workouts, but we also understood other aspects that were really important—recovery and spending time with family and friends in the off season and really focusing on the balance in life. And so we get it. You know, I mean, look at Tim and Rinny. They're helping other people now. They have kids. They've got three kids. The last couple years I raced, I had a son. And so we understand a lot of the—you know, people probably look at us and go, oh, well, you guys are special. You know, you had this genetic toolbox that was amazing, and you didn't really have to—you didn't struggle with the same things we do. But I can probably say that if you talk to any one of us, you're going to find that we had the same struggles and same things that we had to work through to make triathlon a great thing in our lives. And so we also bring that to legends. It's like a perspective of how do you make this a cool thing in your life? How do you make it something that is sustainable? Taking this and creating a community of athletes so that we're all kind of sharing this experience together. So, yeah, there's going to be more legends added. I'm sure who they will be, we'll have to see. There's lots of great athletes out there.

Cool Down

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

Andrew Harley: We love to end our show with the Coach Cooldown tip of the week. And while I've got Mark Allen on the show, you gotta let Mark Allen give you a tangible triathlon coaching tip. And so, Mark, anything's on the table. It can be related to swim, bike, run, training principles, nutrition, race strategy, anything in the realm of triathlon. What is one tip that you find yourself giving your athletes that you can share with our podcast audience today?

Mark Allen: Well, one of the tips that's really sort of timely right now is that most people are having or will soon have their final race of the season. And you know, a lot of people who were at IRONMAN just this past weekend, that's their biggest race of the year. Now they're done. And so there can be that feeling of sort of emptiness or loss of focus and like, geez, what's next? And sort of the knee jerk reaction is to try to plan something right away, like, okay, I finished my IRONMAN, now what am I going to do next? And my tip is to give yourself a couple weeks space between that last race and when you start to actually plan your what's next. And the reason is, whether you had a great race or a terrible race, you're very emotionally attached to that race day experience. And I know personally that when I decided what was next the day after a big race, it was always the wrong thing. But when I waited and just kind of gave myself a couple weeks to get some distance and sort of let the emotional high or low of that final experience sort of dissipate a little bit, then I actually felt like I had a more clear vision and could actually plan what my next would be from a standpoint that was really healthy. So give yourself some time. You know, make sure that you really do take an off season where you let your body recover from a lot of probably focused workouts, regenerate, recharge, rebuild, rebalance your family and friends who probably—you probably tested them a little bit with your focus—and then after a few weeks, then you'll really have a much better viewpoint or standpoint perspective to figure out what your next is going to be for 2025.

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.

‍