Planning Your Perfect Race Season

TriDot Podcast Episode 115

Planning Your Perfect Race Season

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: Welcome to the TriDot Podcast. Thanks so much for joining us. Hey, I haven't said this in a while, so if you're a listener and you've never taken a moment to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, we would love for you to do so. New reviews just help our show find its way to the top of folks' podcast feeds and search results so you can play a big role in helping us reach new listeners. Fun topic today. I love chatting with athletes and hearing what races they have coming up on their schedules. Picking out our next race is always a fun endeavor and as one season ends, we get the opportunity to start planning for that next one that is just around the corner. So today our coaches are going to talk with us about planning your upcoming triathlon season. Joining us for this conversation is pro triathlete and coach Elizabeth James. Elizabeth is a USAT Level 2 and IRONMAN Youth Certified Coach who quickly rose through the triathlon ranks using TriDot from a beginner to top age grouper to a professional triathlete. She's a Kona and Boston Marathon qualifier who has coached triathletes with TriDot since 2014. Elizabeth, thanks for joining us to talk about race planning and scheduling.

Elizabeth James: My pleasure. Always great to be here.

Andrew Harley: Next up is Coach John Mayfield. John is a USAT Level 2 and IRONMAN U Certified coach who leads TriDot's Athlete Services, Ambassador and coaching programs. He has coached hundreds of athletes ranging from first timers to Kona qualifiers and professional triathletes. John has been using TriDot since 2010 and coaching with TriDot since 2012. John, you ready for this conversation today?

John Mayfield: Yeah, it's going to be a good one. Always fun to talk about race schedules.

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

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

Andrew Harley: A variety of sports make it into the storylines of our favorite TV shows and triathlon is no exception. Hawaii Five-O, Scrubs and the Mindy Project are all episodic television shows to put a somewhat viable depiction of a triathlon on the screen. John, Elizabeth, for our warm up question today, what fictional TV character would you most want to see race a triathlon in an episode of their show? Elizabeth, what do you think?

Elizabeth James: So, I'm a fan of the show New Girl, and as you were saying this, I just—I think it would be funny to see Jess from New Girl do a triathlon on one of those shows. And then I was thinking even better with Waterfall Bank presenting the inaugural Couples Championship happening next March. I think it would be even better to see Jess and Nick from New Girl do the couples triathlon. That would be good.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. I mean, at that point, you might as well throw Schmidt and Cece in there as well. And Winston and just have it be a three couples event. I mean, that is one of my favorite comedies of all time. It's absolutely hilarious. I think there's an episode where Jess and Cece run a 5K or a 10K or they run something in an episode, and that episode was funny. So yeah, sure, why not? What is—I have not heard of the inaugural Couples Championship. What is that?

Elizabeth James: Oh, gosh. Yeah. No, this is really cool. So Waterfall Bank is presenting this Couples Championship, and it's going to be in March 2022. And it's—I mean, a big prize purse. So this is—it's for professional triathletes, and it's kind of bringing together the best couples in professional triathlon. And so, I mean, the couple has to have been together for at least six months. So you can't just all of a sudden say, like, you know, I don't know, whoever, but they can't just all of a sudden be dating. But the first place prize is $100,000 to the winning couple, so should be a really, really cool event. I'm excited to watch it. So, yeah, that's coming up. Take a look.

Andrew Harley: So we just need—we just need Charles to qualify with his pro card in triathlon here pretty quick so you can go, right?

Elizabeth James: Yeah. I mean, he's already saying—he's like, gosh, I'm sorry, hon, I'm failing us here, missing out a hundred thousand dollars.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay, well, so back to the warm up question. That was—I hadn't heard of that. It's really cool. John, what fictional character would you want to see race a triathlon in an episode of a TV show?

John Mayfield: So I actually had more of a thought of a fictional event and kind of funny. I was on an airplane yesterday and I actually watched this episode of The Office, one of the greatest shows of all time. So I think it would be great to have Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Program Triathlon for the Cure.

Andrew Harley: Wow.

John Mayfield: And have Michael Scott racing that one. But also I was reminded by watching the episode that Kevin was very reluctant. He did not want to run the 5K, but he did it. I think it'd be super cool to have Kevin participate in Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro Am Triathlon for the Cure.

Andrew Harley: Every fan of The Office is very pleased with John Mayfield. Yes. Word for word. Yeah. You're making a lot of friends with that pick there, John. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. You just created a brand new race and I'm all for it. My pick here—I've said on the podcast before, love the show Ted Lasso. Super fun show that my wife and I enjoy watching. Just a lot of great characters in there. At first I was thinking Roy Kent. Roy Kent would be a lot of fun to see do a triathlon. But the more I thought about it—

Elizabeth James: He is every effing where, John.

Andrew Harley: That's true. My final pick is not Roy Kent. My final pick is Higgins from Ted Lasso. And I say this because Higgins, if you watch the show, you know, he's a main character, but he's a sub main character. He's kind of a side character. And every now and then they kind of have a storyline where you see a little bit more from Higgins, but he's just like the—like The Office, he just kind of gets things done for the team and in the office. And he doesn't have a whole lot of opportunity to shine on the show. He's just kind of a side character. He kind of supports the—he's a supporting character, and he's just like this nice guy who just is so kind and warm to everybody else. And very often in the show, he kind of gets pushed to the side. And so it would be so fun to have like a season of Ted Lasso where like a background story is Higgins signing up for a triathlon and training for a triathlon because he is kind of this—he's not like super out of shape, but he's not super fit. And he's in this environment where he's around pro soccer players, right? So everybody else looks super fit and Higgins is just kind of a normal looking guy and so it'd be fun to have—while everybody else is training soccer, he's training for a triathlon, to have the whole team come out and like cheer for Higgins while he races his local triathlon. It would really, really depict like your more average triathlete and you get to see him racing. And so Higgins from Ted Lasso is my pick to have a storyline where he's training for a triathlon.

Elizabeth James: And you can also tell who's the media guy here because Andrew, you have this all planned out like—I'm building out a season and here's a—yeah, exactly.

Andrew Harley: Well, I know our viewers are going to have just some great answers to this question and so we're gonna throw it out to you guys. Make sure you are a member of the I Am TriDot Facebook group. We love throwing these warm up questions out to you and that is the best place to find our post where we throw this question out there and answer it and let us know. Of all the shows you watch, of all the fictional TV characters you can think of, what character would you want to see race a triathlon?

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

Andrew Harley: We recently had sports scientist Andy Blow from Precision Hydration on the show and learned that there isn't a one size fits all approach to hydration because everyone loses a different amount of salt in their sweat. As someone who sweats a lot, I wanted to get a better understanding of how much salt I lose in my sweat and so I took their online sweat test and after taking the test I received a personalized hydration plan and was recommended their strongest electrolyte drink, PH 1500, which is three times stronger than most sports drinks out there. It's been a game changer for me, particularly in hot conditions. If you've ever struggled with hydration issues like dehydration or cramping during long and hot sessions, it's worth checking out precisionhydration.com. You can take their free online sweat test and find out which PH strength matches how you sweat and then get 10% off your order with the code TRIDOT10. To learn more, you can even book a free 20 minute video consultation with them to ask any questions you have about hydration and fueling or even to discuss your own strategy for an upcoming race. So again, that's precisionhydration.com and use the coupon code TRIDOT10 to get 10% off your electrolytes and fuel. When our latest triathlon season comes to a close, it just means a new one is just around the corner. Between short course, long course, spring, summer, fall, in person racing, remote racing, close to home or far away, there is no shortage of options for a triathlete building out their upcoming race season. Here to help us make the most of our next multisport season and make sure that we make good race picking decisions are the effervescent John Mayfield and Elizabeth James.

Elizabeth James: Effervescent, huh? Okay, we gotta put a little more spunk in this episode to live up to that. Then again we are talking about planning and scheduling so maybe you're already anticipating my excitement. As you know, I'm a self-planner here, I'm pretty pumped for this episode.

John Mayfield: I'm completely confident I've never been referred to as effervescent.

Andrew Harley: That was the goal, John, that was the goal was to throw an adjective your way that has never been used to you. But yeah, I knew Elizabeth would never be more effervescent than when she's talking about race scheduling. So what did you race this year and how did your race schedule shake out? John, we'll start with you.

John Mayfield: So I did a pretty great job of following the fast before far, strong before long. I started off my season in July with an A race that was a sprint distance race and I did my first ever duathlon about six to eight weeks prior to that just with 2020 and all that had been—and actually I hadn't raced a sprint in a couple of years. That's kind of where I came up in triathlon doing lots of sprints, lots of short course. So I knew that and I've said it before—sprint is an acquired skill being able to push and hurt and race at or above threshold. So yeah I had that Tri Waco was a goal in 2020 and then it was moved and then canceled. So I punted that one to 2021 and did my first ever duathlon which was a lot of fun leading up to that. And then, so that was the fast part and then the long part was—

Elizabeth James: Hang on, let me interject here because you're too humble to say it but it also went really well and you won the sprint event. So let's throw that in there. Too fast before far and you were darn fast.

Andrew Harley: So congratulations—first place, first place overall. Not first place age group, first place overall.

Elizabeth James: First place overall. Won the whole thing.

Andrew Harley: John was every effing where like Roy Kent in that particular race.

John Mayfield: Yeah, so I had the goal, like I said, it was a 2020 goal to win Masters because I'm an old guy now. So it was quite surprising when I actually did win that race. And it was kind of funny. I got the preliminary results and it had me at the top, and I didn't expect that. I was actually third person across the finish line, but those guys had started the race before I did, so I had no idea. And I joked, I screenshot it, and then I didn't want to hit refresh because I didn't know who had started behind me, so I got that screenshot. So if it were the case where somebody else did bump me off of top position, I would at least have the screenshot where I was leading there for the moment. And then a big storm came in and the race was basically shut down. So yeah, the one race I've won in my triathlon career, I didn't get to have an award ceremony, but super cool trophy showed up at my house a couple weeks later. So that one is proudly sitting on my desk at home. Yeah, thanks for that setup. I was going to brag on myself later, but since y'all did it, I appreciate that. So then I wrapped up my season going long. I did IRONMAN Maryland in September, then IRONMAN Florida in November, and a couple days away from 70.3 in Daytona.

Andrew Harley: Wonderful. Outstanding. Elizabeth, what did you race this year?

Elizabeth James: Well, I'm sure we'll get into this in a little bit more detail later, but my 2021 season was very different than originally planned and I ended up doing just three events this year. So I raced IRONMAN 70.3 North American Championship in St. George, and that was my first pro event, so going pretty big from the get go. And then in June, I raced near family at IRONMAN 70.3 Des Moines. And then I ended my season in September with IRONMAN Chattanooga.

Andrew Harley: All right, very good. So as athletes start planning their next season and they're looking for that next race, what are the best resources out there for them to find that next event? How do you even figure out what races are available to you as an athlete to choose from?

John Mayfield: So personal recommendations are great. I've found a lot of great events that way. Just networking with training partners and people like that. Our Facebook group, several thousand members in there with lots of great feedback for races that definitely need to be added to those bucket lists. So just asking around is great. There are a lot of events out there. Some are real popular that everyone knows of. Others kind of fly under the radar or maybe just aren't that big. So asking around is great. Another resource is our Race Recon webinars. We have those for all of the US based IRONMAN events and numerous of the 70.3 events. Those are available on YouTube. So you can just search the Race Recon webinars presented by Race X for those. And those provide a lot of information about how to prepare for those races and what makes each one of those events a little bit different than some of the others. So there's lots of stuff out there, lots of good information. So I think if you do a little bit of due diligence, ask around, you'll get lots of great recommendations for events.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, I'll also throw in things that I've used. Just when I first came to the sport and just had nowhere to look, there are like in Dallas-Fort Worth, we have some production companies that put on races. Play Tri is one. Dallas Athletes Racing is one. So they have their own websites and you can go—once you know who those race producers are, you can go to their website and they usually list their catalog of races that you can choose from. So if you know in your area where you live, who's putting on the local races, you can often go to their own website. Another resource is, I used to use trifind.com—T-R-I-F-I-N-D.com—and they were great because you can pick your state or you can pick the state where you want to do a race and just look by date and by month by month. And they just have every list, every race that they can find in that area they have on a big list. USA Triathlon has a similar resource on their website. It's the USA Triathlon Sanctioned Events calendar. So if it is a USAT sanctioned event, it is going to be on that page. And so it's just a great way to know where you want to race, when you want to race and find out what races are in your area. I imagine if you live in a different country, the governing body of your country probably has a similar resource for you as well. So that's always a good way to find some races. So when the two of you are trying to pick out that next race, what do you look for? Like what makes you, Elizabeth James, and you, John Mayfield, say yes, that's the one. I'm going to throw that on the calendar. I'm going to register for it. I'm going to go do it. Elizabeth, what about you?

Elizabeth James: Hmm. Okay. Well, it really depends. So kind of thinking back on the 2021 season, I'll give a few examples. I mean, I mentioned that the 70.3 North American Championship was my first race, first race of the season, first race as a pro. And that event was all about really getting started in the pro field and getting some experience. So looking at the starting list prior to St. George, I knew that I was going to come in near the bottom of the female field. And so that race in particular wasn't necessarily about performance and placement wasn't even a consideration for me. That race was just getting the experience. And that race was also an opportunity for me to kind of encounter some of my weaknesses as an athlete right away. I really struggle with cold water swims and that early season event in the Sand Hollow Reservoir is cold. And then as much as I enjoy climbing hills during training rides, I wouldn't say that's a strength of mine while racing. So the St. George course was going to be a really good experience and a way for me to kind of test some of those areas that I'm not as strong in, in terms of the water temperature and the more challenging bike course.

Andrew Harley: I know for us on staff, that was kind of, for a little while, it was kind of a fun adventure to see which race is Elizabeth going to race as her first pro race. Because we were all there when you qualified, you know, earned your pro card. And it was a moving target for a little bit because of the pandemic and coronavirus and all that jazz. And so we were all pumped when you finally got—and I remember looking at the start list and I was like, Elizabeth is going big from the get go. She's lining up with like Daniela Ryf, and she's literally lining up against the world champion in her first pro race. So kudos to you for just throwing yourself in there and going for it. That's cool.

Elizabeth James: Well, yeah, it was a fantastic experience. And I mean, no better way to get started than to be there toeing the line with the best and see what I could gain from that. But then Des Moines for me was a very different reason why I picked that. Des Moines had been on my radar since IRONMAN announced that it was going to host a race there. And mostly because like growing up in South Dakota, I'd been to Des Moines so many times. My family was there frequently for summer soccer tournaments. We drive through Des Moines to visit family in Illinois. And then currently my parents live in Nebraska. I have siblings in the Twin Cities and Chicago, my in-laws live in central Illinois. So racing Des Moines would kind of be that central location for my family and would be an opportunity for them to kind of gather and get to see me race as a pro. And it worked out really well that that race was also on Father's Day. And so my dad and my father-in-law were able to make the trip and then I mean they could see me race and we could all kind of celebrate Father's Day weekend together. I mean very different reasons for racing that than St. George, but I think that highlights, you know, some of the different things that you can take into consideration.

John Mayfield: So oftentimes for me they're performance benchmarks. I mentioned the Tri Waco race. I've done that—I've participated in that race every year for the past 10 years. So ironically it's a three hour drive from me, it's a short course race and I've done it more than any race even in my own backyard. So it's just a great race, great opportunity to connect with other athletes and I've done well there and I just enjoy it. So that's something that I've been able to use as a benchmark. I mentioned I did IRONMAN Florida this year. It was my third time to race IRONMAN Florida. So a little different course this time than what I'd done the first two. It was also my 10 year anniversary of doing IRONMAN for the first time. So that was something I wanted to go back kind of to where it started and just utilize some of those races as benchmark to see how far I've come, where am I competitive-wise. So sometimes it's racing myself, sometimes it's racing the field. But that's one thing I like to do in doing some of the same events year after year. And then oftentimes it's a new experience, it's something new that I want to go. A new place to see, a new city, a new venue. So oftentimes that can play into the decision making factor of, you know, there's something out there. I've heard this particular event is great, or I want to go visit this race venue. So I'm going to go and do that. Like last year when we heard great things about Daytona, we hopped on and yeah, it was a fantastic event. And here we are about to race this weekend again because it was such a super cool, unique venue, unique race. So that was kind of an example of that. And then a huge contributing factor, probably if I went back and looked at my racing career, the number one factor that has played into which events I'll do is peer pressure. One race to mention earlier was Escape From Alcatraz, which 100% that was peer pressure. I had no desire to do that race. It was not on my radar, Andrew, until you and Jeff Rains were selected in the lottery. And then I was like, man, major FOMO. I have to get in. And I was fortunate to do so. And once again, amazing event, such a cool experience. So I'm really glad that you guys dragged me along for that one.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, I'm happy to do so. I mean, I pick races if—when it's local because we do have a lot of local races in Dallas-Fort Worth area, we're blessed by that. I look for new races. I don't like to repeat races because it's just what you said, John. I like seeking out those new experiences. I like seeking out new course, new medal, new race, haven't done it before. And so I try to jump around. I don't like to repeat races unless it's John, just like you said, kind of those benchmark races. I'll go back every now and then and do the sprint at the venue in Keller, Texas. That was my first triathlon ever. It's just so fun to look back on. This is where my fitness is now. This is where it was then at my first ever triathlon. And through the years, you can kind of see your fitness improve. And so I'll definitely do that when it comes to some of the more scenic races or the 70.3s. Like I think I've said in the podcast before, my wife and I really like kind of building weekend vacations out of them. So it's a great way to explore new city. So a lot of times I'll kind of make a short list of races I'm interested in doing and show that list to my wife and say, hey, of these five cities, I think all five of these races sound fun. Which of these cities do you want to go explore for a weekend? And she'll kind of help me narrow it down and we'll make a little vacation out of it. And so that's kind of a fun way to do it for us. But yeah, tons of different reasons to pick a certain race and to start planning your season. So let's talk about how often or how many times each season that we should race. My max ever was in the year 2017. I did 8 local tris and a 5K for a total of 9 different races, all sprint and Olympic. To some folks that may seem like a lot. To others they may say that's it, that's the most you've ever done. Is there such a thing as racing too much in one year? Or is there maybe a sweet spot you recommend for how many times we should race in a season?

John Mayfield: So to answer the question, is it possible to race too much? And really it's going to depend on your objective and your goal. If you are in it for the experience and looking to just enjoy racing and enjoy all that comes along with that, then that answer is going to be different than someone who is purely—so if it is purely from a performance perspective, absolutely you can race too much or you can have a—hate to say poorly planned season but that would kind of be it or a season that's not planned perhaps as well as it could be. Laid out in such a way—and I think that's a common thing. It's kind of hodgepodge. It's especially for the athlete that just is limited to perhaps a geographical region and they just sign up for every race that's available within their community. Sometimes that can be difficult to navigate both from a performance perspective as well as staying healthy and even having a well structured training plan. Because that's really what it comes down to is how do we structure the training headed into that race to ensure that you arrive at race day healthy and also with an amount of race day fitness that is acceptable to you to be able to enjoy the race and get the kind of performance that you're looking for. It really is going to vary based on the distance of the race. As I mentioned before, historically I raced a lot of short course races and when you're doing that you have the opportunity to race much more frequently. The recovery in between those races is far less than racing 70.3 or IRONMAN distance races, especially those sprint distance races are somewhere, give or take an hour, which is effectively a training day. Whereas it's very different if you're racing long course. But we know that any given athlete can maintain peak fitness for somewhere in the neighborhood of two weeks on the short end, maybe four weeks on the long end. So that can really factor into it as well. And reaching that peak fitness can take a certain amount of time. So especially when racing multiple short course races back to back, which is what I used to do—July every year was when I would peak. I would schedule everything around July and I would race three out of four weekends each July with Tri Waco being that marquee race that I was really trying for. But it is very, very difficult to maintain that peak fitness beyond three to four weeks. And there's a lot of factors that go into how long each individual can. So it's about planning your schedule in such a way that one, you take advantage of those peaks. So if you want to race multiple races within a short period of time, ensuring you have adequate recovery in between—again that's going to be easier when racing sprint/Olympic as opposed to 70.3 or IRONMAN. And if there's not that time to maintain peak fitness, having enough time between those races so that you can reach peak fitness again—or again, if it comes back to a different expectation, then that's fine as well. So if it's about purely performance, you're going to want to make sure that there's either they fall within that peak fitness timeframe or they're spaced out far enough where you can reach peak fitness again.

Elizabeth James: Yeah, I think what you're saying there about, you know, are you looking for participation? Are you looking for a podium? Really depends and drives the answer of how often and kind of how your performance is impacted by the amount of races that you're doing. So yeah, if it's an A, B or C priority, that's gonna factor into how often you can race each of those events. And then as John mentioned, the distance of those events. I know that one of the things that I discuss with a lot of the athletes that I coach is, you know, if we're able to work some of those other distances in as part of their preparations. And so athletes may be able to easily race a number of lower priority events as part of their preparations for their A race, particularly if that A race is of a longer distance. I also do agree that there is such thing as too much racing in one year, but that too much is going to vary a lot by the individual. I mean, I would personally love to race more often, but there's also financial limitations to that too. Race entry fees can be costly, so too much might be just too much for the budget at that point. And then I guess just to echo what John was saying about athletes that lose that valuable training time or maybe unable to recover well enough between events is a big factor here. In 2018, I raced three marathons in six weeks. And that was too much for my body to handle. I handled the first two fine. That third one was rough. Not a performance that I'm proud of at all. And it really came down to I couldn't maintain that peak fitness and I had not given my body enough of the recovery after two other marathons.

Andrew Harley: So next up, let's chat about when we should race. Depending on where you live and how willing you are to travel, I mean, there are options all throughout the year. What do we need to be aware of seasonally when we put a race on the calendar?

John Mayfield: One thing I've seen and even experienced is early season races. Especially they generally start at least in the US in the south—Oceanside in California, 70.3 Texas and then 70.3 Florida have historically kicked off the US IRONMAN long course race season. And what I've seen, especially for those that live in those colder climates, they can really struggle because even though those races are in late March, early April, it's starting to get warm. And especially like I've been at the 70.3 Texas almost every year for the past decade. It's in my backyard. So it's just a natural one that I'm at. I've seen that race in every different climate. It's been freezing cold on some days, it's been incredibly hot and muggy on others. And when athletes have been training in cold climates for the past six months, give or take, that heat acclimation is unfortunately lost. And that's something to consider is if you're going to be training in a colder climate and then taking on one of those early season races where it's going to be warm. Now with like IRONMAN Texas, IRONMAN Tulsa, relatively early in the year—those races are known for being warm to hot. That is definitely going to be a consideration. So there may need to be training adaptations for that. You may be doing more sessions indoors, it may be doing more sessions even with a heater or something like that, going to invoke the sweat rate and just get a feel for performing in the heat. So there are things like that that can certainly come into play on a seasonal basis.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And John, I know, I mean, you mentioned Oceanside and some of those southern 70.3s are the first ones to kick up. I mean, at the local level, I mean, there are sprints and Olympics in Florida and Texas and California. Yeah, the first races of the season locally are always like the Luck of the Irish, like March-themed races. And then the season goes to like the Halloween themed races in late October, even a few of them in early November. I mean, I did a—we're here right now getting ready to race and I'm doing a sprint in Daytona, Florida tomorrow. And it's December. So in the south, even at the sprint and Olympic level, the season is even longer. And then last week we did our episode with Dr. BJ Leeper and Matt Bach talking about training in the cold and BJ mentioned being in Montana. I mean, the local race season in Montana is just a few months in the dead of summer because it's got to be warm enough to race. So it definitely depends on where people live and they've got to consider—they have considerations to make there. I know when I first started in the sport, kind of an easy way to break it up was I would sign up for one sprint in the spring, one sprint in the summer, and one sprint in the fall. And that's what I did my first triathlon season or two. And then it got to where I would make one of those an Olympic and try the next distance. And then it got to where I'd make one of those a 70.3. And that was just a really good way for me to kind of segment the season was to do one in the spring, one in the summer, one in the fall. And then you get the bug and you get more into it and all of a sudden you're doing four, five, six, seven races in a season. But that was kind of an easy way to break it up for me when I was a beginner, which is to target one race each season. Elizabeth, for you, how do you kind of break up your season and consider when to put a race on the calendar?

Elizabeth James: Yeah, so I love the different perspectives here because I mean, John was talking a lot about environmental factors and when you first said this question, I was thinking more in terms of like, you know, when is my development phase, when is my race prep phase? And so I know for me right now, like as much as I love to race and the marathon in particular, I am not planning to race anything above a 10K until at least mid spring. I really want to use this opportunity in the preseason and the development phase to focus on my strength and my speed. And I think that's very important for athletes to look at their year and their upcoming season and think about those overall goals. I mean, I would love to race a January marathon, but it doesn't really fit with my overall goals for next year. You know, thinking of what are the pros, what are the cons, what am I sacrificing if I do sign up for that January marathon and really have to start some of those longer runs and that stamina work earlier than if I decide not to do that and am able to continue working on increasing that functional threshold for the next couple months. And here I just want to give a big shout out to two of my coached athletes, Kristen and Nicole. Both of them, as we were sitting down and kind of planning their 2022 season, opted to start their season a little bit later into the spring so that we would have an opportunity for a longer development training phase. And I mean both of them, I just smiled from ear to ear because as we're talking about this, they're like, oh, you know, this one really interests me. But I know that would cut into my development phase. And I'm like, oh yes, they get it. Like they understand the importance of this. And so they're—even though there was something that they were interested in, they are looking at their overall goals for next year and have decided that they are going to continue to focus on increasing their functional threshold and then starting their season and that stamina work a little bit later so that it fits with their overall goals for their A race of the 2022 season.

John Mayfield: See, I gotta say that just warms my heart to hear as well.

Andrew Harley: That's awesome. But Elizabeth, I really liked what you had to say there. I've never thought about approaching the season in terms of looking for the opportunities in your season to work on your speed and your power and get faster and identifying what parts of the season you're going to focus on building out your stamina and going longer and getting ready for those longer races. And that's—John, that's kind of what you mentioned you did this year with racing shorter earlier in the year and then racing IRONMAN in the fall. Elizabeth, that's what you mentioned that you kind of do early in the season. You're focusing on building that power and speed. So if you're racing, you're racing shorter. I personally never thought about it that way. So that's just super interesting to hear. So it doesn't take a higher education degree in math or science to understand that two races close to each other on the schedule will affect the training and racing we have for each. How far apart do races need to be for one to not have an impact on the training for the other?

Elizabeth James: Well, our famous answer here—it depends. I feel like we've said that a lot, but there's just so many factors that go—

Andrew Harley: It does in fact depend.

Elizabeth James: It really does. I mean, you'll see professional athletes racing back to back weekends or even just a few weeks apart fairly frequently. But what you don't get as much visibility into is like the intentional focus and the opportunities that they have to place that time on their recovery between events. For an example here, I was really fortunate to spend my race week leading into IRONMAN 70.3 Des Moines with Holly Lawrence. And it was just great to learn from her throughout the week and talk with her after the race event. And my post race and her post race recovery were very different, mainly because Holly was racing back to back weekends after Des Moines. She was getting on a plane, going to Europe. She was going to race another 70.3 the next Saturday. I mean, my recovery was good. It's what I needed to do. But it wasn't as dialed in because I didn't plan to race again for several more months. You know, I had my recovery shake, did some active movement, stretched out, but nothing like Holly. I mean, just another example of why she was the champion and why she won. She had everything so dialed in. I mean, after Holly finished, she showered off, refueled with healthy nutrition. She had to wait for me to get back a little bit. But then we cleared out our transition space and then we actually rode our bikes back to the rental apartment. So we got in a nice and easy spin, just really an opportunity for some active recovery. And then from there, I went and had a burger and a milkshake with my dad and my father-in-law. As I mentioned, it's Father's Day so we're going to celebrate. So that's what I did. And this is where our paths really diverted. And Holly went for a recovery swim, got a massage from her fiancé, had a home cooked meal.

Andrew Harley: Very good. I mean good for her.

Elizabeth James: Exactly. She was doing everything that she needed to really recover from that performance and set herself up well for the race the following weekend. And she did fantastic the next weekend. She got second to Lucy Charles in a championship event, 70.3 distance the next weekend. So you can tell that she had very intentional focused recovery and was able to pull that off. But I feel like this is something that athletes will look at and be like, oh well, you know, the pros are doing this all the time. They're racing back to back weekends. I can do that too. And I know for a fact that for me I need a little bit more time. So this is gonna depend on a lot of things and really kind of what you have available in terms of recovery time and how your body recovers between events.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, and John, I know that you've given the example multiple times of how you will stack a couple sprints within the same month because I mean at that sprint distance you're able to be fully recovered by the next week. And then for an IRONMAN, you're a big fan of training for an IRONMAN, doing the four month training cycle to build your stamina up and then racing two IRONMANs off of that training phase. And so your example this year was doing Maryland and then six weeks later you did IRONMAN Florida. And I mean did you feel like those six weeks in between was enough to be fully ready to rock and roll in Florida? Could you have had less time, could you have had more time at that IRONMAN distance?

John Mayfield: Yeah, and that's really where you get into the distance of the race really dictating how much time is necessary in between. Because again it's that fine line between having adequate recovery from the race and then being able to either utilize that same peak or peak again. So yeah, what I found is for me at IRONMAN that six to seven weeks is good. It requires you to get back to training. And I will say I did not do as—between Maryland and Florida—as I would have liked. It's—you've been training for months and months, doing a whole bunch of hours every week. You finish that first race and you know you need to get back on, but you also know you're in really good shape. So it's kind of—I wish I'd have been a little more consistent, hopped back into all my workouts a little bit sooner. But I also had some other logistical things, several trips and different things that got in the way. But yeah, so I knew within those first two weeks I could definitely feel the fatigue from the first race. Weeks three and four, I could feel that I was starting to get back. And that's really kind of where I was getting back—not necessarily 100% peak, but I was back to where I had worked through the fatigue of the race. I still had the fitness that carried me into that first race and then I was able to do a short taper headed into that second race. And yeah, I mean I showed up on the start line with a level of fitness and a level of recovery that was good to go.

Andrew Harley: And so we see from that example, I mean, placing races close to each other on the schedule isn't always a bad thing. I mean, sometimes it can actually be strategic depending on what you're preparing for and what you're trying to accomplish. So what are the do's and don'ts of scheduling races in the same part of the year?

John Mayfield: So as we mentioned, it's important to ensure that they work well together. So are you racing in such a way that you're able to recover in between those races? And again, a lot of that's going to depend on the distance of the race, how much fatigue you're going to accrue and experience within those races. And then from there is there enough time to get back into or near that peak status? So it's not just necessarily about recovering—again, I think it's best laid when there's some opportunity to recover and some training as well. And it may be as short as two or three weeks like it was in my case, but getting back in there, getting back into doing some intensity, doing some longer rides, especially for the long course events, and getting back into that peak shape and then having adequate time to taper as well. So it's being able to kind of cram everything in. It's almost like a little mini training cycle in and of itself, which can be a little bit more difficult to navigate. But it is certainly possible. So just consider what are the implications, which race is priority? So that can also be key in how you approach it. For that reason, I made Maryland my higher priority race simply because I had fewer distractions leading into that race. And it was also the first race, whereas I knew with Florida—one, I knew that was a busy time of year. As we mentioned earlier, I had several trips in between those two where I was going to miss those weekends and the ability to get in some of those longer sessions. And I knew I was going to be carrying some fatigue and all that headed into that second one. So I had a good result in Maryland and I was really hoping to be even better in Florida, but it wasn't. But it kind of shook out where that was okay, because Maryland was my focus for that. A little bit different in short course, oftentimes you can really take advantage of that three to four week of peak fitness. And if you can find several races together because you're not having to deal with that fatigue, you can bounce back typically in a day or two depending on your recovery predisposition. But it's a little different than that. Again, that's what I used to do is I love July and I would race three out of four of those weekends. I'd race on Saturday or Sunday and by Tuesday I was back training hard and I would train hard Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, kind of take it easy Friday, Saturday, and then race again on Sunday. So it's about maintaining that kind of balance of recovery and peak fitness, but then also ensuring that that schedule doesn't sabotage a higher priority race.

Andrew Harley: For a race to work well on our calendar, it's not just enough for it to be a great event at a great time of year, nicely placed alongside other races—it still has to work with our personal and work lives as well. So for example, I have a good friend of mine who works in public accounting and he gets slammed at work in September and October. So when he is looking to schedule a 70.3 or a full distance race, he targets the spring so that he can avoid training for an A race while his professional workload is insane. As each of you talk with your athletes and help them craft their own race schedules, how do you talk to your athletes through considering their personal seasons of life and rhythms as they pick their races?

Elizabeth James: Yeah, this is really important and this is something that I can 100% relate to. While I was still in education, I would really prefer to race early fall races because I had my best training during the summer break. So, I mean, Charles and I used to joke that in the summer I would go play professional triathlete because all I did was train and recover and—dream came true. But no, I mean, really, the summer as I was teaching was a fantastic training block for me. Really just no interruptions. So I would always look at targeting some of those early fall races. And then the spring was usually very difficult for me to race well. I would probably pick a couple events, but not stress performance as much on those because it was an incredibly busy time and a somewhat stressful time, especially with state testing. And so I would just know that, okay, my best race performance really is going to be in the fall and kind of schedule my season around that. And so this is something that I do talk with my coached athletes on as well. Yeah, I mean, a busy season at work or even a new job is going to impact what availability they have for training. Things like kids' activities. One of my athletes was preparing for a new child to be born. And so they knew that, hey, even if I have the training hours, my recovery—it's not going to be where it needs to be. I'm going to be up multiple times a night. I'm not going to be sleeping well, not going to be recovering well. So this event just—we're going to have to kind of pare back the expectations or think of something else for the schedule. And then it could be something like a child's senior year. I know that one of the athletes I coached as their son was becoming a senior, they're like, you know, I'm going to want to be at all of his weekend activities this year. And whereas I used to be able to train on Saturdays, I'm not willing to do that and give up these last opportunities to see my son play. And so we didn't do any racing until later in the summer. And so, yeah, I mean, life needs to be accounted for when you're planning that. And maybe it's not something that you have to take all the races off the schedule, but it might just be an adjustment of priorities, but definitely a consideration.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And I love that so many of the examples you just gave are not even focused on ourselves. It's focused on the family. Because even your family's rhythms and schedules—it might work great for you. But if it doesn't work great for your family, it might not be the best time to throw that big A race on the calendar. So that's a great perspective there, Elizabeth. Another thing I want to talk about—we know how precious race day is now because we've experienced seasons where there was next to no racing, no racing whatsoever. Races getting rescheduled and—but between weather, sickness, injury, schedule conflicts, pandemics, etc., there's many reasons why an upcoming race may not happen as scheduled. What wisdom do you have for athletes making changes and kind of flexing their race schedule to roll with the unexpected?

Elizabeth James: Well, this is one that I can speak very well to after my last season. 2021 was very different than what I would have anticipated. I mean, 2020 was different too, but there wasn't any racing. 2021, there was racing, but not the races that I would have first thought. So I had originally planned to race IRONMAN 70.3 Texas in Galveston as my first pro event. That's what I was planning on for 2020. Both when it was scheduled in April and then when it got moved to October and then the next April again. I always had that on the calendar even though it was a moving target as, okay, this is going to be my first pro race. The logistics are easy for me with it just being a drive south from the Dallas area. It's a course I'm familiar with. I've been there multiple times, done a lot of training on the course. But I was incredibly sick in the month of January and I could not do more than like a 30 minute walk until the second week of February. So going from basically nothing to feeling like I would be ready to race in a six week time frame was going to be a big stretch. So I decided not to race Galveston. So I took that off the schedule. So that was the first change for 2021. And then St. George was kind of that last minute decision to race about a month prior to it. It was like, all right, well, I didn't race Galveston. I'm feeling great. I've had a great training block. I'm excited to get this pro career started. So what's it going to be? And St. George was that option. And so yeah, that's how I ended up jumping into that North American—

Andrew Harley: Championship, the first experience field. Yeah, you're one of many fantastic pros in that field.

Elizabeth James: Thank you. Thank you. So, yeah, I mean, went for it. So that was the early season adjustment. And then, goodness, okay, so IRONMAN 70.3 Des Moines was kind of up in the air for a long time. It looked incredibly questionable in terms of whether it would actually take place due to the weather conditions in Des Moines that weekend. I mean, the forecast was very unfavorable, and I woke up to just crazy thunderstorms that morning. I mean, as I'm getting out of bed to put on my race kit, it is lightning, thunder, just downpour. And I'm like, okay, this is a different feel as I'm putting on the race kit, going, man, I wonder if this is even gonna happen. But huge props to the IRONMAN staff that monitored the weather, made numerous adjustments on the fly, and they were still able to put on the event. We had a shortened bike course, but we were still able to race. And so, I mean, even if your race happens, there's the opportunity and the possibility that it may be a little different than what you were planning on before. We had a much later start. We're able to do the swim, much shorter bike course, and then able to do the run. So that was kind of a unique scenario as well. And then I know I've talked on the podcast before about the switch from Challenge Roth to IRONMAN Chattanooga once Chattanooga was announced as a pro event. And so kind of switching last minute—the week before, I was supposed to get on a plane to Germany saying, actually, we're going to go to Tennessee instead.

Andrew Harley: Two very different destinations.

Elizabeth James: Exactly. Yeah. I mean, would have loved the trip to Germany, but I know that racing Chattanooga was the right choice for me, so I'm very happy with that decision and it worked out well. But yeah, another change in the plans and kind of rolling with the punches this year. And then, gosh, okay, so to end things out, had to cancel my racing plans for IRONMAN Cozumel due to a torn tendon in my ankle that I'm currently rehabbing right now. So, I mean, for someone who is a planner, this season was incredibly challenging for me.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, I mean, sounds like—

Elizabeth James: I tell Charles, I was like, man, I feel like God was trying to teach me a few lessons and loosen my grip on wanting to have it all under control and planned out. And I think in the past few years, we've all had to make some adjustments, and I don't know that that's necessarily a bad thing. It takes some skill to adapt and overcome, and most the time we're better for those experiences. This season was not anywhere close to what I had originally outlined in terms of what races I was going to do. But I love the experiences that I have and I mean, I have no doubt that I learned a lot from the season, was proud of the performances that I had and made me excited for next year. So in the end, I mean, that's all we can do is continue to adapt and overcome to what situations are thrown our way.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, definitely a good reminder to just enjoy the journey, you know, regardless of what the destination ends up being. And something I've always appreciated about TriDot training in particular is that it's training. I mean, so many of us—we don't stop training in the quote unquote off season. We kind of keep the training going and in between your A races, when there's not a race on the calendar, TriDot just—it keeps you developing, it keeps you training, keeps you getting faster. And so when that race schedule does flex and races do get rescheduled or they do get canceled, I mean it might change when in the season you're building your stamina up and letting that stamina taper. But you're kind of always, in a sense, you're always in the training. You're always preparing for that next race, whether it's imminent or not. And so TriDot's training schedule has helped me remain flexible because even though that race might get canceled and moved and shifted, my body is still somewhat ready because it's been training. So that's kind of an extra perk of the TriDot system and the way it builds out our training annually throughout the year. I've always appreciated that. So, Elizabeth, even as triathletes, many of us still participate in swim only events, cycling rallies, crit races, run only events. What is the best way to fit these around our triathlon race schedule so that they are an addition and not a detraction from our training?

Elizabeth James: Yeah. So over the past few years in my racing, I know that my priorities have kind of shifted and I very much viewed myself before as a runner who also did triathlons. And so I would personally place a lot of priority on those run only events and then use the triathlon events as great cross training throughout the year. But now I've shifted the focus a little bit more to be the triathlete who also likes to run. And so I'll still be doing these running events, but only as they fit with the triathlon training and the triathlon race schedule. And so, I mean, that's where earlier I was talking about, oh man, I'd love to race a marathon in January and do another one in February and do another one in April. But that would kind of take away and detract from what I'm trying to do with the upcoming triathlon season. And so, yeah, we want to make sure that they are in addition and a benefit and not something that takes away from our training. And one of the things that I do with the athletes that I'm coaching is just to try to see how the duration of maybe those events would fit in with the overall training that they're doing. So if it would fit for the planned session duration for that time in that training phase. And it could be an athlete that wants to do like a half marathon race and that might fit very nicely in with one of their long run sessions while preparing for an IRONMAN. Fantastic. Great. If that duration is similar, if maybe they don't place even a high priority on that half marathon event, we kind of use it as a training session as we're preparing for the IRONMAN. I would say that the swim events are most easily scheduled because they usually require very little recovery afterward. I know that I personally look for open water swim events or open water swim races while preparing, especially for longer course triathlon events. It's great practice. You get the opportunity to really do a variety of starts, kind of have that contact there at the beginning. Great opportunity to do a continuous distance, work on some of those open water skills like sighting and drafting. And so pretty much, if one of my coached athletes comes to me and says, hey, I found a swim event, it's like, yes, absolutely. We can find a way to fit that into the training. There's so much benefit to that. And then I'd say bike events are probably the next easiest to fit in, but it does depend a little bit on the distance. I mean, cycling rallies usually offer a variety of distances, so I feel like those can usually be worked into the training schedule pretty well. And I enjoy putting those in as a part of my training. I am notoriously not the best with directions. So if somebody else is going to organize a route and provide aid stations along the way—

Andrew Harley: Count you in. You are there.

Elizabeth James: Yeah, I am there. That is a perfect thing to do for my training. It's also a great way to get connected with the local cycling community, explore new routes. You can go with a group. You don't all have to do the same distance either. And then often the rallies are supporting a great cause. And so what you're paying for the supported route, the aid stations, I feel like that's money that's well spent and going to a great cause as well. And then some of my favorite routes are ones that I discovered while doing a cycling rally. And so then I'll go back and be like, all right, well, now I know this planned route. It's in my Garmin. And now I can just turn the directions on and follow that again for these next couple training rides. So I think cycling rallies, cycling events, those can be worked in, especially those that have the variety of distances. So you can see how that would fit with probably the weekend long ride. Now when you mentioned crit races—

Andrew Harley: I mean, that's very different.

Elizabeth James: Yes, kudos to those athletes that do them. Gosh, they scare me. They terrify me. I think I'm a little too worried about crashing to really throw my hat in the ring and try to be competitive there. But, gosh, talk about a hard training session. I mean, you are sprinting, you're going all out. So if you've got the bike handling skills and you've got the guts to do them, I'll say a prayer that you don't crash. But more power to you. They could be incorporated. And if that's something that you love to do, then if you love to do it—yeah, let's put that in. There is a risk-reward, but if you find it really rewarding to do that and understand the risks of being in that big group and the possibility of crashing and what that may entail, then yeah, kudos. Kudos to you.

Andrew Harley: They do them in the Dallas area down by the Cotton Bowl where the state fairgrounds are on weekday evenings. And I've seen friends of mine on Strava. It'll pop up on their Tuesday evening Strava profile, their crit race. I have not been able to talk myself into trying it, but like you said, good for them.

Elizabeth James: Yes. Yeah.

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

Andrew Harley: A few weeks ago on the podcast, as our warm up question, I asked Dr. BJ Leeper and Matt Bach to tell us about a time they had a training session unexpectedly interrupted or cut short. As always, we open this up to you, our listeners, to hear all the different ways you have had your own training sessions infringed upon. Now I had our TriDot staff pick out some of their favorite posts from the stories that you shared and here are a few of the ones that they selected.Number one came from Matt Schreiber. He said, "I was getting a long run in during the week so I started at 3:45am. About a mile into my 14 miles I ran up behind a guy breaking into a car in the parking lot of a service area at a car dealership. I passed him right as he broke out the window and I'm not sure who was more surprised, me catching him or him by having somebody running by him at that time in the morning." Number two, Charles Rucker said, "Out on a long run when my pager went off and my wife went into labor. That was the fastest four miles of my life and got her to the hospital with 30 minutes to spare." Great stuff there Charles. Great work there. Jared Kaminsky said, "Bike ride on the trainer. The two youngest kids were supposed to be taking a nap and the key word is 'supposed to be.' The wife comes home and yells at me to come inside. Both kids had woken up and tossed every stuffed animal and toy from the second floor over the banister and into the living room. The pile was about 8 feet wide and 3 feet high and they were smiling and oh so proud. I had to take it all upstairs and was banned from working out during nap time." I can imagine that was quite a sight for her to come home to. Jeremy Warren said, "There was a fire at the pool." We've heard of some accidental poop in the pool. We've heard of lightning storms in the pool, but I've never heard of a fire at the pool. Jen D'Andrea said, "Thanksgiving last week at visiting my parents' house I went out for what was supposed to be a 14 mile run and my dad calls, says he is picking me up because my mother was too stressed out that I hadn't made the mashed potatoes yet. He was at me in about five minutes and I was told to get in the car. Now I'm 38. This is why I don't go to family for holidays. I made it 11 miles on a trail and also had three hours to make the mashed potatoes for dinner. Plenty of time in my book." Jen, that is plenty of time in our book as well. We agree that you should have probably gotten that entire run in, but kudos to you for taking care of family and taking care of those yummy mashed potatoes. David Pagan said, "Sometimes you start a run on the flight deck of a Navy ship and the Marines tell you that playtime is over." David Pagan does a lot of his training while stationed on a battleship, so that's a little context for that story. David, I imagine that is a scenario that is most and only applicable to you of all of our TriDotters. Alex Hamlow said, "I was on a run with my dog and my dog pulled a muscle." I've never heard of that happening to a dog. Alex, I hope your pup recovered okay from that. This is kind of a little double header. There were two athletes here. One is TriDot coach Brandy Ramirez and the other one is Andrew George. Brandy's story—she says, "Best one ever. My 10 year old walked in while I was on the bike and says 'Mom I don't—' and then pukes on the floor." So for Brandy it was a kid who puked on the floor. And then Alex or Andrew—the next post down said, "I was 2:15 into a two and a half hour ride and my beautiful puppy came over and looked at me then threw up right next to me with a concerned look on his face." So two puke stories back to back there on the page. One a kid, one a puppy. Both fantastic stories and quality reasons to be unexpectedly interrupted on a training ride. And the last one I want to give a shout out to, this is TriDot Ambassador Bill Talley. He actually just finished Challenge Daytona, had a great race there. He said, "Someone accused me of being a good swimmer and I was so stunned I could not go on." Well, that's it for today folks. I want to thank coaches John Mayfield and Elizabeth James for helping us intelligently craft our race schedules. Shout out to Precision Hydration for partnering with us on today's episode. Head to precisionhydration.com to learn how you sweat and to check out their hydration and fueling options. Use code TRIDOT10 for 10% off your purchase. Enjoying the podcast? Have any triathlon questions or topics you want to hear us talk about? Head to tridot.com/podcast and let us know what you're thinking. We'll do it all again soon. Until then, happy training.

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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