Triathlon Training When the Wind Gets Wild

TriDot Podcast Episode 329

Triathlon Training When the Wind Gets Wild

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Andrew Harley: Welcome to the TriDot Podcast. Whenever you go for a workout, there's weather outside. There's weather, and there is wind or there's the absence of wind. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about what to do when you have a windy workout day. How do you mentally tackle these days? What strategies and tactics can you employ to crush your workout when you've got wind gusting all over the place, every single which way, when you're outside? All of that today with our two coaches, Brady Hoover and Ryan Tibball, here to talk this through with us. I'm Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People and Captain of the Middle of the Pack. As always, we'll start off with our warm-up question. We'll settle into our main set topic, where our coaches will be talking to us about working out in the wind, and then we'll settle in to ask an audience question on the Cool Down. Lots of good stuff. Let's get to it.

Announcer: This is the TriDot Podcast, the triathlon show that brings you world class coaching with every conversation. Let's get started with today's warm-up.

Andrew Harley: Okay, Brady, Ryan, excited to have you guys on to talk about this one. And for our warm-up question today, while we're talking about windy conditions, let's go here on race day. What is the windiest race day you have ever encountered? Coach Brady, hit us with it.

Brady Hoover: Oh boy. I remembered this as soon as this question came up.

Andrew Harley: Easy. Easy, right?

Brady Hoover: Easy, easy. Boston 2018. Worst weather, of that race, recorded. It was 35 degrees, windy, rainy. It was bad. There was points in that race -- I remember going through the Framingham Flats, and it was raining, and then you would get these buckets of just cold, ice cold rain, where I said, “I'm going to drop out.” It was a headwind. The winds were coming out of the east, so it was brutal. I ended up having to lap reset my watch every quarter mile to stay on track. It was something else. One for the record books for sure.

Andrew Harley: I think we've got several coaches in our system who have done Boston multiple times. And anybody who's done Boston multiple times has encountered a ‘bad weather Boston’. It just happens every couple of years. So that's the extreme one for you. Coach Ryan Tibball, you and I live in the same location, so I wonder how similar our answer will be here. What is your windiest race?

Ryan Tibball: I bet you it won't be, because I don't think you've ever done IRONMAN New Orleans 70.3.

Andrew Harley: No, no.

Ryan Tibball: Rest in peace to that event because it's no longer on the calendars, but yes, it was New Orleans 70.3. I very vividly remember this whole thing from start to finish, because the winds were sustained at 25-30 miles per hour. I mean, sustained. And not only did it affect the bike and the run, but it definitely affected the swim. And what was really interesting about that day was, as we were lining up to swim and get into that time trial start swim, I was watching people go the other direction off the plank. I called it ‘walking the plank’. And man, I was like, why aren't people going that direction? The water's right there. And turns out, a lot of people saw the water, looked at it, and turned right around and said, “Nope, I am not doing this.” And then there was others who were wet, who had obviously jumped in, and they had said, “Nope, I'm out.” And what was crazy is where the swim took place was in a boating marina area that was actually enclosed, about 80% of it enclosed. And yet, that was like the roughest washing machine I've ever swam in. And not to take away from the biking experience, because that was a direct headwind going out, which is probably the most favorable way to do things. And it was a really big mental thing there, to reserve myself as much as I could, and knowing that, hey, once I get to that turnaround, I get to have the wind at my back. But the funny part was -- and the really evil part was -- on the run, you had the wind at your back on the first half, and the wind in your face on the way home. So that was also an out and back. So I don't know if that's why they canceled the event, but nonetheless, that was my experience with the worst, and very vivid recollection of that event, for sure.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, that's one of those -- that New Orleans is close enough to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex that in my head it was, “Oh, I'll go do that race eventually.” And it was kind of killed -- RIP -- before I ever got the chance to do that one. So interesting to hear that that was your experience there, in New Orleans, with wild winds. My answer here is a local race. Ryan, I'm not sure if you've ever done this one before. It also is a race that's been discontinued, but it was at Texas Motor Speedway. It was a duathlon called Bronda's Duathlon. I don't know who Bronda is, presumably somebody who founded this race. And it was a run, bike, run, and it was based at Texas Motor Speedway. And so you parked in the infield of the speedway, and the run took place -- it wasn't like the big, oval, NASCAR track, but it was one of the infield karting tracks. And so you would run -- whatever it was, a little bit over a mile. You would bike 15 miles, three laps around the perimeter of the property, and then you would run the inside of that little track again. It was every February here, in Dallas/Fort Worth. And Ryan, you know very well, February in Dallas/Fort Worth is windy. Almost every single day you're going to step outside. It is very normal, that time of year, to have the conditions we had that day. And those conditions were 30-mile-an-hour base winds, with gusts into the 40s. I was hammering. It's a 15-mile bike split, right? So you're just hammering. You're not really pacing yourself. You're just giving it all the beans you got. And I was going up a very slight incline. Not a big hill, a very slight incline. I was giving it the total juice in my legs that I had, giving it all of my power, up a slight incline, into a headwind. I'm looking at my Garmin; I'm going six miles an hour. It was just unreal, how slow you were going out there, in some of those conditions, for that duathlon. So that's my windiest day ever, out there at Texas Motor Speedway doing a duathlon. We're going to throw this question out to you, our listeners. You can comment directly below on Spotify and let us know what your windiest race day was. I go and read those comments throughout the week. You can let us know on YouTube in the comment section right below this video, or you can let us know on Facebook or the TriDot Community Hub. Can't wait to hear from you on what is your windiest race day you've ever had.

Announcer: Let’s go.

Andrew Harley: Okay, into our main set where we're going to not talk about windy race days, but talk about windy training days. When we have a training session, we want to do it outside, it's windy. How can we execute that training session to the best of our ability in the conditions that we have? All of that with Coach Brady and Coach Ryan. And guys, I want to start here today, because I don't know about you guys, but for me, the starting point here -- when I step out the front door, I'm about to run, I'm about to go for a ride, it's windy -- the starting point is, where is my head? What is my head space? How mentally prepared am I to grapple with the conditions that I have today? So as you're talking with your athletes and this is a topic that comes up, what do you tell an athlete? How do you coach an athlete to enter a windy outdoor ride, or run, or workout in the right headspace to have a good workout, despite annoying conditions, frustrating conditions? Coach Brady?

Brady Hoover: Yeah, this is a great question. I know when the wind's out there, I go, “Oh, man, it's going to be brutal.” It's defeating. And then my mantra is it's just training. It's just training. It's just training. I am going to go out there and get my mindset, like, I'm going to execute this workout to the best of my ability, given the conditions. And I'm also saying to myself, and my athletes, you can't choose your race day weather. You need to go out and train in all elements to be comfortable in it. Sometimes that means going out and doing a cold, rainy run. I don't do those as often anymore, but I know I have the confidence to do it, and how to dress, and how to prepare. So if you're one that likes that perfect weather, you got to get out there and get uncomfortable, and train in it enough to be comfortable being uncomfortable. So I try to turn a negative into a positive. And then at the end of the day, that mantra of, it's just training. If it doesn't go according to plan, no big deal. I got myself out there. I learned some stuff I played around with, on the bike, how do I handle it in the wind? Or on the run, just different pacing, different effort. There's a lot of tools, as I'm sure we'll dive into later in this podcast.

Andrew Harley: I like that shift of mindset of, “Okay, it's just a training day. It's going to go how it's going to go, but I need to test myself in some different conditions,” and recognizing that even if you don't, or can't, nail the workout as you would in favorable conditions, it's still serving a purpose beyond doing the actual training workout. Coach Ryan, anything different, or anything additional, you tell your athletes on attacking a windy day outside?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, absolutely. One of my favorite sayings is, “If you do it in practice, you're going to do it in the race.” So when it comes to adverse conditions such as wind, I don't stray away from it. And I tell my athletes exactly that. “Hey, go out there, embrace it. Do it in practice.” Because I tell you what, on race day, you're not guaranteed a perfect race day. And it's going to happen. And when it does, you're going to look back, and reflect back, during your race going, “Hey, I remember that day. I remember those days. I went out there and, let's just say, sucked it up and got it done.” And that will set you up for success no matter how hard it was. Again, you have to put yourself into those practice situations. You got to experience it during that time, because if you don't and it happens on race day, you very well may bow out during a race. I don't know. But at the same time, practice it. Get out there and just say, “You know what? This is the day. This is an opportunity.” Because I guarantee you, half your competition sees the same day and going, “Nope, I'm not doing it.” But you are.

Andrew Harley: I don't know about you guys, I will talk to the wind. This is the only weather. This is the only time I will be demonstrative outside in a training session. I'm usually pretty stoic. I just kind of go about my business, enjoy the day. Smile and go out there and do my workout. I will have conversations with Mother Nature when it's stupid windy. And it's always like I'm running into a headwind, and I'm like, “Man, this really sucks.” And I've got a turn up ahead. I'm about to turn right or left, and I'm expecting, when I make this turn, the wind's going to go away, or it's going to lessen, or I'll be behind this building, or I'll be behind these trees and it will ease up. And then I get to a place where I think it's going to ease up. I make that turn, and now it's just a side wind that is equally brutal. And I'm always like, “Oh, come on!”

Brady Hoover: I always like to say, when it's raining, “It's raining, we're training.” I'll throw that quote around. And then I just thought of one that kind of popped in my head: “Wind and rain, let's push through the strain.”

Andrew Harley: Hey, there we go. On the spot. On the spot, coming up with that one. This is why we pay you guys the big bucks, as coaches, is to tell us those little jingles. So let's answer this one for the athletes in our audience who use TriDot for their training. We know that TriDot has EnviroNorm ,where it is adjusting our paces, it's adjusting our training intensities every single day based on the environment, things like elevation and temperature, so that our zones are dialed in for our session when we head outdoors. What does TriDot do when it comes to the wind? Is it going to tweak the efforts we need to put out on a windy day, because it knows that the direction the wind's going or anything like that? Or is that just something that isn't really factored in when it comes to our training? Coach Ryan?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, the EnviroNorm is fantastic. Temperature, humidity, elevation -- TriDot adjusts your pacing and zones for that. But wind is not taken into account for this because -- let's just be straightforward. I mean, like you said earlier, Andrew, there's so much variability in the wind speeds and gusts and direction that it's swirling, and it makes it virtually impossible to really make any sort of really sound, concrete adjustments. So TriDot doesn't do that. But -- this is one of my favorite things, we can talk about RaceX, and I'll talk about that in a second. What I say instead is we can focus on different things, and I think we'll get into those more of those talks here in a little bit. But let's move over to RaceX real quick. TriDot does quantify and equate for the wind with RaceX. Again, it's looking at about ten days out, it starts to update the weather, the conditions, and adding in the wind into your race projections, which is just phenomenal, and it's so beneficial. So then as a coach, you can look at that, I can look at that. As an athlete, you can look at that and know expectations on race day, and what you can do, and what you should do, rather, and what you shouldn't do. So RaceX does it, and let me just encourage our listeners out there -- utilize RaceX. It is such a powerful tool, come race day. But again, coming back to the original question about TriDot, it doesn't do it. But at the same time, there's ways to execute your workouts for sure. And I know we'll talk about that here later, on windy days.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And just thinking out loud, as obviously I work for the company, and I know the training very well. So number one, for RaceX -- just talking about the bike pacing. RaceX knows exactly which direction the wind speed is going, how hard that wind is blowing, how exposed certain sections of the course are, and it's going to give you your bike power plan accordingly. It's going to optimize it based on that. But for the training, I'm just thinking of a bike session, for example. If I'm supposed to hold 250 watts for a certain amount of time, whether I'm holding those watts into the wind or with the wind to my back, I'm still supposed to hold the same amount of watts. Or if it's a Zone 2 run, regardless of what direction I'm going and what my pace is, I'm supposed to keep my heart rate in Zone 2 no matter what the wind is doing. So yeah, I can see why it wouldn't be as crucial to factor into workouts itself. Brady, anything to add here?

Brady Hoover: Ryan pretty much hit the nail on the head, and then you did in the training aspect. The only thing I would add is when it comes to a training session, we're out there for an hour, right? It could be an hour, hour and a half. We know the duration, we just might not go as far. We might be a mile or two short. We'll account for that. Whereas in the race, in RaceX, it could add 15, 20 minutes to our bike split.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, true.

Brady Hoover: It could slow us down, it could speed us up. And that's going to dictate how much fluid I might carry on me. Do I need an extra gel out there? Do I need to account for that? I thought it was going to be done in three hours, but because the winds just changed, because TriDot's looking at ten year historical data when you put the race on 6 months out, let's say, and then you get ten days out and all of a sudden the winds are picking up, and I thought I was going to do three hours. Now it's 3:15. I might want to carry another extra eight ounces of fluid because I know my sweat rate, I know how much more I'm going to sweat for being out there a little bit while longer. So super helpful there.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, no, very good points. Now I think for most triathletes the number one place where the wind can throw us for a loop is out on the bike. And so I want to start there, particularly with the bike handling skills. Depending on how aero your bike is, depending on how deep your wheels are, depending on how much surface area your body has and which direction the wind is going. I'm 150 pounds. I'm pretty light. I can get bullied by a crosswind pretty well. Talk to us about bike handling in the wind. How can we gain confidence on this? How can we get stronger, or get more stable, in those conditions? What do you guys coach when it comes to your athletes on I've got some windy workouts outside. I've got a windy race coming up. Help us handle our bike accordingly and be safe out there. Coach Brady?

Brady Hoover: Yeah, so when it comes to the bike -- I mean, in training, you have the option of do I go on my road bike, do I go on my TT bike? I like to say train with what you're going to race on. Like I alluded to earlier, you want to get used to those conditions so that you've experienced them, because if you have a bad weather race day, a windy race day, you're more comfortable on your road bike. Well, maybe you're making that decision on race day to use the road bike, but if it was me, I want to be on my TT bike no matter what. If I wasn't training in the wind, well, how do I know how the wind's going to affect me? Things that you might want to play around with when you're going out in the wind. I'm 155 pounds. So like you, I get blown around. I got an IA10. So it's got a big deep frame, and it blows me around. And then I'm running a 90 in the back and a 60 in the front. The front wheel is going to impact the steering more. So the first thing I'll do on a windy day is I'll take that 60, and I also have a 30, and I also have the training wheel, too. So I might go down, still run the 90 in the back. If it's 30 mile an hour crosswinds, I could still handle that in the back. But some athletes that are even lighter than me, they might want to reduce the size in the back. But what's going to really impact the steering is that wheel in the front, so that's the first thing I swap out. And then I'm, okay, how powerful are those gusts? Do I have to adjust my rear wheel as well? Being in aero position, you can get blown around. When it's super windy, you might want to get in the drops. If you're on your TT bike, it's going to come down to comfort. But you want to practice these things in training. Because again, it's just training. If I have a bad training day, we're going to learn some lessons that we're going to carry into us on race day, when you get down to New Orleans 70.3 like Ryan did and experience those winds. So there's a couple other things. You could reduce tire pressure a little bit to have a little bit more surface area. That can help. Clothing selection can help. Maybe I'll wear my race kit rather than my cycling gear because it's a little bit more aero. It's not going to catch as much wind. Those are a couple things that come to mind.

Andrew Harley: Coach Ryan?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, good stuff, Brady. A lot of that stuff you just said absolutely needs to be addressed, but gaining that confidence out there, too, it does come with time. So putting yourself in those situations -- Andrew and I have the luxury of Texas Motor Speedway.

Andrew Harley: Its easy. Easy to get in those conditions.

Ryan Tibball: The calmest day at my front door is the windiest day up at Texas Motor Speedway, which is only 15 miles away. It's wild what happens up there. The exposure in putting yourself in those situations will give you that confidence. I will also say, like you mentioned, Brady, too, is that changing your wheels, changing your wheel types, as well, can be a factor into that. But I will add to it is weight training. Guys, we're triathletes. We got to lift weights, because I tell you, I've come out of windy races going, why is my upper body so darn sore today? Oh, yeah, it was windy on the bike. And I was fighting the bike, but I had that confidence to hold my wheels well in those winds, those crosswinds. So let me encourage everyone, hey, get to the gym, do the upper body work. Don't ignore the upper body, hammer it out there. And that's going to give you that strength to handle those gusts, the winds, whatever you come across. And yes, aero is king. Aero is absolutely king. So that means, if you have your TT bike, then make sure you've gotten a great bike fit. Something that, again, obviously is prioritizing comfort and aerodynamics 100%.

Andrew Harley: I think something, too, to remember as you are putting yourself out in those conditions -- as you're playing around with, okay, when it's 15 mile an hour winds out there, how do I feel? When it's 30, how do I feel? When it's 20, how do I feel? You can always remember you can bail out of aero position. If it's super gusty and you're not feeling it, and, “Yeah I could hold aero, but I feel a little risky in aero,” you can come up and you can ride on the bullhorns, or whatever they're called, farther out. You have that extra space. And if that's what you got to do, that's what you got to do. And I would just challenge you to -- once you kind of, “Okay, I'm going out on a bike ride. It's 25 mile an hour crosswinds. I'm starting way out here on my handlebars because I feel a little iffy.” As you get comfortable, and as you get used to what the wind is doing, try getting into aero a little bit more, a little bit longer and holding it in a little bit higher wind, so that on race day you can hold aero more in those conditions. But just know you don't have to force it. You can ride outside and just keep your arms all the way up. And it is what it is.

Brady Hoover: I just thought of something. Another thing I find I do, because my butt will be a little bit sore in windy conditions, and I realized why. I ride more on the tip of my seat in the windier conditions because I can put more weight on those aero bars, so I got more weight pushing down than being a little bit further back where I don't have as much body weight. So yeah, it just kind of popped into my mind when Ryan was talking about soreness. I was like, “Oh yeah, sometimes my butt's sore because my position changes.”

Andrew Harley: To that point, Brady, if you can give yourself more surface area to work with in your cockpit -- when you go buy a TT bike, it probably comes with just a little standard elbow-sized elbow cup for your elbows. There are a lot of companies these days selling full arm length, or forearm length, shoulder pads and aero cups. The ones I use are called TriRig scoops. And it's just giving you more arm coming in contact with that. And so you just have more, they're more comfortable because of that. You can distribute your weight more up front a little bit more evenly because of that. And so if you're somebody who's a little nervy on that bike handling on windy days, with your elbows on a very, very small pad of cushioning, buy some more real estate. Buy some more real estate. Buy some more stability up there. So guys, I want to talk a little bit about executing our workouts outdoors because when we are out there doing a workout, that workout is something specific, right? It's stay in this certain zone. It's ride at this certain power. It's run at this certain pace. And that can become challenging if we're dealing with some strong winds. And so whether we're biking, or whether we're running, how can we stay in our zones, for the right amount of time, when the wind is either sometimes in our faces, sometimes coming from different directions, sometimes it's swirling? How can we execute our workouts in these conditions? Coach Ryan?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, that's something I fortunately get to experience quite often up here. Everyone's always looking for that perfect score in TriDot, right? You want to get that 100. But it is a bit challenging on these days. And the best approach, in my opinion, here, is really looking at -- when you have a paced workout, for example, in a run, when you have intervals in it. If you have 20, 25 mile an hour winds, and unless you can just pick the perfect course for that to run -- which, I just have to turn a lot. I'm always making turns. So pick and go off of rate of perceived exertion, RPE. Everybody's heard about that RPE, and I think it's so important to really start to embrace and start to dial in your familiarity between your paced workouts and your RPE. And you start to feel -- for example, Zone 4, it should feel uncomfortable. It's going to be maintainable, but it's definitely uncomfortable. In that RPE, you're going against a 25-mile-an-hour wind, may turn out to be you're running four miles per hour instead of your normal seven miles per hour in normal conditions. So if you go by RPE, yes, unfortunately your scoring on TriDot may suffer a little bit. However, you got the effect. Your heart rate's going to respond to this. You're going to see those changes there. Your coach is going to love it. If you have a coach, they're going to go, “Hey, great job. That is what you are supposed to do.” And so by doing so, you'll get the best score, really, in your own mind and to your coach, too, if you have one. And they're going to be happy for you. Now, when it comes to heart rate runs or bikes, for example, well, obviously heart rate is going to be the boss there, and that way you can score well. So you know what, you've got that under control. That's easy to do in windy conditions. Just keep your heart rate down, so it doesn't matter, again, how slow or fast you are going on the bike or the run. Now I will say when it comes to having some extra tools -- power, I love power. Now when you have power, if you have the luxury of buying power, and you can use that for both your bike and your run. Power's fun, but you don't necessarily need that with TriDot, you don't need that at all. But let's talk about if you do have it on the bike, again, now you have that direct metric that you're being measured on, and obviously your scores are going to reflect it appropriately. So if you're going into a 20-mile-an-hour wind, you might be going eight miles per hour on your bike. Your power is still going to be the one that's being scored on. I would say the same thing on your run. If you have a Stryd power meter -- I love mine. You don't have to have one, but again, a great tool to have. This would actually help improve your executional scores, as well. So, we have tools that you can use, but you don't necessarily have to have those. So, getting out the door, RPE for those paced runs. Again, paced bikes – not paced bikes, but rather interval bikes, go by RPE if you don't have the power meters. And that works for you very, very well. So, it's just one of those things that, again, power is a great investment. I keep talking about it, but it's not necessary to do the right training right. So there you go.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And Brady, I'll come to you for your thoughts here in a second. One thing I was thinking of, Ryan, as you were talking, is we did a podcast episode -- I know Coach Will Usher was on it. I'm blanking on who our third voice was; we try to have two coaches per episode, and I'm blanking on who the second coach was, but Will Usher was on it for sure. And we were talking about, is there a place in our training routine, or is there a purpose in our training routine, to do some workouts without the devices? Obviously, we believe in measuring the data, and the data fuels so much of everything in TriDot, but is there a reason and a purpose for sometimes just not having that data, or not looking at that data? And Will made a point early on in that episode that I just had never considered, where he was like, “You can do a training session where you have your watch on, you have your power meter, you have your Stryd Footpod, whatever it is -- you just don't look at it.” And that was part of the point was, yes, it is good sometimes to practice RPE, to practice going by feel, to be in tune with what your body feels like at different intensities for different durations. And in my mind, it was either/or. If I was going to do that, well, then I wasn't going to have the data afterwards. It’s then a problem. He was like, “You could still turn your watch on inside out and have it facing away from you. Just don't look at it. Black out the screen, whatever.” And so I like that thought here. Maybe not every time it's a windy day, but maybe a few times in a row. Go do that session on a windy day. Put yourself in those elements, measure it, but don't look at it. And then come back in and see how closely did I nail this, just based on feel? Like, was I actually in Zone 4 like I felt like I was? Was I staying in Zone 2 like I thought I was? Or did my heart rate climb into Zone 3? Learn from that, make some adjustments for the next time. And maybe play with that a few times when you don't have a big A race in sight. And really dial in that RPE a little bit. So on a day with adverse weather conditions, that's a very, very interesting thought. But for those folks who do have the multisport watches or the power meters, obviously the more gadgets you have here, the better you can execute your sessions in the wind. Brady, what do you use personally here, and how do you deploy these tools on a windy day to try to get your zones right?

Brady Hoover: Yeah, that RPE is crucial. It really is. I do that most of the winter because I'm so bundled up. I got gloves on, I got my jacket on. The jacket doesn't have the cutout for my watch. It does on my left wrist, but I'm a lefty, so I'm wearing on my right. I'll look at it when I start my interval. Okay, I'm on pace and I have a mental note of what that effort feels like, but I can't really look at it the rest of the time because I got to pull my gloves down, I got to pull my jacket up. It's a lot of work. New England problems here. It's so important. I remember talking to Raines at an ambassador camp one time, and we were just talking about, you could tell us to go run on the track. “Brady, go run a 7-minute mile,” and I'll be within 10 seconds. “Go run a 6-minute mile”, I'll probably be within 10 seconds. “Run a 9-minute mile.” That's my real slow recovery pace. Could pretty much do it within 10 seconds, give or take. So important to practice because sometimes you forget to charge your watch back. You forget to charge your watch, or you think you charged it and I wake up in the morning and I'm like, oh, it was a little loose and it didn't charge. Now what? I got to rush out the door for this race? What do we got to do? So you got to be prepared. One thing when it comes to cycling or running, if you don't have the technology like a Stryd power meter, or a power meter on your bike – RPE, but then there's the heart rate. I pretty much know at each power, if I'm pushing 200 watts on the bike, I know roughly where my heart rate's going to be. At the same token, if I'm running Zone 4 on the run, I know where my heart rate's going to be. It's going to take two minutes to get there. So those first two minutes I'm going on an RPE, but then I can look at my watch, running into a headwind and say, “Okay, my heart rate's at 160. I am pushing that effort that I would be if I was on the track and running my Zone 4 pace.” Same thing when it gets warmer, here in New England, and I have that permission to slow down, because the EnviroNorm. Zone 4 is still about 160, even on an 80 degree day, though my pace is slower so I know exactly where to be. So most people will have at least a heart rate monitor. So use that as your guide as well. That's really all I have to add. Ryan pretty much took everything that I was going to touch on. The Stryd power meters, amazing on the run. I had the old version until I donated my shoes. I donated my shoes, put them in the little bag and sent them off. BAA gives back. And along with it went my old Stryd power meter.

Ryan Tibball: Hey, I lost mine. I lost my Stryd power meter because my new puppy decided to eat it. So then I got the big one with the wind, so thank you, puppy.

Brady Hoover: So now I can geek out on Stryd and say, “Well, I was running a 7-minute mile into the headwind. Oh my gosh. I was overcoming this, and it would have been equivalent to say a 6:30, which is fascinating.” Whereas the old one would just give me power, right? It wouldn't give me the wind resistance. So yeah, I'm not too sad that I upgraded accidentally.

Andrew Harley: Let me ask you guys this. I think the three common scenarios here: you have athletes that are training that just don't have the gadgets, and so they're going to make adjustments based off RPE, like we're talking about. You have athletes that have power on the bike and have power on the run, which all three of us do, so we're just going off that power number no matter what. That power number is our guide in a wind or not in a wind. I think that the third bucket, and this is probably most of our listeners and most of our athletes, are athletes that are going off of pace and heart rate, or maybe have power, but they're having to make some adjustments in real time, potentially. And so anyway, I'm conveying this poorly. I'm trying to figure out what I'm trying to say. When I, as an athlete before I had my Stryd power meter on my shoe, for example, if I was out doing a training session on the run and I knew, “Oh, TriDot for the next eight minutes wants me to stay at a 6:15 pace,” and I turn the corner and hit a headwind, is it better for me to adjust to the RPE, back off that 6:15 pace a little bit and try to keep the feel of, “Okay, I'm working that hard, but I'm going a little slower because of this wind?” Or is it better to just grin and bear it for a couple minutes and try to stay that 6:15 pace no matter how I feel in the wind? And so this example I think applies to both the bike and the run. As somebody's doing a workout, if they don't have that power number to go off of, or they're not just going off of RPE, is it better to just hold the right pace, hold the right heart rate zone no matter what? Or should we try to make some fine-tuning adjustments along the way to have it ‘feel right’ throughout our workout? What do you guys think?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, no, that's great. You're right. That does fall into that bucket that a lot of athletes do. And I'm going to say, straight up, go off of your RPE at that point. Because really, when you think about it, if your RPE suddenly goes, and you're holding that 6:15 pace against the wind, and now your RPE is more like a Zone 5, almost Zone 6 feel, you're accumulating this amount of stress, and residual stress, that you're not going to realize it, but you're not at that moment per se, but you will realize it tomorrow or the next day.

Andrew Harley: Or the next interval.

Ryan Tibball: Or the next interval. So, my best advice was, hey, follow that RPE. You turn into the 20-mile an hour wind, 25-mile an hour wind. You know what that RPE was, hang on to it. Your heart rate is still there. And that's the other part, is if your RPE is there, your heart rate's still there, too. It didn't change any. And in that way you can still get the whole purpose of that workout rather than throwing yourself into some other zones that you don't belong in when it goes -- in regards to your heart rate's rising, gets into Zone 5 and 6, and suddenly you're like, “Why am I so wasted, and I can't even finish the workout? Or the next day, I can't even work out?”

Andrew Harley: Coach Brady, thumbs up, thumbs down. You agree? We should make adjustments?

Brady Hoover: I agree. We need to make adjustments. This takes me back to my early days. I was just using RunKeeper to go for a run on my phone.

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Brady Hoover: And “Okay, I'm going to run some 1-mile repeats,” back before TriDot times. And oh my gosh, I'm trying to hold a 7-minute mile and I'm running uphill. I didn't have grade adjusted pace back then. Yeah, I went really quickly. I couldn't hold a 7-minute mile up the hill and expect to hold on for a full mile. If a half mile was up a hill, I was gassed. It didn't take me long to get smarter and do a little bit of research and say, okay, I got to hold, the body doesn't know the difference. The body doesn't know how fast I'm running. Yeah, the musculoskeletal system does, but the cardiovascular system doesn't. It knows duration and intensity and that is it. So if I'm running uphill, the cardiovascular system doesn't know. It just knows time and intensity. So, we have this great new RunDot app where you just need your phone and you can go out and run. So for those runners that may be listening, go out on a track on a less windy day and start to feel, like, start to get in tune with those paces. Run a mile at your Zone 2, Zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 5 pace, and get a feel for that effort so that when you are out in those windier conditions, or hillier conditions, or hillier routes, you know what that effort feels like.

Andrew Harley: That's a good point. Yeah, I like that suggestion a lot, Brady. Learn that RPE. Dial in that RPE in a more controlled environment, and then try to apply it to those days where you got to make some adjustments on your own. So really good there, guys, for the bike and run. I do want to touch on the swim a little bit here. I don't think it's as common for us to be out in the water on a windy day and be affected by the wind. Ryan, there's certainly race days like the one you had, where you were highly affected by the wind out there in that open water swim in New Orleans. So maybe it's a good thing to try to practice. But we do have athletes that open water swim regularly. I used to do open water swimming every single Saturday in Lake Grapevine, near my house. I don't do that as often anymore, but I've been out there on some days where it's a little gusty. There are some athletes that swim in outdoor pools at their local fitness center, where they might have some days that are a little gustier. What do we need to know about executing a swim workout, in an open water environment, on a day that's a little bit windier? Coach Brady?

Brady Hoover: Yeah. So one, getting back to RPE, your pace is going to be affected if it's a headwind and you're swimming out, and you're swimming into a headwind. If you're in a race and you're hitting that first turn buoy, you're going to be slowed down. You're going to be slowed down. It's hard to look at your watch and what your pace is while you're swimming, so I just go by RPE there anyways. But there's going to be more chop out there. So getting comfortable, as we always say -- and I know Coach Ryan said it several times, you've said it several times -- get comfortable breathing on both sides. Breathing to the left, breathing to the right. Because if I get a crosswind, well, guess where the waves are coming. If I'm breathing to the left and the winds are coming out of the west, I'm taking in water if I'm breathing to my strong side. I got to start breathing to the other side, otherwise I'm going to take in water. At the same token, you want to practice different ways of sighting. So I'll sometimes put my backpack on a chair in the pool, which makes me -- a couple of things I'll sight when I'm swimming in the pool. I'll do that alligator sighting if I'm just trying to see the end of the pool. If I'm trying to see my backpack on the ground, I'll sight that. And then if I'm really trying to get my head out of the water, I'll put my backpack on a chair, because if I'm swimming into the wind, that chop's going to be in our training, so that when we're out there in a race or open water swim, we know what to do. And definitely get out there and practice on windy days because you need to be adaptable when it does happen.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, I do think for me personally, that's the primary thing here, is when I'm out in the lake and it's a little windy, it just affects the breathing pattern and you got to make adjustments. I'm comfortable on both sides. And also, I've heard Coach Jeff Raines say this as well, he’ll encourage athletes in choppier waters, regardless of the reason for the chop, to take shorter strokes. Shorter, quicker strokes as opposed to gliding with longer, stronger strokes. And so you might adjust your stroke rate, increase the stroke rate, on a day with more wind because you've got some chop hitting you from whatever side. But that's really the only two things I've ever found myself adjusting for a day that is windier. Coach Ryan, anything different there from you?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, no, all good stuff. Absolutely 100% of what you guys are just mentioning, with stroke rate and learning to breathe to both sides at some point. And I've been in those situations. New Orleans was a good, classic example. I've also been with some races up here in Texas, North Texas, that yeah, even in the lakes, you got two and three foot waves, and four foot waves with whitecaps. You're like, “Wait, this was supposed to be a lake, not an ocean.” And so I wouldn't necessarily say, “Hey, find your windiest day and go practice open water swimming on those days,” per se. But I would say get yourself, and again, comes back to exposure and putting yourself in those situations so that on race day it's not foreign to you. Now in an ocean swim, waves are, or wind, rather, can affect the waves. I would call them residential waves, the waves that are always there. But now you have -- I've been in Hawaii 70.3 where they literally cut the swim because the wind was so strong that day. And they cut the swim, and these swells became 7- and 8-foot waves that were really, really hard. So they cut the swim some, and we were still able to go swim in some of this. But again, you also had to deal with the current. It affected the current, as well. So you're swimming in there.

Andrew Harley: Wow, yeah, good point.

Ryan Tibball: So it's something that I would say, don't avoid it. If you have an opportunity to go practice, go do it. And I think some of the other portions of it comes down to confidence in the water, period. What can we do to help build our confidence in these situations? And I would say first, learn to swim more confidently. I think that comes down to building that confidence in your swim -- in your swim technique, and your stroke -- and goes a really, really long way in these adverse conditions. I will say, I will plug TriDot Pool School does exactly that. I've seen so many athletes come out of those waters, come out of TriDot Pool School, saying, “Oh my gosh, my mental attitude about swimming has completely changed.” And they've even come from out of races and come back and told us this. And so I can't say it enough, about what TriDot Pool School does for you, in order to build your stroke from the ground up. And also when it does that, it gives you that confidence to go into situations like these, with these rougher water swims. I’ll be honest with you, half the time, you just don't know what you're going to get on any given race day.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, no great stuff there.

Brady Hoover: Open water swimming on a windy day is a great. If you have an ocean swim, expect waves. Get out there, definitely bring a training buddy and a swim buoy.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, good point.

Brady Hoover: When you're out there with these rougher conditions, so you have something -- like if you swallow water and start coughing, you have something to grab onto. In the race, you're going to have kayaks and things out there that you can grab onto. But definitely swim with a friend if you're not comfortable and confident in the water, to gain that confidence. And also have somebody else -- you're looking out for them, they're looking out for you.

Andrew Harley: Yep, all good points there. A couple more questions. So I'll direct the next one to Brady, the one after that to Ryan, and then both you guys, the last one here in the main set, as we are in the seventh inning stretch here, on this conversation. I want to talk about how the wind can change the temperature or what the temperature feels like. Because that's a factor here, too. And if it's a summer day and it's really windy, it's not going to change the way your body feels outside all that much. It's probably a welcome wind at that point. It's going to help cool you down. So probably, mostly, Brady, here, talking about in the wintertime, where I might look at my weather app and it's actually 35 degrees, but it's windy and so it feels like 27. Oh, okay, that's a little bit different. Talk to us about how the wind can affect how the conditions actually feel, and what should we do with that? Should we layer differently? Should we layer more for the feel versus the actual temperature? Is there any attire we should wear extra, or differently, on a windy day versus a calmer day? Talk to us about this one, Brady, in your New England ways and experiences.

Brady Hoover: This is my everyday, right now. I'm always looking at the ‘real feel’ temperature in the wintertime.

Andrew Harley: Okay.

Brady Hoover: When the temperature's 50 degrees, I'm looking at that ‘real feel’, up to 50 degrees, I'm looking at that ‘real feel’. Because even at 50 degrees, with a ‘real feel’ of 40, man, that wind can feel cool. I could be in my long sleeve tech shirt and I'm underdressed, man, I am underdressed. I am freezing. I feel good for the first 10 minutes or so, and then I get warmed up, and the wind's blowing, and that sweat gets cold. So what I've learned on those warmer weather days is if I just have a windbreaker vest -- my arms don't bother me if they get cold. It's my chest and back that get cold. If I have a windbreaker vest in those temperatures, I'm happy, I'm comfortable. I'm not going to get those chills. Now as the temperature goes down, I'm always thinking, in the wind, when it's below 50 degrees, I'm always thinking some sort of wind protector, like a shell jacket. The Boston Marathon celebration jackets, they're nice and thin now. That is always, in the wintertime, always my outermost layer until it gets down to temperatures where I might have a jacket on. So then how I'm layering underneath, that is dependent on what that ‘real feel’ temperature is and the thickness of those layers that I have underneath. So to sum everything up is dress in the wintertime for that ‘real feel’ temperature.

Andrew Harley: Okay.

Brady Hoover: Because you don't want to make the mistake I make every spring and go out there excited that it's 50 degrees out, and you neglect the wind because you don't look at the ‘real feel’. And then you get 10 minutes in, 15 minutes in, and you're cold and miserable for the remaining 45 minutes. I do that at least once a spring. Then I learned my lesson.

Andrew Harley: The other thing I like to do here, Brady, that I want to touch on -- and I do this whether it's the summer and windy, or the winter and windy -- is I want to make sure my headwear is on point. Sunglasses, in particular. Roka has them, Rudy Project has them, Oakley has them -- all the big brands, these days, that produce for endurance sports, they've got a couple sunglass models that give you more eye protection. They just cover more eye. They wrap around the head a little bit better. And I have Roka Matadors, personally, and they just give so much good eye coverage, that even on a windy day, they keep -- I'm a contact wearer. I found with normal, even normal running and cycling sunglasses that weren't the wraparound ones with the ridiculous full facial coverage, I would find my contacts would get super dried out, very quickly, on a windy day, if I was running or riding in the wind. Roka drops those; I bought some. It was a game changer for me. And if it's slightly gusty outside, those are on my face protecting my eyes from the elements. I like a hat backwards on a windy day, so the hat's not going to get blown off. But there's just something to me about insulating my head and getting the whip of the wind off my head.

Brady Hoover: Real good point on those, on the eyewear, too. Especially here in the spring, in New England, when we've got all the sand on the road.

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Brady Hoover: But it could be a cloudy, overcast day. I don't want to wear sunglasses. And it brings me back to my motorcycle riding days, where I had a yellow tint sunglasses for that warmer weather.

Andrew Harley: Or they have the clear ones. Yeah, they have the clear ones these days, too.

Brady Hoover: Just to keep that sand from kicking up in the face. That's another mistake I always make in the springtime, too.

Andrew Harley: Coach Ryan, talk to us about this one. Somebody referenced earlier, I think Brady mentioned, if you're working out outdoors, or you're racing outdoors, and you might be outside longer because of it, that's going to make some tweaks, and it's going to impact your nutrition strategy. I'm curious for our workouts. Our workouts have a set duration, but is there anything we need to know about fueling and hydrating these workouts? Do we need to do anything different from a day that's calmer?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, I would say so, because perception of things, as you're out there in windier conditions, could sometimes -- it fakes people out. They think they're not sweating as much, especially when the wind is blowing on them. They're like, “Well, I'm not sweating that much. I don't really need to drink as much.”

Andrew Harley: “I don't feel as hot.”

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, you don't feel hot. But don't let that fake you out. You sweat in the swim. So, same thing. Yeah, it's like, hey. So the thing is, you still need to stay on point with your fueling, your hydration, and your carbs, and your sodium, and hit those markers still. And especially if you improperly execute your workout, your RPE goes sky high. Suddenly, you may find yourself needing a little bit more fuel. A funny thing I like to say. It's like, a lot of times I end up taking gels for a ride or for a run, and they don't get used. I come home, it's like, “Yeah, just took you for a ride and a run today. We'll use you another day.”

Andrew Harley: Gave you a tour of Fort Worth.

Ryan Tibball: But, yeah, you really have to have that consideration, be very conscious of, knowing, “Hey, it's a windy day. I still need to stay on my numbers. I need to get the hydration/fueling right, and the carbs right,” and carry that extra gel. It's not going to take up much space. It's not going to weigh you down. Wind, in the end, is an invisible hill, as I like to say. It's an invisible hill, and you just got to, again, take it in consideration, but don't be dropping your fueling protocols. Stay on top of it. Be very conscious of it and know that you have to do those right things because, again, it'll apply to race day every single time.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. Last thing I'll add here, Ryan. Absolutely true. It's so easy to get faked out on these days because you don't feel as hot sometimes, or you don't see the signs of sweat on your clothes or on your skin as you would otherwise. But particularly with the bike, I want to point out -- this is less of a factor for me on the run, but on the bike, I might change when I'm fueling. I'm comfortable in aero. I'm comfortable handling myself in aero. On a really cross, windy, gusty day, I don't like letting go of the handlebars any more than I have to. And so I've got my bottle between the bar setup for my bike. But depending on where your hydration and your fluids and your calories are, a lot of times I'll have a gel in a back pocket, or I'll have another bottle behind me. However your setup is, you might find yourself on a windy bike ride not as willing to go reach for that nutrition and that hydration at the time you're supposed to. If you're at a stretch of road where it's a major crosswind, or a major headwind, or a certain wind that you're uncomfortable with. And so I found -- and Ryan, I've learned this and I've tested this at Texas Motor Speedway, where I'm in that circle, right, where two directions are a crosswind, one direction's a headwind, one direction's a tailwind. I've learned, okay, I might have told myself, and on a normal day, I'm going to drink every 10 minutes, I'm going to pop a gel every 30. But if it comes time to pop that gel, and I got to fish that gel out of my back pocket, and I'm on a section with a major crosswind, when that time hits, it might be 10 more minutes before I'm out of that crosswind. Am I going to go 40 minutes without those calories my body needs? No, I need to take it. So I'll kind of learn what conditions I'm comfortable making those moves in, and taking that nutrition, popping that gel, that banana, whatever it is. And I might drink water more frequently at a certain section of road, knowing a crosswind is coming, and I'm not going to drink during that crosswind. I actually prefer to take nutrition, and drink that water, and come up and fiddle with stuff in my back pocket when I'm in a headwind, which sounds counterintuitive, but I'm already going slow, so it's not slowing me down that much more to fish that gel out of my back pocket or something, you know what I mean? Or to stop and really make sure I'm grabbing that bottle, and drinking it, and getting it back in securely on a windy day. So anyway, that's one other thing I want to point out here. It changes the way, the timing, and where on the road I might, and how often I might eat or drink, because I want to make sure I'm doing it in certain conditions, and not going too long without that stuff because I've gotten caught up in a bad wind. So I just wanted to mention that. Last question for our main set, and then we're into the Cool Down. Is there ever a point where you would say as a coach, it is too windy to train outside? Coach Brady, what do you think?

Brady Hoover: Yeah. Yeah, it's a tough question. Yes and no. Well, yes and no. And I'll dive deep. So sustained winds over 20 miles an hour, I would say, definitely warrant caution on the bike. Not so much on the run, but caution on the bike. We're going to be a little bit more wobbly. Knowing where those open spaces are, we're going to get blown around. Gusts -- now, if you have 20-mile-an-hour sustained winds with 30-mile-an-hour gusts, that's when things can significantly increase the risk on the bike, especially those crosswinds. So make those modifications. You can't pick race day. So I would still advise, go out and get comfortable with it, but be safe, be safe about it. There's times when I won't go out and run when it's 30 miles an hour sustained winds and 35-mile-an-hour, or 40-mile-an-hour gusts. Because I live in a place where it's wooded and I don't want something falling on my head. I have no problem running in those conditions, or maybe I'll drive up to the seacoast. I could go from Salisbury, Massachusetts all the way up. I mean, I could go 40, 50 miles if I wanted to and not have to worry about something falling on my head. Now I have kids, so I can't, so time is crucial. But where I live, I do have a cutoff, like if I see branches coming down, I'm not going out and cycling or running outside because I'm risking, you know, dad wants to come home. So be smart. I mean, you guys live in Texas where you don't have as much hanging over your head, so you can get away with a little bit more than we can up in New England. So it's going to depend where you live and what you're comfortable with. That's my two cents.

Andrew Harley: It's funny, Brady, you're talking about how you might avoid a certain wooded area on a super windy day, which I totally get the logic there. We didn't talk about locations. One thing I literally do, and I didn't think about saying this before, is if I'm itching to go do a run or ride outside, and it is windier, I might look for an area that is more wooded, or neighborhoods that have higher brick walls going around the neighborhoods, as opposed to going and running by the lake, where it's more open, or Texas Motor Speedway, where it's more open because there's just more shelter from the wind. And that's a consideration. I think it depends on the woods, and it depends on the covering you're looking for. So anyway, that's something to consider here too, is on a windy day, maybe think about your route planning. And think about, which directions can I go to optimize what time I'm going to be in a headwind versus a tailwind, versus a crosswind, versus being totally exposed, versus being somewhat protected. You can be smart with your route planning on a windy day to ensure the workout goes a little bit better.

Brady Hoover: Really good points. I think--

Andrew Harley: Something that we maybe should have talked about earlier, and here we are an hour into the episode and we just thought about that one.

Brady Hoover: Like in New England back roads, you've got the trees, they hang right over the whole street. Whereas if you go out to the Midwest, it's okay, you get nice wide shoulders.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, we certainly do.

Brady Hoover: You got nothing hanging overhead, though you've got plenty of shelter. But some of these backcountry roads up in the New England areas and stuff like that, especially when you get up to Maine, it's like, oof.

Andrew Harley: We live in different places. We live in different places. Coach Ryan, what would you say to an athlete on is it ever too windy to train outside?

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, I think Brady nailed it with 30 miles per hour sustained is my cutoff, for sure. Both from the perspective of biking and running. And from a safety perspective, that's what it comes down to. Debris, dust, dirt, all those things. I mean, for those, as a respiratory therapist, I would say if you are susceptible to having some sort of -- you have asthma or whatever it is, I mean, these conditions can certainly affect your performance, your training that day. So, again, because of all the dust and debris that's blown around, and anything that's not nailed down, I mean, certainly can be very, very dangerous. So, again, take precautions and in the end, pick your days, and that way, you do get to experience it. And you never know, race day might deliver the same thing to you.

[Transition Sound Effect]

Andrew Harley: On to the Cool Down of today's episode. And guys, I want to take just a few minutes and answer this question that came in from Kelly. And Kelly threw this out on the Facebook group to all the TriDot athletes, and I thought it was a great one to post to you guys here, today. She said, “I am curious to know if anyone has submitted their DNA for physiogenomics analysis, and what surprises you found that impacted your training.” All three of us have our DNA genome file attached to our TriDot account. And so physiogenomics is able to adjust our training based on our actual genetics. When you guys did that -- and we do have a podcast episode about this, so we don't need to go in depth explaining this to our folks. Just for you personally, when you did that, what did you find changed in your training? Coach Brady?

Brady Hoover: Gosh, my workouts got harder.

Andrew Harley: Did they? Yeah, this guy can handle it.

Brady Hoover: I have that genetic trait that I can handle a little bit more intensity than your average bear, but I have a higher risk of injury, too. So there is that. But I did notice that all of a sudden, instead of when I would normally get 3 x 6 with one minute rest, say on the run, it's like 4 x 6, 5 x 6. It was almost immediate, like the next week. I was like, “Oh, wow.” I also noticed I started seeing a little bit more Zone 5 workout, those interval workouts on the run, that sort of stuff. I started seeing a little bit more of that because my body can – it probably knew my body could respond to that kind of stimulus a little bit better. So those were some of the immediate changes I saw. And then I immediately went into the training stress profile and the numbers went up.

Andrew Harley: No, that's interesting to see that. And I'm the opposite. I don't absorb training very well, and I'm easily injured. And so I kind of saw the inverse. And I do want to say it's not -- it was nothing dramatic. And I've heard Jeff Booher, our founder and CEO, he makes this point all the time. Before you upload that genome file, TriDot knows a ton about you already. And so the training is extremely dialed into what your body's needs are already. That physiogenomics piece just gives it a scotch more information to dial it in that much more. And so it's not like the training was guessing before you did that. It was already very good. And so, I think some athletes are expecting to upload that and see dramatic changes. It's very subtle almost all of the time. And those subtle changes, for me, being an athlete that doesn't absorb training stress very well and gets injured very easily, I saw my run drills change. There were certain run drills that I used to get that I never get anymore. Ones that are higher impact. I don't get calf busters, ever, anymore. That's a very high impact bouncing on your legs for a long time. I don't get bounds ever, anymore, where you're literally bounding on one leg at a time up and down. As a young male, I think I got that a lot in the past, and that disappeared entirely because I could get injured probably doing it. And then there's certain workouts, not every workout, but there's a few workouts, Brady, where you saw more intervals. It wasn't that the intervals would change, but before where there would be 60 seconds rest in between intervals, there'd be 90. Or if there was two minutes of rest in between intervals, there might be three minutes. And so in certain places it would give me, particularly on the run, a little bit more of a break in between some intervals. Those are the primary things that I saw different in my training. Coach Ryan, over to you.

Ryan Tibball: Yeah, I like what you said, exactly that. I describe it as a piece of the puzzle. And TriDot is a 1,000 piece puzzle. And when you look at a puzzle, you're thinking you're getting close to the end of completing this puzzle, but you can pretty much see the whole picture there. But you like to put in a little extra few pieces and complete it. And that's exactly what this does. That's the beauty of it. It just continues to tweak your training even more, and more precisely, right on you, and dials it in even more. And to your point, yes, I have a little bit of predisposition to injury, and high intensity is not necessarily my best friend. So, for example, MAV shuttles, I remember I used to get three sets of that, and now it's down to two, sometimes one, depending upon how much residual training stress I have on my body now, which is that fitness stress and readiness chart is phenomenal. And so, again, it's just another piece of the puzzle. And if you have that opportunity to get that DNA data to enter in, great. If you don't, you're still training one of the best ways you could ever train for sure.

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