You Can Be A Triathlete! 11 Tips for Success

TriDot Podcast Episode 261

You Can Be a Triathlete! 11 Tips for Success

Intro: 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. Today's episode: 11 tips for new triathletes. Really excited to talk to triathletes out there who might be gearing up for their very first triathlon, or maybe you've done one or two and you're still kind of new to the sport. I've got two TriDot coaches here on this show just to let us know. In full honesty, eight tips today are from our coaches, so they're going to be fantastic. Three tips are from me, your host of the show, so they'll be okay at best, maybe, hopefully. But all in all, you're going to walk away with 11 tips that we feel are applicable to newer triathletes. If you are a seasoned TriDot athlete, or a seasoned triathlete in our listening audience, this could be a great show for you to share with that friend of yours that is thinking about doing a triathlon or maybe starting to ask you questions because they're getting ready for that first triathlon. So listen in, see what you can learn. And yeah, excited to help some folks be a little bit more experienced and be a little more prepared for their first triathlon than perhaps myself and some others on this show today. Our first guest to talk about this and bring some great tips is Coach Jasmine Moezzi. Jasmine is the founder, president, and head coach of the California-based South Bay Squad. She raced collegiately as a member of the triathlon team at the University of Southern California, where she received her BS in applied and computational mathematics. She's an IRONMAN U certified coach and is a certified nutritionist and health coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Jasmine, welcome back to the show.

Jasmine Moezzi: Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be back here with you guys and talk about some of these fun little tips and tricks we have in store for you all.

Andrew: Our next guest is Rich Soares from Boulder, Colorado. He hosts the 303 Endurance podcast. Rich has been coaching triathletes since 2017 and has been coaching with TriDot since 2021. He has been podcasting since 2015. I always like highlighting fellow triathlon podcasters. Rich's triathlon journey began in 2006. So at the time we're recording this podcast, he's got almost two decades of racing under his belt. He's a five-time IRONMAN finisher himself. Coach Rich, thanks for coming back on the show to help me talk to our newer triathletes in the audience.

Rich Soares: Andrew, it's always a pleasure to be on with you doing these podcasts. And Jasmine, I'm stoked. We have coached on deck at Pool School, and now we're doing a podcast together. So I'm looking forward to learning from both of you too.

Andrew: Yeah, it's funny. I never know necessarily which of our coaches know each other and have met. At this point, we have so many fantastic coaches all over the world, and right before we started the call, we have these things here at TriDot now. There is an amazing infrastructure, so our athletes might not know this. Coaches that are using TriDot for their coaching know this, but there are so many resources for coaches behind the scenes at TriDot to get better at coaching, learn how to be a coach, learn how to run your business and grow your business as a coach. And Rich and Jasmine, you two are both in the same cohort in what's called our Coach Mastermind Groups, where coaches get together and get to pick the brains of some coaching mentors. I didn't realize you guys were a part of the same Coach Mastermind Group. So, I guess I'll go Jasmine and then Rich. What has your experience been like kind of plugging in to the coaching resources at TriDot?

Jasmine: It's been amazing. I've loved connecting with the other coaches, learning so much about them, relating with them, too, because we all are kind of going through similar things, which is sometimes nice. Like, we're not alone. We're in it together. And then just hearing a lot of the different things; everyone is trying to grow their businesses or help their athletes through certain hurdles. Just, like, being able to hear those experiences has been super helpful.

Rich: Coach Mastermind Group is just the next, just the latest, kind of chapter in the coaching resources, and education, and training. We say, one of our values here, is that excellence is a habit, and I have seen that in every forum that I have been in as a coach with TriDot, and the Coach Mastermind Group just takes it to the next level. This is a great opportunity for coaches to work with each other, help each other, listen to each other, a place for us to share things that we need help with, and there's usually somebody in the group that can help you with that thing. It just makes us all better when we work together. It's such a collaborative group that we've even taken up a Sunday afternoon version of our– it's just kind of a get together, because we just love spending time with each other and helping each other.

Andrew: I just love as an athlete, right? I'm not a part of these. I'm a TriDot athlete myself, but just knowing that our coaches like working together and are all doing all of these things that you don't have to do. It's all in trying to give the athletes of the sport of triathlon the best experience possible. I love that it's happening. I love that you both are part of it. I love that you both ended up on this episode together, being a part of the same cohort. Didn't know that. Total coincidence. Anyway, I'm going to move us along. I am Andrew, the Average Triathlete voice of the people, and captain of the middle of the pack. As always, we're going to roll through our warm up question, settle in for our main set conversation geared for new triathletes today, and then wind things down with our cool down where Vanessa will interview a coach to get our Coach Cooldown Tip of the Week. Lots of great stuff. Let's get to it.

Warm up theme: Time to warm up! Let’s get moving.

Andrew: For every televised sporting event, there are several broadcasters on the mic calling the action and providing helpful commentary. Some of these folks blend into the fabric of the events, and we don't really give much thought to who they are. They just talk to us, and we hear them, and we’re watching the action, but a select few are so beloved by the fans, that they have become legends in their sport purely for their time on the mic. Jasmine, Rich, for our warmup question today, what I want to know: across all of sports, who is your personal favorite broadcast commentator and or personality analyst, et cetera, et cetera? Jasmine, over to you first. Who is somebody that stands out for you in the broadcasting world of sports?

Jasmine: I'm going to have to go with Mike Riley, the voice of IRONMAN. I mean, it can't get more epic than that. I love whenever I hear his voice, really anywhere, whether it's in a race or just talking on a podcast, anything in person, he just has the most epic voice and just such a great human being. So yeah, I'll go with Mike Riley.

Andrew: Yeah, really is a great human being and definitely the standout legend on the mic in our sport. So definitely happy, and he has some deep connections to TriDot at this point. He does a lot of work with us behind the scenes. We love Mike. Coach Rich, over to you. Who is this answer for you?

Rich: Oh, I love Mike too. I wish I could have had the chance to give his name as my favorite announcer, but I'll tell you what. I'm going to, if he's probably the most well-known announcer that we can think of in this sport, I am going to probably come up with the most obscure name that you can think of.

Andrew: Yeah, do it.

Rich: It's a gentleman named Rob Warner, and you probably don't know him.

Andrew: Nope.

Rich:  But if you were to go and Google search “announcers give the best live commentary ever for mountain bikers run of his lifetime,” it is the 2011 UCI Downhill World Championship. You've never heard an announcer more excited than this guy. I play this just to make me smile sometimes.

Andrew: That is such a specific answer and such a specific instance. Great answer and, again, very much in line with our sport, kind of plugging a mountain bike commentator. I'm going to go over to swimming, and there certainly are, with television broadcasting in my background, I think I probably pay a little bit more attention to what the commentators are saying and how well they're doing their jobs than a lot of people do. I certainly have favorites across the more major sports; football, soccer, basketball, hockey, whatever. But I'm going to keep it more in the endurance sports family as well. To me, an absolute standout is Rowdy Gaines, who in the United States, anyway, does a lot of the commentating for major swim events. He's a former professional swimmer himself. Now he's a broadcaster. If you've never listened to Rowdy Gaines do a call of a swim event, the way he is, some of these races, right? Like, there's eight athletes in a pool, and the way he's able to in a minute, or two, or eight, depending on what event he's calling, to kind of give you the background on who each swimmer is in each lane, keep you up to date with what's happening in the pool, and make comments on form, make comments– he just educates you so well while he's like saying the action of what's taking place, while he's giving you the backstories and anecdotes about the swimmers who are in the pool. Then to top it off, he has his trademark enthusiasm, where he just, as the action starts heating up, and it starts getting exciting, and it's coming down to the last length of the pool or two, he just ratchets up the energy in a way that no other broadcaster can. So Rowdy Gaines is my answer. You can go to YouTube and type in ‘Rowdy Gaines calls a swim meet’ and find a dozen videos where he is just fantastic. That's my answer here. I will kind of give a special shout out. My wife is sitting behind me. We share the home office. If I'm answering this question for my wife, she loves it, on the NASCAR broadcasts, whoever the guy is at the start of a NASCAR race who says ”boogity, boogity, boogity, let's go racing.” She's all about that. She thinks it's hilarious. Anyway, I want to know what our audience thinks about this one. So go find my post on the I AM TriDot Facebook group, or go find this post in the Athlete Community Hub, and let us know who is a sports broadcaster that you just think is the greatest. Can't wait to see what you have to say.

Main set theme: On to the main set. Going in 3…2…1…

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Andrew: All right, excited to get to our main set topic today and share 11 tips to help new triathletes just have the best experience possible as you ease your way into this sport. There's so much to it, right? And so, we are here to just kind of give you some tips, help maybe orient you in the right direction to just have a great experience as you become a more and more knowledgeable, experienced triathlete. So, I've got a couple of questions for Jasmine and Rich, but the heart of the show today is me just getting out of the way and letting the both of them share four tips that they've brought on things they like to share for newer triathletes. So Jasmine, Rich, what I want to hear first is your first triathlon when you were first coming into the sport. Rich, I know for you, we shared in the bio, it was back in the early 2000s. Jasmine, I don't know actually when it was for you that you had your first race. So we'll go Jasmine and then Rich, and just kind of tell us when was your first race? What was your first race, and how did it go out there? Jasmine?

Jasmine: So, my first race was actually 10 years ago in a UCLA campus, because I was on the tri team at USC, and we had our first collegiate race. UCLA campus is huge, so it was a sprint distance race. Swimming was the one I was really struggling in. So, that was going to be a very difficult thing for me to see if I can make it work or not, and it was a pool swim, which was kind of nice. So we had to snake through the lanes, and then we biked and ran throughout the campus. And I made it. My mom was watching the whole time, and she thought I would drown at one point in the swim, but I made it. And yeah, that was 10 years ago now. So that was my first race. Very memorable. I'm actually starting grad school at UCLA this month, so I want to see if I could revisit that race.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jasmine: It's, I think, in November, usually. So I want to see if I could revisit it for my 10 year anniversary and just crush my time from 10 years ago.

Andrew: Absolutely love that. That's a great plan. I call it a benchmark race, right? Like having a local sprint, or Olympic, that you just do every couple of years just to kind of see how your time improves, and, yeah, revisiting that one after 10 years, that'll be special for sure. Rich, what was your first triathlon, and how did it go for you?

Rich: Well, we have something in common. We've all done sprint distance in the pool for our first triathlon experience. My experience was I was actually training for a marathon, and had read something about doing some cross training. So I started going to the pool, and I saw this advertisement for this local sprint. I'm like, well, I'll do that. How hard could that be? I had a 40 pound mountain bike at the time. You know, I didn't really know what I was doing, but I had taken swimming 101. So I kind of felt like I could get through that. Well, I ended up renting a road bike at the last minute so that I could go a little faster on the bike. I got the rental bike home, and I didn't even know how to shift the thing. That's how much of a newbie I was. So, I had to call the bike store to ask them how I shifted it the other direction.

Andrew: That’s amazing.

Rich: So, you know, don't know anything about pacing or anything like that. I go out there, I swim as hard as I can. I bike as hard as I can. I’m like, this thing is like a rocket compared to my heavy mountain bike. So I just give it everything I've got. I get on the run, I don't even get a half mile into this run. I've been training for a marathon.

Andrew: Yeah.

Rich: I’m like, this is going to be no problem. I walked a good part of that run, because I just spent every dollar on the swim and the bike. Immediately hooked, though. I think I bought a bike from that same bike store a week later and did my next sprint distance triathlon in the pool two weeks later.

Andrew: Can you imagine, Rich, being the bike store employee who gets a call to the shop. Like, “Hey, how do I shift gears on this bike?”

Rich: I can imagine.

Andrew: Maybe they get that request more often than I think. But, I sold my first road bike to a guy who– Craigslist, drove to the house. He test rode it around the block a little bit, liked it, but he came back from his test ride and was like, “Hey, I really liked the bike, but I think the shifters are broken.” Like, they're not, and it just turns out that he didn't know how to work them. I had to teach him how to use those kinds of shifters for the first time. So maybe it's a more common thing than I think. Rich, I very much, like you, I thought the bike would be just the easy part. I’m like, hey, everybody grows up riding a bike. I bought my first road bike the day before my first sprint triathlon thinking, yeah, I'll get to that part of the race. It'll be easy. Riding a bike is easy. I was cramped, like, my calves were cramping so bad I had to get off twice on like a 14 mile bike leg. I had to get off the bike two times to stretch out my cramping calves, because I thought the bike was going to be the easy part, and it was the hardest part, but that's a different story. What I want to hear next, and then we're going to get into our tips, from both of you, in all of your race experience; so kind of getting past your first race, and just getting to you racing in general– what is one thing that we can learn from you, something like a race day blooper, if you will. Like what is one major thing that has gone wrong for you on race day? Then I want to hear one day where just everything clicked, and it was just the race of your life, and you're like, man, like that was the one. I really enjoyed that. Everything went well out there. Because I think a fantastic way to learn is through experience. So help our newer triathletes learn from your experience. Coach Rich, I'll go to you first on this one.

Rich: Yeah, I think my biggest mishap was going off course on the bike on a race. Fortunately, I was able to recover from it after about a mile going the wrong direction, realizing, hey, where is everybody? It really comes down to really knowing the course and not getting confused by things that are out there that might indicate you're supposed to turn somewhere else. Know the course, really study the course. Know what you know. Don't just trust that you can follow people. That doesn’t always work.

Andrew: What was a day, Rich, where everything just went really well for you?

Rich: It would probably be my first Ironman. I got working with a coach, nailed the nutrition, nailed the pacing, and had an awesome experience, and that was IRONMAN Cozumel in 2009.

Andrew: Coach Jasmine, same question over to you. Give us your blooper and then the day it all went well.

Jasmine: For me, nutrition has always been a tricky one to nail down, especially in those longer distance races like for the 70.3. I’m like, I know I can future this out. I know it’s in reach. I just had to kind of really play around with it for many 70.3s until I nailed it, because I just kept bonking over and over again. Then, finally Morro Bay last year was where it clicked.

Andrew: Awesome.

Jasmine: It was always when I would get to the run, I just would not have the legs, and the run is my favorite part. So I would be so confused. I would be like, why can I do this on the sprint and Olympic but not on the 70.3? So, finally, Morro Bay last year, I had my run legs, I finished feeling really good and strong, and it was just a really great day. So, yeah. That's where it kind of all came together for me with nutrition, and that's why I became a certified nutritionist. Because I was like, this is so vital to the sport, and I want to help people not go through what I went through.

Andrew: Yeah, so kind of looping the blooper of bonking in previous races to finally figuring it out, and now helping your athletes figure it out. So, I’m really excited here. We’re going to get straight into the tips now. There’s some great stories. I’ve already learned some lessons through those stories, and I hope our audience has done the same. Both of you have come to the show today with four tips that you frequently share with newer triathletes. I’ve seen these tips. They are fantastic. So I’m just going to go Jasmine, Rich, Jasmine, Rich, Jasmine, Rich, and we'll hear what you have to say. We’ll talk about it a little bit, and then we'll move on to the next tip. So, Coach Jasmine, over to you. What is your first tip for a newer triathlete?

Jasmine: For me, it's definitely finding a local triathlon team, or club, to join and train with, because you really get that sense of community. You all support each other, and can train for races together, and sign up for other races together. I started triathlon by joining the USC tri team and then kept joining different teams after I graduated. That's kind of what has kept me in the sport and continuing to keep going in it. I found some of my closest friends from there, my chosen family, I like to call it. It's just something that I think is so helpful, no matter if you're a complete beginner or a seasoned veteran. Having a community there will keep you going, even in the hard days where the last thing you want to do is maybe get up and swim, bike, or run, but then you have your friends there waiting for you, and you're like, “Ugh, got to do it. They're there, they’re waiting.” It's been a huge help.

Andrew: This is a great one, Jasmine. If you can find something local, that's obviously so key, to plug in with a local group. You can obviously plug into the I AM TriDot Facebook group or to the TriDot community in ways if you don't live local with a tri club, but yeah. Jasmine, absolutely love this one. Rich, anything else you want to say?

Rich: I think having that community, you're going to learn from others. We're always better together. Use your community around you. Don't assume that you can figure it out on your own. There's so much wisdom out there from other people who have been racing for a while or training for a while. I love that tip.

Jasmine: Actually, some other really cool thing that I discovered, I travel a lot, whether it's for work or just to travel, but I like continuing to train. So I find, actually, different tri teams and running groups anywhere I'm traveling to, and I reach out to them ahead of time, and I ask them if I could join in on their workouts. It's actually a really great way to connect with other triathletes and runners in the area, and also keep your training up while you're traveling, and keep you motivated and going. I've met so many great people doing that. So you could do it locally where you are, finding your group there, but then also wherever you're going abroad or traveling somewhere, you can also reach out, and, usually, everyone is super friendly and welcoming.

Andrew: I love that idea. I've never heard that. I think that's really, really a great way to get yourself out there, and meet people, and plug into new places. Yeah, really, really like that tip, Jasmine. Moving us on to Rich's tip number one. Rich, what have you got for us?

Rich: You know, I like to recommend that new triathletes volunteer at a local race. This is a great way to learn the mechanics of how a race works. Everything from when athletes arrive and they check in. There's a lot of different roles to volunteer for: athlete packet pickup, transition area, the aid stations. Watch how athletes set up their transition area. Watch how they transition from swim to bike, from bike to run. If you're out there at an aid station, watch how they take aid.

Andrew: Yeah. So good.

Rich: What do they take in? How do they take it in? You're going to learn all sorts of things about hydration and cooling, and you'll also get some examples of things not to do. You might see somebody drop their nutrition. You might see somebody have it pointed out to them that they can't ride their bike in transition. You're going to learn the rules of triathlon too, as well as some just good protocols and social norms with racing. I recommend volunteering for races. You're going to learn a lot about what to do and not to do.

Andrew: Yeah and really here, Rich, probably a good idea to do it a couple of times and take some different posts. Volunteer in transition at one race. Volunteer at an aid station on the bike for another race. Volunteer at an aid station on the run for another race. Because to your point, you'll see different snippets of the course, and it's really cool, because early on in your shift, you'll see the faster folks come through, and you can kind of see like, man, these people really know what they're doing. How are they navigating these situations? Then you'll see more middle of the pack folks come through, and then you'll see other slower athletes or beginners come through. So you'll kind of get a glimpse of how everybody handles those moments on course. So really great tip, Rich. Definitely something you can even do with your family. I love as an athlete going through an aid station, you can tell a whole family is rocking the aid station together, passing out cups of water to athletes. Really great way to spend the morning, if you have some local tris near you, and be able to learn. Coach Jasmine, your second tip.

Jasmine: So my second tip is take it one sport at a time, because sometimes starting all three can be really overwhelming. For me, I started out as a runner, and I was really comfortable, and I didn't start running that much before triathlon. It was about a year before, but at least I felt like I had that down to save me when it came to race day. Then, swimming was my biggest battle. So I kind of tackled that next. Cycling, I kind of just did it when I could, but swimming, I was like, okay, I really need to figure this out, because this is what's going to cause me the most issues in my race coming up. With cycling, I kind of just did it with the tri team, but the swim was really where I went next. So just breaking it down, being like, okay, this sport, I feel really comfortable in, this is the one I really need to work on, and then this one I'm feeling pretty okay at so I'll just kind of do it when I can. But I'm going to really focus on improving on this one before adding them all three together. I just think it could really help not bring down your confidence too much and really just focus on getting better at what your weakest one is, and getting that the help that you need in that, so that you're not rushing to try to get ready for that when your race is coming up, or just even overall being like, “Oh, I don't know if I'm going to even do this race because I'm not feeling confident in the swim or the bike.” But if you really work on it for a while and get yourself to a place where you're comfortable, and, comfortable enough, I should say, it might take some time to really get comfortable at all three, but comfortable enough, I think is important.

Andrew: I love this. Don't try to bite it all off at once. Kind of tackle it piece by piece by piece, and give yourself the time to, hey, I'm going to get better at this over years. This is a journey. I'm not trying to conquer all three sports at once. That definitely helps you ease into the sport a little bit better. Rich, it sounds like you did this as well, because you were coming into the sport as an aspiring marathoner and kind of threw the swim and bike in there. How did you approach improving at all three sports over your first year or two?

Rich: The running thing I felt pretty comfortable with. I had to learn new bike handling skills, for sure. I didn't even know how to shift gears on a road bike. So I definitely had a little bit of a learning curve on the bike. The biggest learning curve was clearly the swim for me. It's probably the number one thing that most of my new athletes need help with, is the swim. That’s the one thing that they aren’t used to doing, or not used to doing, open water swimming, in particular. I like the approach of: don't give the athlete too much on their plate at once. Give them digestible, consumable chunks of instruction, and training, and goals so they don’t get overwhelmed. I think Jasmine's approach, for some athletes anyway, one sport at a time is a good place to start.

Andrew: Now, Rich, I know it's a little further down our run sheet, but while we're mentioning open water swim, let's go ahead and jump to your tip. You have a tip that you want to share about open water swim, specifically, and that aspect of the sport.

Rich: Yeah. My tip is, and I see this– If you volunteer at a race, this is going to be one of the things that you are going to witness. There are going to be people that don't complete the swim. They just got in over their head. They didn't know what they were getting themselves into. So my tip here is: don't guess about open water swimming in any distance race. Whether your first one is a sprint, even if it's a pool swim, don't underestimate it, but particularly open water swimming. Even if you consider yourself to be a competent swimmer in the pool, open water swimming is very different. Cold water, wetsuit, current, chop, sun glare, can't see the bottom, can't see the buoy, sighting, just navigating. These are all new experiences, and they can be a little bit overwhelming if you're not used to it. So, it is a little bit of exposure therapy that's required here, but also, it's just having the right equipment and knowing how to do this. The smoother and better your swim technique, the better the open water swimmer you will be. So one of the ways to be a better open water swimmer is to just be a better swimmer. Recommend finding your closest TriDot Pool School. It is the fastest way to get faster at swimming and more confident. Regarding the equipment, take some time. Buy a wetsuit that fits. If it zips with very little effort, it's probably too big. If it zips and it feels a little snug, it probably fits. If it doesn't zip, it probably doesn't fit. It's probably a little too tight.

Andrew: That’s a great way to put it.

Rich: But yeah, definitely make sure that you get a good fitting wetsuit. I see a lot of people that show up; get a triathlon wetsuit, not a scuba wetsuit, not a jet skiing wetsuit. Look for a triathlon branded wetsuit like Sailfish or similar.

Andrew: And you can rent that for your first race, or two, or three, even. Yeah.

Rich: Yeah. Find– this is back again to a little bit of Jasmine’s suggestion; find an open water swim group.

Andrew: Yeah.

Rich: Find a group that you can do this with so you have a swim partner. Get a swim safety buoy. It's a really inexpensive inflatable buoy. You can blow it up with three or four breaths, and you snap it around your waist, and it just drags behind you in case you need it. Get a coach and practice in conditions that you expect to see on race day. Then my final tip is: understand that your body is not– there are six billion years of engineering in your body that tell you, you are not a swimming mammal. You're going to have this reflex to cold water. Get yourself through that process. Before you get in that water, splash cold water on your face, get it down, flush your wetsuit with it. Get your body reacting to that open water experience before you start exercising. Your heart rate is going to slow down a little bit. Your blood's going to go to the core. Your arms are going to feel a little weaker. Get used to that before you really start pounding out the strokes and heading offshore.

Andrew: I’m glad, Rich, that you mentioned TriDot Pool School. You’re both TriDot Pool School coaches. You mentioned being on deck together at TriDot Pool School in Boulder not too far back. I still remember, in my first year or two as a triathlete, there, at the time, one of the local companies, Dallas Athletes Racing that produces races in our area, they would send emails out advertising a pool weekend. I think it was a one day, two hour Saturday clinic that they were doing with a particular coach in the area. I remember clicking on it and looking at it. I think it was 200 bucks for this clinic, and I remember, man, I'm not paying 200 bucks for that. I was interested, because I knew nothing about swimming, but I wasn't at a place where I was going to pay 200 bucks for that. Looking back, for how much it could have accelerated my swim from the get go, and my understanding of swimming, it absolutely would have been worth it. Now, we didn't have it at the time, but now we have TriDot Pool School, and there is a price tag attached to it, it's not cheap, but what you get out of it– you get this weekend experience. You have homework on the front end. You have follow ups with coaches on the back end. It is the most thorough, bar none, full stop, the most thorough swim refining, swim form establishing experience in the triathlon game today. And that's because of how much love and passion went into this project by our TriDot coaches that do it. There's like a two-to-one coach-to-athlete ratio in the lane. So you don't have one guy walking around trying to instruct 20 athletes. You have two coaches per lane, literally giving you feedback every length of the wall. So anyway, I'm endorsing it, especially for newer triathletes, because I remember being a new triathlete and thinking, “Oh, I'm not ready for that yet. That's not for me yet.” Now I wish in year one of my triathlon journey, I had done something like TriDot Pool School to just learn proper form from the get go. So that's my soapbox about TriDot Pool School, especially with two coaches here on it. And, Jasmine, I know for you, you're in California where a lot of the open water swims are in the Pacific ocean, right? What's it like getting out there with your athletes and getting them ready for a first open water swim in the Pacific ocean?

Jasmine: We actually just went out this morning for an ocean swim.

Andrew: Wonderful.

Jasmine: We go every Friday morning together. It's probably our most popular workout of the week. We get sometimes up to 15, 20 people coming out, and we have this great swim together. And we have people of all levels, and I kind of do a really good job at pairing people up so that nobody is left alone out in the water. Yeah, it's just really nice to go out with a group and train together. I never recommend swimming in the ocean by yourself. So always go with at least one person, or a group of people, and make sure you're checking, you have checkpoints where you're seeing how everyone's doing and regrouping. I love that we have the beach right here in our backyard, and we could go play in it at least once or twice a week. It's really helpful when it comes to races that have the ocean swims, or any open water swims. Most of us are really comfortable. I would say though, the amount of athletes that do start swimming in the ocean maybe just a week or two before the races, that's probably not going to help too much. I would recommend at least going a few months prior to really get comfortable. Even if you're a great swimmer and you're comfortable in the pool, the ocean is so different. It's darker in there. There's no line that you can follow. There’s no walls. So get a really good wetsuit that'll keep you buoyant and have people around you in case you need anything. But I think, yeah, getting out there a few months before the race is super important. If you don't have it near you, then try to find somewhere you can go that you can get some open water experience. I think it really can make that race so much more comfortable and successful for you when you go.

Andrew: Yeah, and depending on where you live, you don't have to jump into open water for your first race. Where I live in Dallas/Fort Worth, we have a ton of indoor pool swim sprint local races. I think I did three or four sprints in a pool before I pulled the trigger on my first open water swim, which happened to be Tri Waco in the summer in the Brazos River in Waco, Texas. I gave myself some time to get comfortable in the sport first before I jumped in the open water.

Jasmine: Yes.

Andrew: You might live somewhere where you only have open water. Either way, really some great stuff from Jasmine and Rich about open water swimming. Jasmine, what is your third tip for a newer triathlete?

Jasmine: My third tip is to set a goal and just sign up for the race so you could have your commitment set. I personally know that if I'm not signed up for a race, I may or may not be slacking on my training a little bit. When I have a race I'm signed up for, I'm like, well, we got to get ready for it. There's no other option. But I really recommend setting a realistic goal. If you're a brand new triathlete and you want to do a full Ironman that’s like a month or two away, it might not be the smartest decision. Is it possible? Anything is possible, but I think really talking with your teammates, or a coach, or anyone else that has some experience so you can see kind of what a realistic goal would be, and really committing to it, and committing to the process, and the training, and the journey to get you there. Life's always going to get in the way of training and things, so you just have to do your best. It's all about consistency and doing the best that you can. But I’d really recommend just setting some goals that you really want to try to achieve when you’re wanting to sign up for any kind of races or events that you want to do.

Andrew: I absolutely love this tip. I personally, actually right now, am starting to look at races for 2025, because I need something on the calendar to get my butt in gear training. I have a triathlon podcast and need a race on the calendar to really get myself back into my training. Coach Rich, your tip #3. What do you got?

Rich: Yeah, so when we think about triathlon, we think about the three sports: swim, bike, and run. You know, that just makes sense. It seems pretty straight forward.

Andrew: Sure does.

Rich: What we often overlook, or ignore, is the importance of integrating strength and mobility training consistently into your regimen. It is the glue that holds everything together. And I’m not talking about– I get some athletes that, “Yeah, coach, I did chest and arms today,” and “I did legs and back today.” That’s not necessarily the type of strength and mobility training we’re talking about. As triathletes, we have these motions that are back and forth, whether you’re swimming, whether you’re biking, whether you're running. It's really just this sagittal plane front and back motion that we’re doing, and we don't do a lot of lateral moving motions. And it’s really common for us to compensate by recruiting the wrong muscles for the job, and then ones that are supposed to be getting used get weak and atrophy, or eventually lead to an overuse of a muscle that was only supposed to have a supporting role. Similarly, the lack of mobility creates a risk of injury, but is also likely limiting performance. If, for example, your lats are tight, you might be experiencing some swim form issues and some inability to get in a good streamlined position and get a good catch. If you have tight hip flexors, that can cause hip pain and limited range of motion, resulting in a loss of bike power or an inability to have that run extension as you push off. This will make you a faster, stronger, more injury resilient athlete. You don't have to do a lot of weight to do it. In fact, make sure, you know, work with a coach, work with a strength and conditioning physical therapist. Make sure that you're doing these movements in the right form, with the right form. The TriDot strength workouts are actually a really good example of these. They give you videos of each exercise that you're going to do, shows you exactly how to do it. It's got a verbal explainer, a video explainer, and the equipment that you need. These are not big barbells.

Andrew: Yeah.

Rich: Bands, dumbbells, at most. A kettlebell. These are pretty low bars in terms of equipment to do strength and mobility training.

Andrew: We have several episodes of the TriDot podcast about strength and mobility, flexibility, with Dr. BJ Leeper. He's full-time on our staff, and he is an extremely accomplished and knowledgeable physical therapist who works with us. So go listen to a few of the episodes with Dr. BJ Leeper, because, Richard, dead on the money. I mean, you can strength train, you can be a crossfitter, or lift heavy, and be into that and be a triathlete. You absolutely can. They can coexist. But what you're talking about here, right, in terms of keeping your body healthy to continue participating in the sport of triathlon, there's just a number of maintenance things, right? Stretching, light strength work, functional movement work, that you need to do to keep the body really firing on all cylinders. Love this suggestion. When you're already learning three new sports, swimming, biking, and running, there's already a ton to absorb. It's very easy for this to go to the wayside. And it doesn't have to be, Rich, an hour a day on a yoga mat, doing something. It can be 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there. It's just being really smart with it and keeping it regularly in your routine, and a little bit of it will go a long way.

Rich: I tell some athletes, if you're having a hard time fitting this in, try doing it during the workday. Have that workout, have that strength workout up with those seven workouts in them. Just do one in between each meeting. You'll make your day go by faster.

Andrew: Sure, yeah, absolutely will. One more tip from the both of you. There’s so many packed things in here already for our newer triathletes to absorb from the two of you. So thanks so much for taking the time, thinking this through, getting your notes down. Jasmine, what is your fourth tip you want to give to our listeners?

Jasmine: Probably the most important is: please don't be afraid to get a coach or a TriDot training plan because that helps with accountability, injury prevention. You're doing a lot, three sports, and doing the form work, and the strength training, the recovery, all the things. You want to make sure you're doing everything properly, especially if you're racing any of the longer distance races, you want to make sure that you really have a proper plan for that. You're fueling well. You don’t want to get deficient in anything, or injured, or have any issues along the way and coaches really, really help that. I actually did the calculations. Like for most coaches, that's like a cup of coffee a day. If you break it down, it's really not that big of an investment, and you get the guidance of someone who has a plethora of knowledge to share and help you not make the same mistakes they might've done or a lot of other athletes do. This sport is about lifestyle and longevity. At the end of the day, you want to be doing this for a long time. I think most of us, maybe some of you just one and done, but I think a lot of you guys want to be in here for the long run, and the way to really do it right is by, yeah, either having a coach or a really optimized training plan, like TriDot, which will actually adapt to your training and what you are or aren't doing. It's not just telling you go do this today, but you didn't do that last week. So it's kind of something that is really more personalized to you and making sure that we're keeping you healthy and injury free, because I could not tell you how many athletes are just getting injured left and right because they're not training properly. So that's definitely one I'm very passionate about, and I want to make sure everyone has the help that they need through their journey.

Andrew: Love this tip, Jasmine. Because again, from day one, I didn't think this was for me, and I wish, 10 years ago, I knew that training smarter could be for me.

Jasmine: Honestly, I don't think I would have stayed in triathlon if I didn't– when I joined the USC tri team, there was a coach there that was telling us what gear to get, how to shift the bikes, all the things that I literally was like, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't even know what I'm getting myself into. But, because the tri team had a coach, he was at all the pool swims, went to all of our bike rides. Any questions we had, he was there. I don't think I would still be in the sport if it wasn't for him, because he took the guesswork all out for me, and I just had to focus on the training, and that was it. I felt very safe and comfortable knowing that, okay, he's telling me to do this, X, Y, Z. That's what I'm going to do. I had such a great first year, and I was able to get better so much quicker than I ever imagined.

Rich: I want to add maybe one thing. I think that's a great tip. One of the things that I think a coach helps do too, is there's a lot of information out there.

Andrew: Yeah.

Rich: More so now, right, than ever before. There's a lot of noise out there too, and misinformation. A coach will help you cut through that noise. If you are on a budget, you're probably also on a budget with your time, too. Think about the value of your time, and the misadventure that you can have without a coach. What's that time worth in terms of all the articles you're reading and all of that? Podcasts; listen to podcasts though.

Andrew: Especially the TriDot triathlon podcast and the 303 Endurance podcast. Those are the two to start with, obviously. Coach Rich, your fourth tip, please, good sir.

Rich: Yeah, and I hope Jasmine appreciates this one. It's: don't guess about nutrition and pacing at your longer distance races.

Andrew: At any distance, Rich. Any distance.

Rich: Yeah, for sure for any distance, but particularly those longer distance races. I can't tell you the number of athletes don't even know their sweat rate. They have no idea how much they should be taking back in in terms of hydration. This is an easy DIY test to do, and just keep a spreadsheet. You weigh yourself before a workout, you weigh yourself after a workout with nothing on, like both ends of this, nothing on, not your kit, make sure your hair is all dry and everything. You will have a good idea of how much your body weight changed, but you also record things like how much did you consume during that hour, let's say, and what was the temperature? What was the humidity? What was the level of intensity of your effort? I like to ask my athletes, we actually keep a spreadsheet of these tests, and we end up with a dozen tests before a race. Then we can look, by discipline, we can filter it for the run and we can say, okay, you're going to be running at zone 3 effort and it's going to be 72 degrees when you hit the run, what's your sweat rate? We've got two or three examples of what their sweat rate is, and that gives us a great place to start. Knowing your sodium content of your sweat so you know how much sodium to take back in. Precision Fuel and Hydration, they've got a great service where you can get your sodium tested for your sweat so you know how strong of a formula you need from a hydration drink, whether it's the Precision Hydration 500, 1000, 1500, or whatever your sodium source is, that you're getting enough for the amount of water you need to consume. And, know your carbohydrate needs. Knowing how much glycogen your body is burning at any given intensity, how much you need to be fueling, whether it's a schedule that's on a 20 minute schedule, a 30 minute schedule, an hour schedule to make sure you don't get behind in your nutrition.

Andrew: Yep, absolutely love it, Rich. So crucial to your experience in this sport. Those are your eight very intelligent tips from our two highly qualified coaches. I'm going to try to, in 60 to 90 seconds or less, say, Andrew Harley, Podcast Host’s three tips to get us to our well-rounded fun number of 11 tips for a new triathlete. Here's three things I wanted to add to the conversation, very quickly. First off, I just want to encourage you to take your time in your triathlon journey. Don't feel like– this kind of goes to Jasmine's very, very first opening tip. Don't feel like you have to keep a certain pace, or have all the gear by race one, two, three, or be good at all three disciplines by race one, two, three, or do an Ironman by year number two. Do what you want to do in this sport. Don't rack your bike at your third race and think that, “oh man, I'm next to this other bike, and this is a really nice bike, and he's got all these bells and whistles, and this guy has this, and this girl has that, and, oh, my training partner just bought this helmet and I just had this little basic thing.” Have what you have. You can accumulate the gear at your own pace. Don't feel like you have to have the latest and greatest of everything by year one, two, three. I'm 10 years into my triathlon journey, and I think I have everything I need. Do I still buy some stuff here and there? Sure. But it took me five, six, seven years to get a really good wetsuit, get a really good this, get a really good that, add aero bars to my bike, like, all those things. Don't feel like you have to do all that at once. And don't feel like you have to do any particular race. If you love the local races, don't feel like you're a lesser triathlete because you haven't traveled for an Ironman, or traveled for a half Ironman, or done this famous race that your buddies did, or that. It's a choose your own adventure sport. Do what you want to do with it, and do it at your pace. The second thing I want to say is, across all three disciplines, this is my favorite race day tip to give any buddy of mine that is doing their first race. This is what I tell them: all three disciplines, when you first hit the pool, or whatever your body of water is, when you first get on the bike, and are going through the motions of that first quarter mile on the bike, and when you first get out there on the run, first 100, 200, 300 yards, it's so easy at the very beginning of all three disciplines to accelerate, and go harder than you need to go, and go faster than you realize you're going. And before you know it, your heart rate has skyrocketed and you're out of breath. Once your breath goes, particularly at sprint and Olympic distance, where a lot of people are starting off, it is very difficult to get that heart rate back down, get your breath back, get yourself composed. And there's nothing worse, from personal experience, I can tell you, there's nothing worse than your first or second, third race. You're still learning the sport. There's a lot going on. And all of a sudden you're out of breath just because you weren't paying attention to how fast you were going. The effort in all three sports always feels very easy, even though it's not. I got off on my run, my very first 5k for a sprint triathlon, I thought I was running at a pretty easy pace. I looked down and I'm running way faster than I should have been, and it's easy to do that if you're not paying attention. So when you first ease into the water, don't feel like you have to hit the pool, just lighting it up. Ease into your pace in all three sports. Last thing I'll say, buy a picture. Race number one, buy a picture, right? Whether you never do a race ever again, you'll have the picture of the one time you did a triathlon. If you are in this sport for five, 10, 20 years, like all three of us are, you'll always be able to look back, and was it really worth 20, 30, 40 bucks, whatever it was for that one picture? Maybe so, maybe not, but I'm glad I have it. But stop and buy a picture, celebrate your accomplishment. Have fun. Remember the sport should be fun. To land the plane on our conversation today, I know you found value in our coaches' eight tips. I hope you found some value in my three little tips. But I want to hear, Jasmine and Rich, just from you as coaches, we led the show hearing your first experience at the races yourself. But now, as coaches, you have the joy of helping other people through their first one, two, three races as they become, literally, triathletes. What is it like being on this side of that journey, going out to the races and just seeing your athletes out there literally becoming triathletes? Coach Jasmine?

Jasmine: It's the most rewarding thing for me, just seeing my athletes accomplishing their goals. I care more about their goals than mine now, honestly. So, for me, seeing them put in the work, go through their ups and downs, just be a part of their journey in whatever way I can and see them out there racing. I had an athlete who just did the Swim Run World Championships in Sweden this weekend, and I've taken her through her first 70.3, first marathon, first ultra marathon, just so many amazing, amazing things, and it's so rewarding for me to be able to see all of this come to life and play a small part in that journey. Yeah, I couldn't be more honored and grateful to do what I do and help everyone in whatever way and capacity that I can.

Andrew: Coach Rich, same question to you.

Rich: Yeah, it is incredibly rewarding to watch an individual take on this goal that they don't know that they can do yet, and they realize that goal, and it transforms them as a human. It transforms them as an athlete. It transforms them as a family member, as an employee. Everybody in their world sees this transformation happen, and I find that to be just so inspirational. To watch a father cry when his son crosses the finish line of an Ironman, or watch the pride in an athlete's children, or in their wife, or their spouse, or whoever. They are setting examples and creating ripple effects in their connections, right? Who knows what that's going to do for the next generation? The kids that are watching their mom. The young boy that puts a medal over his mom's head because she finished her first Ironman. Think about what that does for generations to come. That's incredibly inspiring.

Cool down theme: Great set everyone! Let’s cool down.

Vanessa Ronksley: It's coach cool down tip time and I'm Vanessa, your average triathlete with elite level enthusiasm. Our superhuman TriDot coach is someone that, you may notice, likes the extreme side of things. Full distance tris are child's play. So extreme races are more up his alley. Jason Verbracken, who is fondly known as Verby within the TriDot community, recently became a Hurt 100 finisher. He is a Norseman X-Tri Black Shirt finisher and also placed second overall in the Starvation X-Tri. These kinds of results happen because of dedication, consistency, and with the heart of a lion. Not only does he exercise these traits in triathlon, but in his 25 year career with Pepsi as an account manager, and with his wife and his two kids. Welcome to the cool down, Verby.

Jason Verbracken: Oh, Vanessa. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure being on with you.

Vanessa: What do you have for all of our listeners?

Jason: My tip for today is surround yourself with the right people. That plays a huge part. You need somebody there to support your dreams, support you through those tough times, and if you're having that negative talk, the: “why are you going out for a run? You're going to hurt your knees.” Or, “why are you doing that? That can't be good for you.” Just, you want the people who are there bringing you up, because training's hard and there's times we are down on ourselves. And then if, all of a sudden we're hearing something else, “oh, you should skip that workout. You don't need to do that.” And you, you want the people in the corner that are fully helping you reach your dreams, help you with your training, anything they can to support you.

Vanessa: Yeah, I think that's really a valuable tip for anyone, and something that is so wonderful about what we currently have with social media, is that these people don't necessarily need to be in your immediate surrounding. There's people that you can follow on social media that are inspiring to you and that will have those little pieces of advice or those little tidbits that say, “hey, I saw that you had done three workouts today and it was so inspiring.” You know, those are the kinds of people you can have in your corner, as well, even if you don’t actually know them.

Jason: Yeah, definitely. The I AM TriDot group is huge with the support. And meeting up for Saturday rides together with people you have never met, but you both have races going on, and you're both doing workouts, and you’re chatting over Zwift in the group ride. And, like you said, they're liking your Strava or giving you the kudos. It's so great to have that, you know, somebody who's going through the same thing as you and is there to lift you up and to keep pushing you. Maybe even pushing you on a ride or something that you weren't feeling it that day, and then everybody else is doing it, and you're like, “wow, they're doing it. I don't want to look like the slow one here,” or something. The adrenaline kicks in and off you go.

Vanessa: I think that we actually met for the first time on one of those Saturday group rides with the I AM Tridot group.

Jason: I’m sure, yeah. Definitely.

Vanessa: And it was great, because everyone is throwing around such positive affirmations and cheering everyone on. I know for myself, when I was first starting out in triathlon, I didn't have much support outside of the TriDot Facebook group and the Saturday rides. It was so valuable for me to have people who are like you, who want the same things, who have invested themselves in this sport. It's just so wonderful to have that community built up around you.

Jason: Oh, definitely, and especially if you don't have family and friends that are in the triathlon world. You start talking to them about it, and you get all excited, and you can see their eyes start rolling back, or looking off, and it’s like, is there somebody else I can go talk to? Or they're nodding their head, and, oh, you just finished an Ironman and they’re, you know, “how was that 5k run you did?” And you’re like, “no, what?” Having those, like you said, those same-minded people, and either they're new like you, or they’re veterans like you, and you’re going through the same things, and you know what they're going through and are able to help them and lean on each other when you need it.

Vanessa: Yeah. I often find when you're amongst people who are not in the triathlon space, or even just the ultra running space, they don't really want to know what you're doing, because a lot of times they feel that what they're doing is not nearly as good. So they don’t really want to hear about everything you’re doing. One of the cornerstones of being a triathlete is wanting to share everything about your entire training program, and your nutrition, and everything that goes along with it. So you have to find your triathlon friends, because they will legitimately be excited about what you're talking about.

Jason: Exactly, and they'll understand. Like, they’ll say, “hey, I'm leaving this party early, because I have an early workout in the morning, and I want to get a good night's sleep.” I have many friends that were, when I first started, thankfully they understand now, but they would, and I probably would have done it to them, too, if I wasn't a triathlete, but “no, you can stay,” or “you can skip that tomorrow, you need to stay out with us.” You know, “we're going to go to the bar, and we're going to have a great time.” And I'm thinking, no, I'm not. I'm going to feel like no good tomorrow. I'm not going to get that run or ride in, or swim. No, I want to have a productive day.

Outro: 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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