Endurance Unlimited

In the world of triathlon, Julie Dibens has pretty much done it all. From going top three in Kona, qualifying for the Olympics, winning a 70.3 and bagging many Xterra trophies, the laser-focused athlete is now a Boulder-based coach. She is dedicated to her local and remote athletes and fuels the squad with patience, empathy and cookies. Listen to Julie and Dirk review her career achievements and explore the present-day training challenges presented by COVID-19.

If you're stuck indoors with plenty of motivation and time to train, this is the episode for you! This week we interviewed the loquacious Michael Lovato, voice of IRONMAN Live and former pro triathlete. Michael discusses what it takes to be an IRONMAN commentator—from talking for nine-and-a-half hours straight to keep an eye on athlete power output, to even strategizing around limited bathroom breaks. He and Dirk also review his career highlights and biggest mistakes made during his time competitively racing. He even touches on how he's advising his athletes during the time of quarantine and distancing.

What do racing an IRONMAN and climbing the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat have in common? Perhaps more than we originally thought. This week, co-author of Training for the New Alpinism and Training for the Uphill Athlete, Scott Johnston sat down with us to chat about the training commonalities between 'traditional' endurance athletes and elite alpinists. We'll also explore the science behind Aerobic Deficiency Syndrome (or ADS) and how it feels to work with athletes such as legendary Alex Honnold and Kilian Jornet.

Coaches should always strive to build training according to their athletes' unique physiology, but how many of our training practices are weighted toward the male experience? Are you thinking about how nutrition and hydration affect performance? What about even coaching practices to increase beneficial bacteria in the gut? Dave sat down with Dr. Stacy Sims to discuss the topics above and many more. They spoke about bad and outdated science that has led to one-size-fits-all training, how hormones affect training in performance in both men and women, and about resources that can help coaches and athletes get to the bottom of claims from supplements and nutrition claims.

Anyone who has ever stood at the starting line knows how important confidence can be for athletes embarking on a difficult race. But, as a coach, how do you help instill that confidence in your athletes before race day? Dr. Nicole Adams has wrestled with that question much of her career as an endurance coach, sports psychologist, and an athlete. Adams recommends working with athletes to develop a healthy confidence, or self efficacy, based on training and preparation. Among other things, one of the tools discussed in this episode is a "confidence resume" or a list of all of the things an athlete has already accomplished in training that has prepared them for race day.

You have probably pushed yourself to your limit before during training or racing, but what if you could push further? As science continues to unlock mysteries about human limits and performance potential, evidence supports the idea that maybe our mind is much more important in endurance than we previously believed. Dave sat down with Alex Hutchinson, New York Times best-selling author of Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, to discuss his career and the findings in his new book. They covered how Hutchinson approaches sports journalism, what science tells us about human endurance, and how athletes can use that information to improve their performance.

Let's face it. Even driven athletes only have 24 hours in the day. Every athlete has limitations when it comes to how much they can train, but you should be taking more than just their available hours into consideration. Are you thinking about life stressors, recovery, and balance? All too often, athletes "burn the candle at both ends" as they try to make every workout count, and coaches sometimes only make matters worse. Coach Shayne Gaffney explores his approach to maximizing his athletes' time while training, even if that means taking some time off.

Starting your own coaching business is always a risk. This is especially true when you already have a successful career that you can depend on, even when your true passion might not lie there. Richard Thompson, while waiting for the Australian Supreme Court to rule on a case he was working on, found himself checking the latest results from IRONMAN Melbourne. That's when he knew that helping other athletes achieve their goals was the life he wanted to live. Since then, Thompson has helped build the successful T-Zero Multisport and is now giving back to the coaching community that has given him so much. After speaking to fellow coaches at TrainingPeaks University Melbourne, Thompson sat down with Dave Schell to discuss how he found his "why", how T-Zero approaches hiring new coaches, and how viewing coaching as an "infinite game" has helped him see past short-term wins and ultimately benefit his athletes.

Are you or your athletes struggling with GI issues, fatigue, and poor performance during races even after adjusting your nutrition strategy? You might be suffering from hyponatremia, an imbalance of sodium sometimes caused by over-hydrating. After suffering from hyponatremia himself, Andy Blow, co-founder of Precision Hydration, started his journey to help athletes solve their own hydration problems. Andy struggled with performance issues in hot, humid races, and discovered that his sweat was particularly salty. More importantly, he realized that there were effective ways to measure sweat composition and subsequently replace the water and salt as it was lost. Now, Andy works to help make sure other athletes have the hydration plans, supplements, and knowledge to perform better in challenging conditions.

As more endurance athletes turn to strength training to boost performance, it's becoming increasingly important for coaches to keep up with the latest science. Are you confident you're properly prescribing strength workouts for the biggest impact or are you just depending on the same old routines you're used to? Dave Schell sat down with Strength and Conditioning Coach Jess Elliot to talk more about some of the biggest mistakes she sees endurance coaches and athletes making in the weight room.

It takes more than athletic experience and luck to build a full-time coaching business. Advancing your business to the next level requires dedication to your athletes, organization, developing a coaching niche, and effective sales techniques. Have you spent enough time working on the tools that will help you build your business? Dave sat down with Coach Tim Ballintine from Koa Sports to discuss how he organizes his business, personal life, and training to maximize his effectiveness. Learn about some of the mistakes to avoid as you start your business and how Tim makes every athlete a priority.

Without proper recovery, training alone might not get your athletes to their goals. At the same time, how much of what we know about recovery is actually based on unscientific assumptions? You might be surprised at how much we don’t know about recovery. Dave Schell sat down Christie Aschwanden, author and lead science writer for FiveThirtyEight, to discuss her new book, Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery. They discussed topics like inflammation, sleep, and even New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to get to the bottom of our sometimes unscientific approach to recovery.

In its simplest form, training is a method of increasing biological stressors in order to increase performance in an athlete. But, how do coaches know when they push their athletes too hard and actually hurt their performance? This is especially important considering athletes encounter stress from more than just endurance training such as work, personal life, illness, and even environment. Dave sat down with researcher Simon Wegerif to discuss heart rate variability, a precise and easily measured metric that may help reveal when the body is overstressed and likely unable to endure heavy training loads. As even more information about the importance of effective recovery is published, coaches may want to consider adding heart rate variability to the data they monitor.

Endurance coaches have a lot on their plates already. They are physiologists, psychologists, nutritionists, motivators, voices of reason, scheduling experts, and friends. So, how are they supposed to fit "marketer" on the list, too? Dave sat down with triathlon coach, social media influencer, and business coach Jen Rulon to find out how she helps other coaches find their voice online while maintaining her own. They discussed how she built her online coaching brand, how she fits marketing tasks into her coaching schedule, and why she is dedicating herself to help other coaches build their businesses.

As the New Year approaches, you will likely hear about new diets and nutrition trends. At the same time, it can be difficult for even the most knowledgeable endurance athlete to separate the fact from the fiction. Are you prepared to the bust the myths around nutrition this year? Dave sat down with Asker Jeukendrup to get to the bottom of some of the most prevalent endurance sport nutrition trends. They discussed everything from how well ketogenic diets work to whether athletes should take salt pills to improve performance.

How do you approach goal setting with your athletes? Are you actually helping your athlete develop healthy, attainable goals? And, are your athletes' goals really what they're striving for, or do they have unstated, "secret" goals that they are ultimately judging themselves by? Dave sat down with Mental Skills Coach Carrie Cheadle to learn more about the goal setting strategies she recommends coaches work on with their athletes.

All too often, athletes and coaches are strapped for time and looking for new training methods to get the most our of their workouts. If you are familiar with polarized training, you already know that a smart mix of high- and low-intensity workouts might be the perfect solution. But, are you actually approaching polarized training all wrong? Dave Schell and Cody Stephenson sat down with renowned academic Stephen Seiler to discuss his research, how he applies it in his own training, and why you might be overcomplicating polarization.

In today's world of big data, is technology improving endurance sports coaching or is it just a distraction for coaches and athletes, alike? As the advancement of performance technology outpaces actual use, coaches are faced with staying on top of new developments while also sifting through a lot of noise. Are you prepared to get the most out of your athletes' data? WKO Product Lead Tim Cusick explains how he thinks coaches should approach the relationship between data and coaching. In addition to coaching high performance athletes, Tim leads the WKO team to develop and implement advanced data analytic tools for WKO software.

Ask anyone involved in endurance sports what the most important attribute in a coach is, and you will have a different answer every time. Is it the ability to coach with conviction? Is it incorporating your experience into your coaching? Is it motivating your athletes to simply adhere to their training plan? According to Coach Ben Day, it's a mix of all of these and more. Dave Schell sits down with Coach Ben Day to discuss how his experience as a professional cyclist has influenced the way he now leads other athletes. Day has worked professionally in cycling since 2002 and began coaching full-time in 2014 after retiring as an athlete. Since then, Day has coached many successful cyclists and triathletes and influenced countless coaches along the way.

The IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii are finally here, and weather conditions are shaping up to make it another challenging year. First, Dave discusses updated race conditions with Ryan Cooper. Then, Lance Watson joins the discussion to share lessons from his 30+ years of experience coaching triathletes to Kona.

For some triathletes, making it to Kona is the achievement they have strived for. For others, Kona is yet another chance to test their determination in a challenging, unforgiving environment. Regardless, all of the triathletes will face the same punishing heat, humidity, and wind on a course that is known for testing the best racers in the world. Dave Schell discusses this year's race conditions with BestBikeSplit Co-Founder Ryan Cooper, and then chats with Coach Simon Ward who has guided dozens of athletes to Kona over his coaching career. Simon raced in the Championship last year himself, and is busy preparing this year's crop of athletes to excel in the race.

Joe Friel has always given back to the endurance sports community he loves, but it was only when he faced an illness that left him on a training hiatus that he sat down to write the first of his many books. Since then, Joe has dedicated his life to endurance sports as the co-founder of TrainingPeaks and a triathlon and cycling icon.This episode, Dave Schell sat down with Joe to discuss how the story of the Training Bible series and TrainingPeaks began, how endurance sports coaching has evolved since the 1980s, and advice Joe has for coaches.

How much of an athlete's performance is dependent on their mental toughness? Chances are you already know mental toughness plays an important role in an athlete's ability to reach their full potential, but how can coaches help grow athletes mentally as well as physically?Dave sat down with Joanna Zeiger, triathlete World Champion, Olympian, the author of The Champion Mindset: An Athlete's Guide to Mental Toughness, and distinguished researcher in the field of mental toughness, to discuss her journey as an athlete and how it inspired her to help other athletes reach their goals.

Every athlete has a unique level of knowledge and experience. So how do you make sure you set them up for success in the on-boarding phase? Whether athletes don't understand what kind of equipment they need or sabotage their races by skipping over details, it's important that coaches try to get in front of issues by avoiding assumptions that can lead to disaster.Dave Schell and Cody Stephenson sat down with Coaches Taylor Thomas and Andrew Simmons to discuss past experiences, common challenges, and tricks they have learned related to the new athlete experience.

In the summer of 2013, Ryan Cooper took a few weeks off of work to answer a question: could you accurately predict a cyclist's performance using a fast, easy-to-use model? Over five years later, Ryan is the co-founder and chief scientist at Best Bike Split, a tool that helps cyclists of all levels develop optimal pacing and training strategies using proven technology. Dave Schell sat down with Ryan to talk about how Best Bike Split came to be, how athletes and coaches can get the most out of the software, and other optimal strategies to use before and during a race.