Interview with Triathlon Training Coach, Katie Malone. She owns Malone Coaching based in South Carolina. We cover what goes into training and equipment for those interested in triathlon races.
Katie can be reached at www.malonecoaching.com
Transcript
Suburban Folk 0:00
This is the Suburban Folk podcast episode five triathlon training with Katie Malone of Malone coaching.
I’m looking forward to having some real talk with some real folks. Hey, this is Greg with the Suburban Folk podcast. Today’s guest is Katie Malone, owner of Malone coaching based in South Carolina. They specialize in bringing beginners into the world of triathlons as well as coaching clients for the Ironman distance race. Katie herself has completed 30 Iron Man’s to date, and we talked about the equipment and training that go into a triathlon. For anybody that has any interest in competing in a triathlon. You’re going to learn a lot from this podcast. I know I did. Okay, today I have Katie Malone here with me and she owns her own triathlon training company. Katie, thanks so much for taking some time to join us on the show.
Unknown Speaker 0:53
Thanks for having me.
Suburban Folk 0:54
So a little bit of background of why I’m really excited to have you in the last couple of episodes. We were talking About my Disney World vacation and we did this, like all you can eat type of package, which you know, is essentially if you’ve ever gone on a cruise or anything like that you just have no stopping point. And of course on a vacation like that it’s hard to get in any kind of exercise and the triathlon world is definitely something that I’ve always really been interested in getting more information on. I, personally am a runner by background, but you know, I’ve been sort of intimidated by the swimming portion and by the biking portion, which I think we’ll get into quite a bit today. So so I’ll be really interested in your thoughts. And if that’s similar to maybe other people that you see. So can you talk a little bit about your background? In particular, how did you get into triathlons, let’s say from what you may have done growing up, maybe like, let’s say high school sports. And then and then when did triathlons become something that you really focused on.
Unknown Speaker 1:59
So basically triathlon has been something that I really always wanted to do from the time I was about six or seven years old, and I saw the Hawaii Iron Man on TV. So everything that I did in high school in college and in my life was always kind of leading me up to my Iron Man. My parents both biked. They would do hundred mile rides on the weekends. So I started riding with them when I was 10 or 11. And then my mother started running when I was in high school, and she was always beating me. So that was very motivational, because I did not like that. So you know, like I started reading in high school, because I was like, Well, you’ve got to be able to run. I would swim around the lake, but I did not swim well. So I would, I would struggle a lot with that. But I actually did my first triathlons when I was in high school, and real quick on the swimming because that’s something I’m really curious about. So was your first introduction. If you Swimming already, like in a lake, let’s say versus doing laps in a pool. Absolutely. We lived in a very rural area, and my parents were not going to be driving me all over creation to go to swim meets the way parents do these days. So I swim in the lake, I had no formal instruction. I was I wasn’t going to drown. But what I was doing was completely incorrect. Really, I was not efficient in any way, shape, or form. So I really, I got thrown into the lake at an early age and I had no fear. So that was all I had going for me.
Suburban Folk 3:36
Well, I’ll be curious of, you know, again, the transition from pool to leg. So it’s probably especially in the triathlon world good that you just started there. She didn’t know any different, let’s say because I imagine there is some amount of transition for people that have only done let’s say, like swim team or or just laps in a pool to keep in shape and then getting used to those open water swim. So that that’s sort of an interesting place to be. I feel like it probably was less of a trip. Transition at that point. And so you were doing triathlons. You said in high school, what were the distances?
Unknown Speaker 4:04
Back then it was really hard to find any triathlons. So the distances were usually it was about a mile swim anywhere from 20 to 30 miles biking and 10 K or six mile run.
Suburban Folk 4:17
Okay, and is this a 20 to 30? Is that that’s somewhere between a sprint and let’s say Olympic distance, right. Is that not on there?
Unknown Speaker 4:25
Yeah, that would be more aligned with an Olympic distance or international as they’re also called. Okay,
Suburban Folk 4:30
gotcha. And then what other types of activities were you doing at the time? I think for example, I’d read in your bio that you did soccer in high school. I think you mentioned track. Were there other activities that you were doing that sort of contributed to your interest in triathlon? So again, obviously you were doing it all at the same time. Did you have was that still sort of your number one focus even though you were doing other activities?
Unknown Speaker 4:56
Um, I grew up riding horses. That’s really what I started doing. And continue doing all through high school, but I also water skied competitively. I started that in high school. I really was working on being a very well rounded athlete in high school. My parents believed I should try everything, even if I wasn’t really good at it that I should go ahead and you know, go for it. Try things have fun. So my high school athletic career was really focused more on having fun and enjoying the journey. My parents never really pushed me being super competitive.
Suburban Folk 5:31
Cool. And you mentioned that how popular or let’s say not popular triathlons were and I know with with the title of this podcast being Suburban Folk, and I definitely feel like it has gained significantly in popularity, especially, you know, for us, sort of out in the suburbs. Have you noticed from your early on from from being in triathlons to let’s say now, especially with you mentioned the Iron Man, I think that’s really my first introduction. to seeing, you know, the Hawaii race on TV as well, what has been your experience with the seemingly rise in popularity of people participating in triathlons?
Unknown Speaker 6:11
Well, oh, it’s grown tremendously. I mean, back then what you have to remember for me, when I predicted my first I was 14. So that was actually 31 years ago, as a long time ago. I know it kind of hurts to say that now,
Suburban Folk 6:29
because it’s relative.
Unknown Speaker 6:31
It is. But
Unknown Speaker 6:34
I was lucky to be able to do maybe two triathlons just to find them geographically close enough to where I live. But now we have complete like a series in South Carolina, where I live, we can race at least once or twice a month. You can race for a year and prizes. I mean, we have a huge community of triathletes who’ve been racing for years. The growth I mean, it’s probably tripled
Suburban Folk 7:03
since I started for a typical race, how many people and from my standpoint, you know, when you talk about like just running races, right, there’s some massive ones. I mean, even when you do a marathon, right, you’ve got people with you the whole way. I’m guessing just based on the way a triathlon is set up, it’s probably not as many participants. So what is sort of the normal or typical number of participants in any given race.
Unknown Speaker 7:28
So for the races that we do in South Carolina, where we have a series, you’re looking at anywhere from 150 participants to maybe as much as 500. When you get into the Ironman distance, also the half Ironman distance, which is now called Iron Man, 70.3, because Iron Man’s 140.6 miles, so they kind of distinguish the names like that. When you get into those races, you can be racing with as many as 3000 other athletes.
Suburban Folk 7:58
Okay, and I will will admit that the reason that’s always top of mind for me, I’ve done one duel Avalon, which was minus the swimming and it was very different for me to have so many less folks, like I said, than just a running race where there’s people with you all the time. And granted, you know, I think you probably agree that you’re only racing against yourself, let’s say as far as personal record times, things like that, but I do have sort of a fear of ending dead last. So I think of in the triathlon miles like Oh, man, there are, you know, again, less people. So it’s quite possible, you know, that I would end up dead last in a particular particular race.
Unknown Speaker 8:35
I haven’t been last in a race before.
Suburban Folk 8:38
And in it, well, how did that stack up to your overall performance, let’s say up to that point, because that’s, I guess, the way to measure it, right?
Unknown Speaker 8:46
Um, you mean when I was last right? Um, I basically accidentally got into a race that was only for professionals. And this was before I knew what I was doing, and I was in Europe, and they assumed I had come all the way there for their triathlon. And when I went to line up, I realized I was standing on the line with Olympians. And this was not going to end well. And it really, it was, you know, it was quite an experience. And it was, it was good for me because I just had to push myself for my personal best, like you said, and the Germans, they were not terribly kind about me being last. And the newspaper wrote that I should stick to running is was their final commentary on my performance, because I ran very well. But at that point, I was no longer really in the game. So I had my own motorcycle escort and I just kept telling myself in my mind, it’s like I’m first I’m out here all by myself. It was an interesting experience, but it was good for me because I think everybody everybody needs to have That experience, especially as a coach, I have a much better understanding for how people feel.
Suburban Folk 10:05
Yeah, that was exactly what I was gonna ask, I assume without experience. And you know, depending on what the barrier to entry is for people new to triathlons, you can use that feeling, let’s say, to know what it’s like, you know, from the intimidation standpoint of, again, just doing something like that for the first time, for sure. And you mentioned the community. Now, that would probably be an example where maybe it wasn’t the most welcoming community because like you said, those are professionals. Olympians even talk about the community for just the greater public. You mentioned, South Carolina sounds like is just continues to grow. I know that in my head or not being part of that community. You know, there’s always the jokes about the CrossFit folks. Right. So sort of together and that kind of thing. Let’s use that as a comparison. Is it similar as far as the camaraderie is concerned and what does that community look like?
Unknown Speaker 10:59
For sure You’re in South Carolina, because we have this series of races, you tend to come together every few weeks with the same group of people who are from all over the state. So you get to know each other, you get to know each other’s families, you get to know, you know, when when people get pregnant, then have kids and then they start bringing their kids to the races. You know, it just becomes like this huge community. And it’s wonderful because I’ve made so many friends over the years, with people who I never would have met otherwise. But you know, when you’re out there racing, you cheer for each other, you encourage each other. It just, it makes it a much better overall experience, when you’ve got that kind of camaraderie out there.
Suburban Folk 11:47
Yeah, I would imagine and I assume, even from a training standpoint, is it typically groups of folks that train together at least when they can obviously time scheduled will always allow for that and is that that’s something That you try to put together for the people that you’re coaching that there’s, you know, again, sort of at least a group of folks that are able to train together.
Unknown Speaker 12:09
Groups definitely make it more fun. It’s very difficult because of people’s schedules these days. Most triathletes, I’m not going to say all but most have high, high level jobs, doctors, lawyers, professionals, and then they have kids and their kids have activities. So usually when I’m trying to plan somebody training, my main goal is to plan around their life. If we can fit some group workouts into that I always try to. On the weekends, a lot of times you’ll see bigger groups going out for rides. Sometimes I put on training camps. I have standard, open water swims that I do for my athletes, usually every other Monday. And all of those are very popular.
Suburban Folk 12:59
Yeah, no That would make sense again, like Jeremy in the running world, like sort of the Saturday, Sunday morning runs and stuff like that. Maybe goes and grabs coffee and stuff like that. And I know I really enjoyed that is just a way to break up the monotony of doing it all by yourself, let’s say. And so you mentioned the different lengths. And we just mentioned the time commitment. And of course, people have crazy schedules nowadays, what are those race lengths are from shortest to longest?
Unknown Speaker 13:28
So, races come in all different lengths these days, but the standard really is you’re going to have something called a sprint, that’s going to have a really short swim. That’s where I recommend that everybody start with that. And a lot of times they’re held in the pool, so you know, a little bit less intimidating, anywhere from 250 to 800 meters of swimming, then you’re going to bike maybe anywhere from 10 to 18 miles and a sprint and then the run is traditionally a five k Three miles. After that you have the Olympic or international distance. That’s usually about a mile swim about a 24 mile bike, and then a 10 K or six mile run after that, and so if you’ll notice these all kind of double in distance, so you have the sprint, the Olympic then you have the half Ironman, which is 1.2 miles 56 mile bike and a 13 mile run. And then you bump up to Iron Man, which is a 2.4 mile swim 112 mile bike and a 26 mile run, or 26.2. It’s a marathon.
Suburban Folk 14:40
Yeah, the full thing and like you mentioned, again, I’m taking everything from a runner standpoint that just on the running part is that sort of doubling whether it goes to the five k the 10 K to the marathon to the marathon so that that’s sort of in line I think with anybody that’s done any of those types of races of what you can can get to do you recommend For a new person to definitely you’re focused on a sprint, let’s say first get that under your belt and then decide on the next level. Does it make sense to say, Okay, I want to do this particular race and just go for it. What does that look like for somebody that’s brand new to the sport
Unknown Speaker 15:16
with trial Fanya usually have people come into the sport with maybe a little bit of a history and one of the sports. So it really depends on each person, if somebody comes to me, and they are a really strong swimmer, and maybe they’ve been biking and we just have to work on the running, they might start with something a little bit longer. But typically, I always advise people to start with a sprint, because experience trumps everything, you know, go to a race, kind of get a feel for the flow for the transitions. Because the time between your swim and your bike and your bike in your run, that’s called a transition, that time actually counts against your your overall time. So It’s worth kind of practicing those. And a sprint is also much less expensive to start with. So that way if you’re going to make mistakes, you just are making mistakes in a short race versus a race that you spent $300 on.
Suburban Folk 16:14
Yeah, let me hit the you mentioned the transitions and the things that I have read for triathlons confirms like you’re saying that’s a very specific focus, especially for competitive triathletes. For novices do is there as much focus on the transition as far as just what’s considered a good time or is there more focus on the activity that you’re working through? For example, I guess, would you be more disappointed let’s say with missing I don’t know that the time you’re looking for for the swim versus getting out of the water and transitioning, not being the time you’re looking forward to they have equal weight as far as what a goal setting should be.
Unknown Speaker 16:52
Politically, I don’t worry too much about specific time goals with the beginner. I focus more on process. goals like things the person should be thinking about or focused on during the race. Because I don’t, I don’t really like a time goal because that’s, that’s it’s too much based on performance and a beginner is really just trying to get through the whole triathlon, they don’t need to have a time goal yet, because we also have nothing to compare it to. So for beginners, I really recommend trying to have a super fast transition, because that really takes no skill other than getting dressed and undressed quickly
Suburban Folk 17:31
that and I’m glad to hear you say that because that’s kind of what I was thinking in my mind. And for example, one that comes to mind is like for the bikes, which we’ll get to of the clips versus clipless. And then when you get off the bike and how that goes and I guess, foreshadowing I’ll definitely ask you the question of going back to the transition for somebody doing it the first time like, you know, is it worth you know, investing in the, the shoes and having the clipless bike or not because all Ultimately, I assume, you know, there’s there’s just the fitness level of it in general, like you said, it’s sort of how quickly can you get dressed and dress, you know, for certain things. So that’s not necessarily a rating of, of overall fitness level. You mentioned the costs. And as far as starting with the sprint, which makes a whole lot of sense, again, I’ll reference back to the fact that I’m a runner, and one of the things when you go and read for running, it’s like, Hey, there is nothing more inexpensive as far as an activity is concerned as running because it’s the shoes, you know, and maybe some, you know, depending on what types of running shorts and stuff like that. I think obviously, when you get into the other two parts of the events for a triathlon as well as even the cost of entry, because that you don’t have as many people in there, so I assume that the individual cost is higher, but what are those costs associated with? training and equipment and then ultimately, the race itself?
Unknown Speaker 18:59
Hmm, good question. Okay, so we’ll start kind of with the training, you need to be able to swim somewhere in the summer, you can either swim in a lake or a pool. Sometimes you can just swim in your community pool and be fine with that. Other times you need to join like YMCA. So you know, you’re looking at anywhere from I’d say $30 a month to $50 a month for for a pool membership. And I’m just generalizing, of course. Then for the bike, you know, you have to have some sort of working bike. A lot of people just start out on whatever they’ve gotten the garage or they borrow a bike. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you kind of get it fit to you. You know, make sure the seat height is right. It’s a good place to start just to make sure you really like the sport before you invest in a bike. Anytime I talk about equipment, I’m always going to talk about investing and training. Again, it’s investing yourself. We Americans are great consumers, we love to spend money, you are going to spend that money, your disposable income on something. At least when you’re doing triathlon, you’re spending it on something that’s good for you. That’s healthy, and it’s going to be a positive in your life. So I always try to remind people like really look at it as an investment. So anyway, back to the bike, you need the bike you can borrow, you can start just wearing your running shoes. Usually I recommend using trail shoes because they have a harder soul and that way your foot won’t hurt on the pedal. Ideally, you are going to eventually work into actual bike shoes and pedals that clip on to your bike shoe. Right there. To start out, you’re looking at about $100 for the shoes, and the pedals are usually about the beginner pedals are another hundred dollars. So that right there is an investment but pedals and the shoes can go to your newer bike when you get a new bike they transfer over. So it’s not a cost that you’re going to incur anytime soon. And then running. Oh and good bike shorts. That’s the other thing on the bike. You want to have good bike shorts. And and this might be my hot tip for the day. When you are riding your bike and bike shorts. You do not wear your underwear under them. And a lot of people get really embarrassed when I tell them that but you know, no undies under your bike shorts and don’t share your bike shorts either.
Suburban Folk 21:36
That is it. Yeah, that is a really good tip. I’m happy to say I knew that one. What one other clarification though for the bike shorts is my understanding is there are the standard bike shorts which have I don’t know what the pads made up but a thicker pad let’s say if you’re just biking versus there’s also something called try shorts, right? That is more like a gel. That’s has a padding but it’s not as thick so that when you get off the bike and you go run, you know, it’s not as much in the way kind of assumed back to the chafing and that kind of thing is that. Is that true? I guess is my first question. And then is that what people should be looking for specifically for triathlons, like the try shorts versus the biking shorts.
Unknown Speaker 22:19
So for training, a lot of times I like to train and bike shorts because they have a little bit more padding. But you never want to actually swim or run and bike shorts. Because bike shorts, the pad is a lot thicker, and it’s kind of like running in a wet diaper. I’m not pleasant. It’s going to sag down between your legs because it’s so heavy. Just a matter imagine a toddler you know with a wet diaper on and that’s kind of what bike shorts are like. The try shorts have a very thin layer of cushioning in them. Honestly, it’s kind of like having nothing but they don’t sag down. They don’t have A seam that goes, you know, along any sensitive areas for men or women. That’s kind of where the big the big plus is with bike shorts or try shorts. There’s no seam that’s going to rub you. Hopefully,
Suburban Folk 23:13
that makes sense. And you confirmed what I was thinking that I’ve heard one of those primary differences is don’t go swimming like you said with the bike shorts cuz it’s just kind of suck up the water. And that’s that’s not going to work so well. When you go on to the to the different parts of the race.
Unknown Speaker 23:28
I see him every race. Every week, I see somebody running and running and a pair of wet bike shorts and they’re sagging down and I’m like, Oh, my heart just goes out to them. But I’m sure they’ve learned after their first race. They’re like, I’m never doing that again.
Suburban Folk 23:43
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I’m going backwards to the the time commitments. And again, like I said, we know people are very, very busy. I’m kind of going with the same length of races that we talked about. Can you give a high level of What the time commitment is at each of those levels from a day over day activity standpoint,
Unknown Speaker 24:09
okay, this is really General, but we’ll just say for a sprint triathlon, I would say you need to dedicate five to six hours a week of actual training. And when I talk about actual training, that’s time in the pool time running or time biking. So say five to six hours, that’s just for a beginner. for the, for the Olympic distance, you know, you’re looking at maybe seven to eight hours, ideally, you’re getting a little bit faster, so you can do a little bit more distance within that time. For a beginner, if they were doing an Olympic distance, you know, they might need more like 10 hours a week just because they’re not as fast. Then once you get up into the half Ironman, that’s where you start getting into longer distances on the bike, which is very time consuming. You can spend anywhere, I’d say on average on the weekend, two and a half to five hours biking. To prepare for a half Ironman, and then running, you’re going to spend, you know, you’re going to run anywhere from an eight mile run to a 15 or 16 mile run on the weekends, getting ready for a half Ironman. So you’re looking at, you know, depending on the level, again, anywhere from 10 to 13 or 14 hours to prepare. Well, for a half Ironman, sure you can do it on less. But you know, I’m just giving you averages, Iron Man training, you’re looking at anywhere from 12 to 20 hours a week, depending on the performance level that you’re looking for.
Suburban Folk 25:45
And for let’s focus on the Iron Man a little bit because I’m sure I speak for the general public when I say that’s the one that people see that distance say oh my gosh, how in the world could I possibly do that? day over day is that spread out? Relatively evenly day over day or what does the obviously I’m sure to recovery period is almost as much of a consideration as just getting the workouts in and getting the training in. What is like you said, generally speaking, everybody’s different, but what does that interval look like as far as day on day off? I imagine even for Iron Man’s, there’s probably even the consideration of two days, right?
Unknown Speaker 26:22
Yes, definitely. And again, it depends on what level you want to perform. Not everybody is out there to try to snag a Kona slot. But if you are you’re going to be doing two workouts on most, probably five days a week you’re going to have two workouts a day. You are going to be a weekend warrior if you you know if you work during the week, and that means Saturday’s are going to be pretty much committed to biking anywhere from three and a half to eight hours on the bike. Actually biking Then it’s not every weekend, you know, you can break it up. It just depends on the person and what they have going on in their lives. Then, on Sundays, you’re going to have your long run. And that’s going to be anywhere from, you know, 10 to 20 to 22 miles and it again, it’s not every weekend, you know, you you build into it, but weekends are big, big training slots.
Suburban Folk 27:25
Yeah, I would imagine just like you said, for most folks that are working that that’s when they would presumably have the most time to, to get it in and then I imagine on the weekdays, it’s early to rise to get the workout in and then if you are trying to get get it in afterwards, you soon as you’re done with work, you’re probably getting that inside imagine for those that are in that situation, that’s you probably don’t have a whole lot of time for any other extracurriculars. It’s it’s definitely the commitment for the period of time and what is I know I’m focusing on the Iron Man again, that’s sort of the extreme version obviously, but what is the typical period of time. So do you need to be ramping up, let’s say for nine months before the race six months before the race obviously depends where you’re starting at. But is there sort of an average window of start to when you would actually be prepared to finish something like that?
Unknown Speaker 28:15
It really depends on your level of fitness going into it. But typically, for my coaching, I always recommend that people do at least six months of coaching with me like they’re trying to get performance gains, because I always feel like we need a month to kind of settle in and understand what we’re doing. And then we have four months of really intense training. And then one month, you know, the last month, you’re kind of backing off, kind of just absorbing all that training because you don’t want to go into the race with any fatigue. And so that’s always kind of tricky. Some people it takes, you know, they recover in a week some people recover in 10 days. Some people need three weeks of really backing off the distances in order to feel good by race day. So that, you know, I always kind of look at those middle for months as as the meat of their training for people who have kids who have a lot of activities or for people who travel a lot and might not be able to work out every weekend, then we’re looking at more like six to eight months, because that way we can have more space in between workouts, we can allow for more recovery, but you still get the same training gains. So it’s, you know, every athlete I work with is different but there’s always where there’s a will there’s a way and I help them figure out what’s going to work best for their schedule because a lot of the schedules that you can purchase online, you know, it’s it’s set in stone. Here’s what it is and people don’t realize that you can kind of think outside the box.
Suburban Folk 29:52
Yeah, and I know even for the couple of going back to running the couple marathons I’ve done the first one I did a complete do it myself and And I’ll just leave it at I paid a little bit for, you know, my lack of knowledge. And then at least I got a little bit smarter for the next one. But you know, part of that is learning how everybody’s different, like you said, online just gonna be. Here’s the prescription and you know, good luck, let’s say without tailoring it to.
Unknown Speaker 30:17
Exactly, exactly. And really, you know, what I always tell people that I offer is I kind of cut the learning curve. You know, I’m going to take away those mistakes you would have made when but when you’re by yourself, because I’ve seen so it’s not just what I’ve done. It’s what I’ve seen others do. And so I kind of know like, areas that will get you in trouble. And so I can kind of steer people away from those. I can also usually sense when somebody’s overtraining just by their mood, heart rate variations and that sort of thing. I just kind of pay attention to that and say, Hey, you know what, I know you think you’re feeling great, but you’re really tired. You need a rest, and then we adjust the training accordingly.
Suburban Folk 30:59
Yeah, that’s That makes sense. And then one last question on again, the distance considerations. This is top of mind for me, I happened to read an article talking about, again, the time commitment for the Iron Man. And this article was saying the half is, you know, significantly more doable. Just, again, from what the overall time commitment is, and I forget what it said for the training, overall time, but at any rate, does that seem about right, let’s say for, I don’t know, x percentage of folks, maybe the half might be the place to look at, again, depending on on what amount of time they have. Again, assuming they want to do triathlons in general, what do you think? Is there an ideal sort of race level once you figure out the actually like doing them? Right?
Unknown Speaker 31:48
I think the half Ironman is really gaining in popularity right now. Um, I don’t know how long ago it’s maybe Gosh, 10 years. They kind of instated the world championships for the half Ironman distance. And that goes to a different city different country every year. This year, it was a nice France next year, I believe it’s in New Zealand. So what it’s and the year before it was in South Africa, so people are kind of getting on board with this half Ironman World Championships and trying to qualify, which is making it a little bit more competitive, a little bit more fun because you’ve really got like a reward like, Oh, I get to go to this foreign exotic country to do my, you know, my world championship race. I think that also the distance is a little bit easier to train for. It’s not quite as hard on your body. I know for next year, I’m probably only going to do a half Iron Man and not an Iron Man. Don’t hold me to that. But that’s kind of my plan right now just because of the time commitment. It’s hard when I’m out on the bike. All day, one day a week, I have a six year old. So I have to make sure that I make my training work around my life. And so I’m thinking next year I’m like, Yeah, I think I might just do the half Ironman. So nice distance.
Suburban Folk 33:15
Okay. Okay. Yeah, that that is good to know, again for I have small kids, and I think most folks that are listening to this probably are in that same situation. So that’s a good consideration. Now, I will say that, Allison, the person that you know, reference me over to you when she was doing her Iron Man, she was in town and we did a run. I know, it was part of what she was training for. And she was giving me some of the details. I think the How did the term she used was basically when the suggestion of an Iron Man comes up for somebody if they don’t have sort of an immediate know, then you know, you’re in you know, she was trying to get me interested in the whole world of at night. I didn’t give an immediate know, I’m like, you know, that does seem like it would be something really cool to say that I’ve done so And I think there’s a similar phrase for like a marathon when you do a marathon. If you don’t immediately say, I’m never doing that again, then you’re probably do What again? So is that is that sort of the basis for whether or not somebody is a, I’ll call it candidate to, to be motivated to do an Iron Man?
Unknown Speaker 34:14
I think it’s the lower of seeing how far you can push your body. And while the half Iron Man, in general, I think seems manageable to most people, the Iron Man is it’s kind of out there, like, Can I really do this? Can I finish this? And I’ll never forget, when I went into my first Iron Man, I really questioned whether I had what it was going to take to finish that race. And I mean, I had trained well, I was really in a good place to race, but you don’t know that ahead of time. And so it really, it pushes your mental and your physical limits. And I think that that’s really what the beauty of Iron Man is about is is you just you just don’t And it’s such a long day, so many things can happen. You got to have your highest highs and your lowest lows all within one day.
Suburban Folk 35:08
Yeah, which is, I think intimidating for most folks. But hey, to put it in perspective for your story, and we were talking about before we recorded, you went from, you know, where everybody else starts right of Can I finish this to now completing about 30 total Iron Man’s? Yes. So so it can be done and it sounds like there’s an addictive quality to it, maybe once the first one gets
Unknown Speaker 35:32
away. Definitely.
Suburban Folk 35:35
So again, as I keep alluding to, like I said, I’m a runner by background and sort of going through each part of the events of a triathlon. In order let’s start with swimming and I, my background there is that I found thrown into a pool or the ocean, whatever, I’m not gonna drown, but that’s about it. And I’ve really had to start from scratch to get any type of technique down as far as, you know, my stroke is concerned or time or anything like that even my breathing. So I’m curious if most folks that you get that are new to this. What especially for swimming, their their background is just, again, from my experience I did. I didn’t do any sort of swimming sports or anything like that. And I feel like it was a specific niche group that did that. So what is the again, what is the average we’ll call it level of background for folks that you first come in contact with for swimming? And then where do you go from there?
Unknown Speaker 36:37
So I think with swimming, first of all, it is my absolute favorite to coach because, like I said at the beginning, I did not grow up with a swimming background. I am not just some naturally talented swimmer. I had to learn how to swim as an adult swim correctly as an adult. So when I decided that I was going to call qualify for the Hawaii Ironman, which is the World Championships. I hired my first coach. And he looked at me swimming. And he said, Get out of the pool. Have it’s like, wow, Matt good. And he said, You are a mess. We have to start over. And so at that point, and I was probably 27. At that point, I got out of the pool and I completely changed my stroke, I had to start with all of these fundamental drills that the little swim team kids were doing. It It took a lot of effort on my part to learn how to swim correctly. But it also taught me a lot about body awareness in the water. Most people have no idea what their arms are doing, what their head is doing, what their body is doing in regards to their head, where their arms are when they should be breathing. And so when I teach, I really bring break it all down. And most good swim coaches are capable of doing that as well. And that’s why I always tell people, I’m like, go get help go to somebody who comes recommended as a good swim coach, let them look at you, and let them tell you where to begin.
Suburban Folk 38:16
Well, that’s encouraging for me, because I’m definitely one of those that probably people would say is just flailing in the water.
Unknown Speaker 38:23
So with technique, it’s all technique and technique can be learned. And then once you have the technique down, then you can really work on the fitness and the skills and the biggest thing was swimming. You know, you said you have trouble with your breathing. Well, of course you do. Because when you’re swimming, you can’t just breathe when you need to. You have to breathe in sync. It’s like you’re doing a little dance in the water. And until you’ve got that dance fine tuned. It’s not going to feel comfortable.
Suburban Folk 38:53
Yeah, that’s exactly right. And yeah, especially for while biking or running anything that’s not in the last You don’t have consideration. So I’ve definitely found that for sure. We hit equipment in the overview, and I would assume that well, let’s say for guys should, should guys just go ahead and get jammers or some version of Speedo rather than, let’s say, jumping in the pool and swim trunks.
Unknown Speaker 39:21
Well, um, I do joke with people that, you know, when I’m getting ready to get swim lessons online, you know, they’re like, what do I need to wear? And I’m like, Look, if you’re a man, I don’t want to see you in a speedo today. But, you know, jammers, they’re basically they look like tight bike shorts. Those are nice just because they keep everything in place, and nothing’s going to be where it doesn’t belong. So I think those are a good option. But honestly, to start out, you could just wear your swim shorts. It’s really not a big deal to start with when you get more advanced. Sure, you can go pick up a pair of speedos or some jammers, but You really don’t need them to start with
Suburban Folk 40:03
and how about goggles? Do you have nothing you know Sony to plug a specific brand or anything but if you do have one that’s your go to feel free to mention that but any considerations for goggles?
Unknown Speaker 40:15
Yes, for sure. And I don’t get any sponsorships or anything from goggles. I’m just going to tell you the ones I like. Aqua sphere makes goggles, they look a little bit more like almost diving goggles. They’re a little bit more comfortable to start in. They’re not quite as trendy with the swimmers, but you see a lot of triathletes wearing them. They’re just comfortable. Don’t leave them in your hot car because they will melt and then they won’t stick to your face anymore. Especially in South Carolina. That’s problem. The other goggles I like or the tear, it’s Tyr. That’s a pretty common brand. They’ve got lots of nice triathlete triathlon type goggles. You see a lot of swimmers swimming with something called Swedish goggles. And basically it’s where like the plastic just sticks onto your eye. And they’re very hard. If you get kicked with those on your face, it will cut your eye, like around the socket. So I recommend staying away from anything like that when you’re actually swimming in a group or in a triathlon.
Suburban Folk 41:23
That’s good to know and any other equipment. I don’t know if there’s, I might be completely making this up, but they’re like your plugs or something depending on if somebody is prone to swimmers or anything like that. Any other considerations for equipment?
Unknown Speaker 41:36
Yeah, I mean earplugs. I used to get a lot of ear infections. So I actually always wear silicone earplugs. You can get them at the at, you know, a CVS or a pharmacy. They just, you know, you roll them up in a little ball and put them in your ears and that way you’re not constantly getting water down your ear canal. You don’t necessarily have to start with those If you’re swimming in cold water having earplugs in is a huge benefit. Again, the silicone ear plugs they’re really comfortable, they kind of mold to fit your ear so they don’t hurt. I like those a lot. Typically when I start working with somebody, after a while, we might go to using hand paddles. I like the the tear that Tyr brand again, the catalyst paddle, but there are lots of great paddles for different styles of swimming, I guess or depending on what you’re doing wrong that you might be able to use. Most gyms or pools have kickboards available kickboard is a really good tool just to start with. So you can keep it pretty simple early on
Suburban Folk 42:47
the we touched on at the very beginning the pool versus the open water swimming. You mentioned the of course my other question around triathlons, in particular will be the group swims and I don’t want to get kicked in the face but I’m sure that’s a concern. iteration for part of it depending on how the start is so what do you recommend as far as pool to open water and then also preparations safety standpoint I would imagine getting ready for an open water swim and then just even getting used to for example visibility, I’m sure is an issue in the open water swim.
Unknown Speaker 43:20
Yes, for sure. So, going from the pool out into the open water, the main difference is that you don’t have that wall to push off of every 45 seconds or minute and a half however long it takes you to swim a 25 or a 50 depending on your pooling. So one thing I have noticed is that it it’s important to know how to tread water so that if you want to take a break, you can tread water. Also going from the pool out into the open water x Tara wetsuits makes these things called lava pants or lava shorts. Basically what they are is they’re like a pair of pants you pull on, but they give you a little bit of extra flotation. And so those are really nice, kind of a comfort type thing to use in the open water the first few times I have some people have problems with their body position and they use them a lot of the time just to really get a good feel of keeping the hips higher up in the water, higher hips, higher legs equals less drag. So that’s one thing that can help make open water a little bit more comfortable. Also, a lot of people have like swim buoys that they wrap around their waist and toe next to them. Those are nice because you can hang on them. You just blow it up and you can hang on it. When you’re out in the water kind of give you a rest. A lot of people think that those are super visible, and I can honestly say that from a boat if there’s any wake on the water, those little Those little swim buoys are really not all that visible. So if you’re on a lake where there are a lot of boats out, you want to stay close to the shore,
Suburban Folk 45:09
and are you allowed to use those buoys on a race? Or is that just for training?
Unknown Speaker 45:14
You know, I feel like I heard that you are allowed to use them in a race. But I haven’t seen anybody using them in a race. And personally, I would not be thrilled if I were in a group where a bunch of people had those trailing off of their, you know, trailing alongside of them because it just takes up extra room and you can get tangled up in it. I, so maybe they’re not allowed, which is why people aren’t using them. But I think originally they said that they were so you know, in a group if you’re out doing training, they’re nice because that way you can get a rest. But you know, I don’t really I think by the time you get to the race, you should be prepared to swim Your own.
Suburban Folk 46:01
And one other clarification when you mentioned treading water, which makes complete sense. What about that say versus just being able to float on your back if you need a break is there sort of a recommendation between the two
Unknown Speaker 46:15
it’s whatever you’re most comfortable doing. I’m treading water is going to keep your head up above the water and you’re gonna be able to see who’s coming. You know, and because if you’re in a race and you’re floating on your back, people are probably going to run into you or swim over you, which is just going to make you more uncomfortable. So treading water kind of allows you to be more aware of your surroundings
Suburban Folk 46:39
and then for a first race, I know there are Sprint’s that are in a pool. Do you recommend doing those again in the way to see if it’s something you’re interested in at all? Or do you recommend going right to an open water swim when you’re ready for to pick a race?
Unknown Speaker 46:57
Well for most people, I’m going to recommend Start in the pool just to get some sort of comfort level but also gain a little bit of confidence before they head out to the open water. A lot of times the open the pool swims or happened earlier in the season, when the open water is still really cold, cold, open water for your first for your first race. It’s a bad combination. Cold water kind of restricts your breathing makes people panic. It’s and a lot of times you need a wetsuit or beginners might not have a wetsuit so then they’re really cold. I definitely don’t recommend cold open water swimming for beginners.
Suburban Folk 47:38
Okay, yeah, that also makes a whole lot of sense. Um, anything that is worth noting that I missed for the swim and just you know from from when people first get started to getting prepared for a race.
Unknown Speaker 47:51
I think really going and, and finding somebody who can help you with your swim stroke finding like a good Coach in your area to actually put their eyes on you, I think is one of the most important things that people can do. I know it can be hard to find somebody but you know, these days there are a lot more triathlon coaches out there. There are a lot more swimming coaches out there who give private lessons but one private lesson will come back to you tenfold and the investment if you go to the right person.
Suburban Folk 48:25
Yeah, makes sense. I know even for like I said, the little bit I’ve been in the pool, he went just a regular you know, swim coach, it’s part of our gym was very, very helpful, you know, in identifying what I’m doing wrong, if nothing else, so I would definitely agree that that’s really really helpful. So so the next leg of course, is the bike. We talked about the equipment itself and that is a good idea. Yes, if somebody you know has a bike that would fit you that’s a great way to cut the cost when you’re figuring out what you whether or not you want to stick with the triathlons. What are The overall considerations when we say fitted for a bike, what does that mean? And then also, what types of bikes should somebody be looking for for a triathlon? Especially for the first time?
Unknown Speaker 49:10
I’ve seen people do their first trough on on like a hybrid bike, you know, like a city bike, I guess we could call it. I’ve seen people do them on mountain bikes with mountain bike tires or put slick tires on a mountain bike. You know, road bikes, old road bikes, new road bikes, cyclocross bikes, it really doesn’t matter for a sprint. It’s just that you have something that when I say fit you, I mean that the seat isn’t crazy high and where you can reach the handlebars comfortably and reach the brakes and you know how to shift those things can really help you out in your first triathlon.
Suburban Folk 49:51
Yeah, that makes sense. I will say like it’s for the dual apple and I did again coming up from the runner standpoint, as I see people zipping by me on these with seem to be very expensive bikes. Part of me is like, well, that’s not fair, you know, I might be putting in more effort. But you know, they’ve got the equipment, let’s say that’s gonna let them go faster versus like running or swimming. It’s, you know, just sort of you and, and the activity that’s going on. So my competitive spirit comes out from that standpoint. But again, for the people that are first trying the sport that makes sense to just get out there shifting for sure, which I will say get for myself can be I think, a steeper learning curve. If you’ve been off of a bike since let’s say you were a kid, then you might expect as far as you know, negotiating the hills and making sure you’re not, you know, coming up the hill and fiddling with the shifters and you don’t have a good kick. You know, that that kind of thing is more nuanced, I think, than people probably realize.
Unknown Speaker 50:46
Definitely, definitely. That’s my biggest tip on that is your right hand, shifts the rear and your left hand, shifts the front chainrings and gives you a lot of change. Left hand gives you a lot of change. So if you’re going up a hill or down a hill, you’re probably going to need to shift with your left because you need a lot of change. Yeah,
Suburban Folk 51:08
yeah, that’s a good good rule of thumb. And like I said, even from from my bike, I took a little while to make sure I knew like, like you said, the left versus the right. And we again, we hit before the Eclipse versus clipless. Sounds like out of the gate, you know, like you’re saying, probably go with Eclipse for the for the first round. And then if you are going to do any additional races, probably worth the investment to get the clipless shoes. Similar to what we’re talking about with the shifting my understanding is, there is a bit of a different way to pedal when you get the shoes for example, by and large, you’re only you know, really pushing off when you’re pushing down on the pedal. But when you’ve got the clipless shoes, you’re getting some extra effort when you’re pulling back up because the shoes are connected to the but
Unknown Speaker 51:50
yes, you’re correct. So you can actually pedal all the way around the pedal stroke when you’re using clipless. But one thing just because somebody People here might not know about clipless and clip pedal holson. When we’re talking about clipless pedals, this means you’re actually connected to the pedal with your shoe. And, and clip, old school clip, that’s basically where your foot is just resting on top of the pedal. And so, you know, the clipless pedals allow you to really pedal a lot harder and, and create a lot more power from your pedal stroke.
Suburban Folk 52:31
And then again, from the equipment standpoint, obviously, especially with bikes, there’s so many different considerations, but off the top of your head, are there any certain models that you would point folks to if they get to the point where they’re in the market to purchase a bike, similar with the shoes, any type that you prefer, or tell people to use
Unknown Speaker 52:51
typically with a beginner triathlete? You know, depending on their comfort level, I’m going to recommend that they start off on a road bike and usually road bikes are pretty easy to find used, you know, you might need to just figure out what size you’re looking for. But a road bike is a really great place to start it’s not quite of such an aggressive position the way a triathlon bike is. So I think road bikes are typically what I’m going to direct people towards to start with
Suburban Folk 53:21
and another end of my hat as far as helmet considerations Now I know that you know, you can’t sell a bike helmet without a certain safety rating in general now I assume when you get into considerations for drag and you know that being a detriment to speed there’s probably a lot of different options but again for for Birgit beginners is it that hey, every helmet out there has got a you know, minimum safety rating so you can’t go wrong with whatever you get or is there some other considerations that you should have him for the helmet.
Unknown Speaker 53:53
I’m really for the helmet, but the main consideration is that it fits you correctly. All helmets that you buy that are out there. You You know they have a certain rating, they’re going to be up to standards when you buy it off the shelf. The biggest thing I see beginners doing is buying helmets that are too big, or they’re not positioning on them on their head correctly, the helmet actually needs to sit across the middle of your forehead, so it’s covering your frontal lobe. So if you do fall off your bike onto your head, that you’re protected, I see a lot of women with their their helmets tipped way back on their head. So if they were to fall, they would actually hit their forehead. So I think that that’s the biggest consideration. Helmets do come in different sizes. They usually come in small, medium and large. So you know, you have to make sure you’re getting the right size. even try it on before you buy it, because they’re not all the same size.
Suburban Folk 54:48
Yeah, yeah, that definitely makes sense. I would also think for keeping it down that hey, just keeping the sun out of your eyes, if it’s a sunny day is another incentive to, you know, make sure that it’s as low as it needs to be and that it fits correctly. So That definitely makes sense.
Unknown Speaker 55:02
Sunglasses. You gotta wear sunglasses with your helmet. Because of the bugs and road debris, you need to protect your eyes. So sunglasses really aren’t just a fashion statement on the bike they are for your safety.
Suburban Folk 55:17
That’s that is good to know any I tend to cheap out admittedly on my workout sunglasses, do you have any recommendations for for a good brand to look for?
Unknown Speaker 55:28
Again, it comes down to fit. I have a really narrow face so I end up wearing kids oculis because they fit my face really well. They’re not going to fall off. I hate it if sunglasses are sliding down my nose when I’m trying to race or train. But I always will will have sunglasses on my face. Okay,
Suburban Folk 55:49
yeah, that makes sense. And I yeah, I tried to do the same for whenever I’m out on the bike. So I’m glad that I’m doing what you’re supposed to do, at least for that part. No pun intended transitioning from the bike to the run. And like I said, For myself, that’s where all of my fitness activity has come from. But I think there’s definitely a consideration from when you get off of the bike. And I don’t know if rubber legs is the official term or not, but that feeling when you first get off and start your run any any tips for sort of working through that to get your stride better? What other considerations when you go from the bike to the run? Are there?
Unknown Speaker 56:32
Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever paid much attention to your running cadence Do you?
Suburban Folk 56:38
Um, as far as like number of strokes or from what standpoint or I mean,
Unknown Speaker 56:44
number of steps per minute. Have you ever literally,
Suburban Folk 56:47
okay, no.
Unknown Speaker 56:48
So for triathalon ideally on the bike, when you’re racing, you can hold a cadence of close to 90 and for running to be super efficient. The ideal cadence is also 90. Now, this doesn’t mean that you run a lot faster and you know, take big loping strides, it actually means that you really shorten your stride. You’re very collected when you’re running. And so basically, it’s a super fast shuffle when you get off the bike, because your quads are usually a little bit tired. You know, you’ve been using your hamstrings, your glutes on the bike. So if you get off and you just work on this really quick little stride, it will get you going and then within a mile or two, you know, you’re kind of, then you can ease back into your normal running stride, ideally, still with a cadence of 90. But to start with, it’s super little quick steps, swinging your arms really fast to get those legs to follow. It makes a huge difference. So almost like
Suburban Folk 57:54
I don’t know why I think we’re swinging the arms I think of like power walking so like a really sped up version. To some extent of really using your arms and and chop, yes,
Unknown Speaker 58:02
yes, it does feel very choppy, it doesn’t feel fluid, it probably does not look very pretty either. But it’s very efficient, very effective, and you can run pretty darn fast like that.
Suburban Folk 58:15
Okay, that would definitely be something for me to practice on. Other things and again, I sort of went to the writing part, anything that we didn’t cover on the bike that you think is worth noting,
Unknown Speaker 58:26
if you’re gonna buy a computer, that one that does cadence.
Suburban Folk 58:31
Okay, does that make sense? Um, anything else for Can I know I’m jumping around a little bit between the two. Fine, but for running, I’ll say for myself, I sort of do what’s natural. I know that people that I see that first get out into it is they’ll clench their hands and I always tell them like Hey, stay loose, especially with it with your upper body because that’s gonna, you know tire you out more than you realize. And obviously, you know, don’t go too fast to the pace that So the suggestion of if you can’t talk comfortably while you’re running, then you’re probably going too fast. One that I was curious if you have a recommendation on or something you’ve heard of is the concept of coming down on your heel versus on your toes, or staying up on the balls, your feet. I definitely do the heels and which is, you know, it can definitely be harder in your joints. I know. But, you know, anytime I try to step on my toes, it doesn’t last very long. So is there a different consideration for triathlon running and you can definitely tell me I’m just doing it all wrong. I won’t be offended at all or any other considerations for running without hurting yourself again, especially from Joy’s because you always hear that for running a field like
Unknown Speaker 59:46
so again, you know, if I see somebody running and landing on their heel, it’s not so much a product of where you’re landing on your foot, but where’s your body in regard to your feet like are you kind of back the hind your feet, or are you landing over your feet, ideally, you’ve got your whole body kind of stacked, so that you’re not leaning back and having that foot way out in front of you. But you’re also not like bending over at the waist and falling forward, you want to be standing up nice and tall, you want to be taking a little bit shorter stride, so that you can allow that foot to land more underneath your knee directly underneath your knee to absorb some of the impact with your knee. Versus basically putting on the brakes with every single stride and over striding a little bit and landing on your heel, which is going to send the impact directly up into your knee and then into your hip. It just doesn’t allow for real efficient running. And chances are if you’re doing that, if you start looking at what your actual cadences while you’re running you’re going to find that your cadence is probably a little low. So shortening your cadence up might really be able to help you be more efficient. And avoid injury. You know, it’s not just about what you’re doing at the moment, it’s about what are you doing long term, but yeah,
Suburban Folk 1:01:07
for sure. And again for myself why I am interested in the triathlon world is because I’ve definitely gone through, you know, the knee aches the actually I’m sort of going through what I think is plantar fasciitis right now. And and you know, some of the wear and tear that can come with running and so at least, you know, mixing it up with the biking and swimming can, you know, limit at least the the impact that you have that, you know, sort of more typical with the running world, for sure, for sure, but also like with your run, if you stand still, and you march like with your legs, the way your foot hits the ground when you’re marching is really almost the ideal foot strike when you’re running that toe. Like if I’m looking at you running towards me, your toe should never be up. I should never be able to see At the bottom of your shoe when I’m standing in front of you, does that make sense? It does. And that’s interesting because that’s what I’m probably guilty of, I’m sort of thinking of my run races. And yeah, but I probably could see the bottom of my shoe and sort of the mid stride. So you pick
Unknown Speaker 1:02:15
up the knee and let the foot drop to the ground, the foot is really just dropping to the ground. Ideal foot strike, I wouldn’t really say it’s on the toe, it’s almost a flat, neutral strike on the ground. But again, it’s not so much about just where your foots touching the ground. It’s what the body over your feet are doing. You know, it’s like your body position. Just things to look at. And if you ever run on a treadmill, watch yourself in the mirror, watch your shadow when you’re running. Where is your body or your legs out in front of you is your body behind? Just things to think about? Yeah,
Suburban Folk 1:02:50
yeah, know that. That’s all really good considerations. And, again, to help if nothing else, I think prevent some injuries and I will even say again, as we go through Sort of equipment and stuff like that. I have definitely gone the gamut of a wearing shoes for too long to where they’re not providing the right amount of support and be just you know getting basic, let’s say department store shoes that that don’t necessarily have the support that I need for the way that I run so I would encourage folks to you know, don’t don’t skimp out too much. It goes back to what you said in the beginning of hey you’re spending money on yourself so in this world that we live in, yeah, yeah, for sure. And you know, not to get into the health care world too much but the the prevention you know, is is key and will save you heartache down the road so I would definitely encourage folks that are new to running to have those considerations and like I said, Don’t just be you know, necessarily buy something off the rack because you could quite literally pay for it later. And in the form of injuries. Anything else in for running and we talked a little bit before recording about your consider For nutrition sort of again, that that rest period when you’re not doing training, so I thought maybe we would hit that for a little bit. Before we, before we end our episode here.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:09
Oh, I think that’s everything on running a bit. But again, with running, you know, if you feel like you’re having trouble, find a good running coach and let them actually put their eyes on you. Have them do a video of you and, you know, point out and do it in slow motion and point out what you’re doing. It’s amazing what a slow motion video will reveal
Suburban Folk 1:04:30
there. Yeah, very interesting. That makes me think of I’m a sort of golfer, and I know you can do some more with that. And so I’m assuming very similar concepts that Yeah, when you see it, and you slow it down, it’s like, oh, yeah, there’s, there’s a lot of things that can be tweaked and made better. So that that makes a lot of sense. And so like I mentioned, we hit nutrition. When we touched base prior to recording our episode, just high level, what are the guidelines that you give to your clients as far as Hey, don’t do these things to completely erase your workout, say, whether it’s eating or even just rest in general.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:06
So, I think that there’s, there are so many trends out there right now for eating. And I think a lot of them are very confusing and difficult to put into play in real life. So what I recommend is, you know, if you’re working out for two hours of the day, you have another 22 hours in your day, that you need to be mindful of what you’re eating, or what you’re, you know, putting into your body. I think trying to eat a lot of fruits, a lot of vegetables for women, especially making sure that they get enough protein because a lot of women don’t. Those are really important considerations. You don’t have to make it overly complicated. You’ve got to keep it as simple as possible.
Suburban Folk 1:05:56
So that makes sense to keep it simple and of course, the protein It’s something you always want to focus on for whenever you’re training for something as intense as a triathlon. So keep it simple. Does that mean you know, fruits, veggies, stay away from highly processed foods, obviously, in the proteins? What does that mean to you?
Unknown Speaker 1:06:17
Keeping it simple to me really means, like eating a balanced meal, you know, you have your carbohydrates, your protein, your veggies, eating some fruits. It’s really all the stuff you learned in grade school about eating well, those still apply. It’s just we all seem to have forgotten them or we’ve made it really complicated.
Suburban Folk 1:06:37
Yeah, I know. I’ve seen a number of documentaries that talk about again, like the processed foods, but they never quite get to what you should be doing. And again, it would be nice to have just a roadmap and keeping it just here’s the things that eat here’s the things to avoid. Here’s sort of the you know, snuck in sugar or complex carbohydrates stuff. Like that. So sometimes can get a little bit complicated and what’s your take on? Like the power bars or things like that? I know obviously during races, you’re eating significant things, let’s say that people wouldn’t necessarily associate with exercise. But even in between do you do you subscribe to again, like power bars or other types of supplement type of food like that?
Unknown Speaker 1:07:22
No, I don’t, it’s not something that I choose to eat. I don’t really like the way they taste. Most of them, I mean, I’ve got to be starving to take a bite of a power bar or any bar in general, are more likely to eat a banana or even apple. And again, that kind of goes back to keeping it simple. eating real food eating food that either you know grows on a tree comes out of the ground or comes from an animal. You know, I just try to keep it simple even with my nutrition in between workouts during races Get a lot of my calories from sports drink their specially mixed sports drinks, that you can have custom made for you with a certain amount of sodium in them to kind of support you know if you’re heavy sweater or not. And then since I’m a woman, I can tolerate about 250 calories per hour, much more than that I’m not really going to be able to digest that’s kind of on the high side, I had to learn to be able to take that much in. Everybody’s different. You can’t really generalize when it comes to what you’re taking in during a race. But when I’m not racing when I’m on bike rides, you know, long rides in general. Typically, I’m going to take a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with me. I might eat a banana along the way. And if there’s a bakery, I’m going to stop and treat myself maybe to like a granola you know, like some natural granola or something that’s homemade.
Suburban Folk 1:08:59
It is Similar for race day is that the similar types of things that you would either stop and eat? And I’m not really sure if it’s similar to again, like running where there’s stations for water and then you’ll hit some that have the gel packs or something like that. Is it similar for the longer races? And do you eat some more types of things on race day.
Unknown Speaker 1:09:20
Um, sometimes I will eat what they have on race day, but typically, I’m going to try to stick with what I’ve been using and training. So halfway through an Iron Man bike, I might have a half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I like rest Krispie treats because they’re really I love them. I don’t eat them that often. But on race day, it’s a really nice treat. I want to eat it. And because you might not necessarily feel like eating during race. It’s really important to have something that you like a lot so that when you get to it, you’re gonna be like, Oh, I’m gonna eat that. My Nutrition on race day isn’t necessarily as clean as what it is on a day. Today basis, but I also like pinwheels. They’re like little, you know, danishes, almost a lot of times I’ll eat one or two of those during a race because they taste good. And I like them. So I’ll eat them. You just need calories and you need stuff that’s really easy to digest. And so that’s where I, I kind of get away from my healthy everyday eating.
Suburban Folk 1:10:26
Well, that’s, that’s one of the fringe benefits, I would imagine is being able to eat pretty much whatever you want within somewhat reason. But yeah, when you’re doing something that strenuous, you I assume some of the limitations in your everyday diet go away. So like you said that sugar shot or something like that, especially while you’re in the middle of it is not only reasonable, maybe something to look forward to while you’re going from station to station,
Unknown Speaker 1:10:49
but also things that are easy on your stomach and really easy to digest. One thing that I will eat sometimes when I’m training and doing really long training runs, is I eat either sweet potato nose or just regular boiled potatoes, rolled in sea salt. And like for the sweet potatoes, I’ll just roast them in slices and I’ll carry slices in a little plastic bag with me.
Suburban Folk 1:11:12
It’s really great nutrition and it’s all natural. It gives you everything you need. And do you recommend typically for your clients to meet with a nutritionist? Or I’m sure, again, it depends on where they’re coming from, what their habits happened to be. But generally speaking, do you find that it’s a big help for folks or kind of supplemental to the overall training?
Unknown Speaker 1:11:36
I honestly can’t say that. I’ve seen a huge benefit in that. And maybe it’s just because I haven’t found the right dietitians to work with yet. But in general, you know, I think it can be helpful if people have really like they have restrictions in their diet, but most people If they clean up their diet, and they’re getting enough calories and fluids in, during training and racing, then they’re going to be fine. I maybe I’ll hit you up
Suburban Folk 1:12:09
later for if you find a specific nutritionist to work with, because I know at least for the podcast, I’d love to round out some of my health and fitness episodes and just the content that we have based on certain restrictions or certain recommendations from a neutral.
Unknown Speaker 1:12:25
I do have someone who I would recommend, so I will, I will tell you that offline. Perfect,
Suburban Folk 1:12:31
that sounds great. Well, I think that’s really all the questions that I had. There was one other that I looked back at my notes and I realized I skipped this is back to the biking section. And of course, I feel like for running and biking, ideally, you’re outside in the elements just like you would be for race day, but that’s not always going to be the case especially when the winter months come and for running. Of course it’s a treadmill, presumably that you’re using indoors. But I know for For the bikes, most people think of a stationary bike. But there’s also I believe, that are called bike trainers, but that you hook the back of your bike to so that it’s stationary. And then that way, I guess you’re getting some of the feel of your own bike, do you have a recommendation on the bike trainer versus a stationary bike and again, any recommendations for a particular brand or one that that’s your go to,
Unknown Speaker 1:13:24
um, I really stay away from the stationary bikes in the gym, because unless you have no other options, it just puts you in a very different position than your real bike. I always recommend using a trainer instead of a stationary bike. I like the wahoo direct drive. It’s called the wahoo kicker. And basically what this is, is you remove your rear wheel, you attach your bike onto the cassette that’s actually on the trainer. And this is a smart trainer, which means it will connect to your computer. And then you can download workouts or ride on an app called Swift. And it kind of drives your trainer. So it gives you the feel of riding outside, it makes you work really hard. It gives you power output. It is it is as close to riding outside as you’re going to get. But it’s very beneficial.
Suburban Folk 1:14:23
Yeah. Which makes sense to me. I mean, you know, my bike, gotten very used to so there’s something nice about being able to just use that indoors or outdoors. So something I may be looking into for sure. Well, like I said, I think that’s really all the questions that I had, unless anything has come to mind that I didn’t ask or we didn’t cover. For anybody that would want to get a hold of you for just general questions, kind of like I’ve been asking or if they happen to be in your area. Do you want to offer any contact information or other sources?
Unknown Speaker 1:14:54
Sure. I mean, you can. I’m on Instagram as try coach Katie on Facebook. Just as Katie Malone or Malone coaching, and then also I have a website, it’s Malone coaching.com.
Suburban Folk 1:15:07
And I imagine again, even going back to the community we were talking about if somebody is not in your area seems like a pretty tight knit group, you probably know a lot of different training companies in different areas. So even if it’s somebody that you couldn’t physically see, you probably would be a good resource to point somebody in the right direction.
Unknown Speaker 1:15:25
Definitely, definitely. And you’re up in Virginia, correct? That’s right. Cuz my coach actually the gentleman that coaches me, he lives in Blacksburg so it’s kind of a small world.
Suburban Folk 1:15:36
Yeah, yeah, that’s, that’s not too far. So who knows? Once I get a little further in my journey, maybe I’ll do a little little bit of networking there. And one more time, Katie, I appreciate you coming on. And we will talk
Unknown Speaker 1:15:48
later. Thank you very much.
Suburban Folk 1:15:51
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai