The Lonely Triathlete

Todd Sauder

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Sport
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An age-grouper with 25 years of experience overcomes a life altering brain injury and starts hitting the podium. Be motivated and inspired as he recounts the daily grind of an amateur triathlete and join the growing community on Patreon. You don't have to be a lonely triathlete anymore!

4 days ago

I Need a Pro

I don't want to leave any stone unturned for my turn at the World Championships. I need a professional that can help me spot weaknesses before they cause a problem. So, who does that type of work? Finding them has proven a bit of a challenge. Come join the fun at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete TRANSCRIPT THE LONELY TRIATHLETE Episode: Finding the Right Athletic Therapist There's a funny thing I've discovered about being a triathlete as I get older. I'm becoming increasingly interested in things that have absolutely nothing to do with going faster. Well... that's not entirely true. I'm becoming increasingly interested in things that will allow me to go faster without breaking myself in the process. And that has led me down a bit of a rabbit hole lately. I've been trying to find an athletic therapist—or physiotherapist, or whatever the appropriate professional is—who can look at me and say: "Okay, Todd. You're 58. You're doing all this swimming, cycling and running. Here's what you're doing well, here's what you're doing badly, here's what's missing, and here's what I'd change." Not because I have an injury. I don't. And that's actually the point. I'm looking for somebody who can help me be proactive about my strength and conditioning and injury prevention. And I've discovered that finding that person is apparently harder than I thought. So let me tell you about my first attempt. THE ASSIGNMENTI went looking for a physiotherapist because I figured physiotherapists know bodies. They understand movement. They understand injuries. They understand rehabilitation. And I thought, surely there are physiotherapists who also work with athletes who aren't injured. That's what I wanted. I wasn't looking for somebody to tell me how to recover from a torn Achilles. I wanted somebody to look at my current strength program and say: "Does this make sense for a triathlete?" Because I've spent a fair amount of time developing my strength routine. I'm not interested in becoming a bodybuilder. I'm not trying to see how much I can deadlift. I want the minimum necessary strength stimulus that produces the maximum possible benefit for triathlon performance, while minimizing the risk of injury. That's the sweet spot I'm looking for. And I wanted somebody with enough expertise to tell me whether I've actually found it. Maybe I'm missing something obvious. Maybe I'm doing an exercise that provides almost no benefit for triathlon. Maybe I'm doing too much. Maybe I'm not doing enough. Maybe there's some glaring imbalance in my mobility or strength that I'm completely unaware of. That's the kind of professional eye I wanted. And I also wanted to talk about my injury history and perhaps get some advice about injury prevention. And, somewhat optimistically, I was also hoping to have somebody look at my supplements. Not necessarily prescribe anything—just look at what I'm taking and say: "Yeah, that makes sense." Or: "Why on earth are you taking that?" Because there's an awful lot of nonsense in the supplement world, and I'd rather have an informed professional challenge some of my assumptions. So that's what I thought I was going to get. WHAT I ACTUALLY GOTI went to see this physiotherapist. We did an intake. We talked about my history. We talked about injuries. We talked about what I was looking for. And then... I squatted. And squatted. And squatted some more. And at some point I found myself wondering: How many squats are we doing here? [Laugh] And then there was some walking around the office. And some twisting. And some questions about whether I felt tight here or tight there. "Does that feel tight?" "Does that feel different?" "How about when you rotate?" And I'm thinking... Okay. I'm not a physiotherapist. I don't pretend to know what an appropriate physical assessment should look like. But this didn't feel particularly objective to me. It felt very cursory. Very rudimentary. And I didn't come away thinking: "Wow. This person has identified three things about my body that I never would have known." Instead, I was thinking: "I just did a lot of squats." [Laugh] And then things took a turn that I wasn't really expecting. I ended up on the massage table. And he performed something called visceral massage. Now, I'm going to be careful here because I'm not interested in turning this into a podcast episode about something I don't fully understand. There are people who believe visceral manipulation or visceral massage can have therapeutic benefits. Fine. But it wasn't what I had come looking for. And what really confused me was the explanation I was given for how problems with your internal organs could potentially contribute to pain elsewhere in your body. The basic idea, as it was explained to me, was that inflammation or tension involving your organs could somehow contribute to systemic inflammation and ultimately manifest itself as things like back or neck pain. And I remember sitting there thinking: Okay... [Laugh] I'm going to need a little more evidence before I'm signing up for a regular organ massage program. And again, maybe there's something to it. I'm not qualified to say there isn't. But that's another important distinction I've learned through this whole process. I don't necessarily want somebody who believes the same things I believe. I want somebody who can explain to me what they believe, what the evidence says, and how confident they are that it applies to me. That's a very different thing. AND THEN... NOTHINGAt the end of the appointment, we talked about potentially working together. He said he could help me with massage. He said we'd talk about my exercise program. He said we'd talk about my supplements. He even mentioned hydrogen water. And I thought: Okay. Maybe this is going somewhere. And then... Nothing. I never heard from him again. No email. No follow-up. Nothing. And I was disappointed. But after thinking about it, I don't actually think the lesson is: "That physiotherapist was terrible." Maybe he wasn't. Maybe he would be fantastic for somebody with a completely different set of needs. Maybe his approach works very well for some people. Maybe I just wasn't his ideal client. And maybe—and this is important—I didn't do a particularly good job of explaining what I wanted. Because I think I had this idea in my head that when I said: "I want a performance-oriented assessment of my strength and conditioning program, with injury prevention as a secondary goal..." that would be self-explanatory. Maybe it wasn't. WHAT AM I ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR?So I started doing some research. And I've spent a surprising amount of time trying to figure out what the hell I'm actually looking for. Because I think I've realized that I'm not really looking for a conventional physiotherapy appointment. I'm not injured. I don't need rehabilitation. I'm looking for somebody who understands endurance athletes. Ideally somebody who understands triathlon. And even better, somebody who understands the particular problems that come with being a middle-aged—or, apparently, officially an older—triathlete. [Laugh] Because the questions I'm asking aren't necessarily: "Why does my knee hurt?" They're more like: "Is my right side weaker than my left?" "Is there something about my hip mobility that could eventually cause a problem?" "Is my strength program addressing the things that matter most for swimming, cycling and running?" "Am I wasting time doing exercises that aren't giving me much return?" "Is there something I'm neglecting?" "Does my strength program complement my endurance training—or is it interfering with it?" Those are the questions I want answered. And perhaps most importantly: Is there something about me that I can't see because I'm too close to the problem? That's where I think a good professional can be incredibly valuable. TRY NUMBER TWOSo I've gone back to the drawing board. I've been looking at physiotherapists in the Victoria area, and I've found somebody at the University of Victoria who seems much more closely aligned with what I'm looking for. She has experience working with endurance athletes—triathletes, cyclists, runners, rowers. And she has connections to the triathlon world as well. So suddenly I'm seeing some green flags. And I'm about to make another appointment. And I'm going into this one with a much clearer idea of what I want. I'm not looking for a massage. I'm not looking for somebody to tell me that something feels tight. I'm not looking for a treatment plan because I'm injured. I want an assessment. I want somebody to look at me from the perspective of an endurance athlete and identify anything that's potentially limiting my performance or increasing my injury risk. And then I want them to look at my strength program. Here's what I'm doing. Here's how often I'm doing it. Here's what I'm trying to accomplish. Does it make sense? Is there anything missing? Is there anything unnecessary? And is there anything that you would change based on what you've seen in the physical assessment? That's it. I don't think that's an unreasonable request. AND MAYBE I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS BACKWARDSThere's another thing I've realized through this. I've always thought of physiotherapists as people you go see when something goes wrong. You hurt your shoulder. You hurt your knee. Your back is killing you. You go to the physiotherapist. They fix you. You go home. But maybe that's a little too simplistic. Maybe as I get older, having a good physiotherapist or athletic therapist in my toolbox is actually part of being a responsible athlete. Not because I expect to get injured. Quite the opposite. Because I don't want to get injured. And if somebody who understands endurance sports can spend an hour looking at me and identify something that I haven't noticed, that could potentially save me months of frustration down the road. And it might improve my performance today. That's a pretty good return on investment. TH
4 days ago

[PREVIEW] I Need a Pro

I don't want to leave any stone unturned for my turn at the World Championships. I need a professional that can help me spot weaknesses before they cause a problem. So, who does that type of work? Finding them has proven a bit of a challenge. TRANSCRIPT THE LONELY TRIATHLETE Episode: Finding the Right Athletic Therapist There's a funny thing I've discovered about being a triathlete as I get older. I'm becoming increasingly interested in things that have absolutely nothing to do with going faster. Well... that's not entirely true. I'm becoming increasingly interested in things that will allow me to go faster without breaking myself in the process. And that has led me down a bit of a rabbit hole lately. I've been trying to find an athletic therapist—or physiotherapist, or whatever the appropriate professional is—who can look at me and say: "Okay, Todd. You're 58. You're doing all this swimming, cycling and running. Here's what you're doing well, here's what you're doing badly, here's what's missing, and here's what I'd change." Not because I have an injury. I don't. And that's actually the point. I'm looking for somebody who can help me be proactive about my strength and conditioning and injury prevention. And I've discovered that finding that person is apparently harder than I thought. So let me tell you about my first attempt. THE ASSIGNMENTI went looking for a physiotherapist because I figured physiotherapists know bodies. They understand movement. They understand injuries. They understand rehabilitation. And I thought, surely there are physiotherapists who also work with athletes who aren't injured. That's what I wanted. I wasn't looking for somebody to tell me how to recover from a torn Achilles. I wanted somebody to look at my current strength program and say: "Does this make sense for a triathlete?" Because I've spent a fair amount of time developing my strength routine. I'm not interested in becoming a bodybuilder. I'm not trying to see how much I can deadlift. I want the minimum necessary strength stimulus that produces the maximum possible benefit for triathlon performance, while minimizing the risk of injury. That's the sweet spot I'm looking for. And I wanted somebody with enough expertise to tell me whether I've actually found it. Maybe I'm missing something obvious. Maybe I'm doing an exercise that provides almost no benefit for triathlon. Maybe I'm doing too much. Maybe I'm not doing enough. Maybe there's some glaring imbalance in my mobility or strength that I'm completely unaware of. That's the kind of professional eye I wanted. And I also wanted to talk about my injury history and perhaps get some advice about injury prevention. And, somewhat optimistically, I was also hoping to have somebody look at my supplements. Not necessarily prescribe anything—just look at what I'm taking and say: "Yeah, that makes sense." Or: "Why on earth are you taking that?" Because there's an awful lot of nonsense in the supplement world, and I'd rather have an informed professional challenge some of my assumptions. So that's what I thought I was going to get. WHAT I ACTUALLY GOTI went to see this physiotherapist. We did an intake. We talked about my history. We talked about injuries. We talked about what I was looking for. And then... I squatted. And squatted. And squatted some more. And at some point I found myself wondering: How many squats are we doing here? [Laugh] And then there was some walking around the office. And some twisting. And some questions about whether I felt tight here or tight there. "Does that feel tight?" "Does that feel different?" "How about when you rotate?" And I'm thinking... Okay. I'm not a physiotherapist. I don't pretend to know what an appropriate physical assessment should look like. But this didn't feel particularly objective to me. It felt very cursory. Very rudimentary. And I didn't come away thinking: "Wow. This person has identified three things about my body that I never would have known." Instead, I was thinking: "I just did a lot of squats." [Laugh] And then things took a turn that I wasn't really expecting. I ended up on the massage table. And he performed something called visceral massage. Now, I'm going to be careful here because I'm not interested in turning this into a podcast episode about something I don't fully understand. There are people who believe visceral manipulation or visceral massage can have therapeutic benefits. Fine. But it wasn't what I had come looking for. And what really confused me was the explanation I was given for how problems with your internal organs could potentially contribute to pain elsewhere in your body. The basic idea, as it was explained to me, was that inflammation or tension involving your organs could somehow contribute to systemic inflammation and ultimately manifest itself as things like back or neck pain. And I remember sitting there thinking: Okay... [Laugh] I'm going to need a little more evidence before I'm signing up for a regular organ massage program. And again, maybe there's something to it. I'm not qualified to say there isn't. But that's another important distinction I've learned through this whole process. I don't necessarily want somebody who believes the same things I believe. I want somebody who can explain to me what they believe, what the evidence says, and how confident they are that it applies to me. That's a very different thing. AND THEN... NOTHINGAt the end of the appointment, we talked about potentially working together. He said he could help me with massage. He said we'd talk about my exercise program. He said we'd talk about my supplements. He even mentioned hydrogen water. And I thought: Okay. Maybe this is going somewhere. And then... Nothing. I never heard from him again. No email. No follow-up. Nothing. And I was disappointed. But after thinking about it, I don't actually think the lesson is: "That physiotherapist was terrible." Maybe he wasn't. Maybe he would be fantastic for somebody with a completely different set of needs. Maybe his approach works very well for some people. Maybe I just wasn't his ideal client. And maybe—and this is important—I didn't do a particularly good job of explaining what I wanted. Because I think I had this idea in my head that when I said: "I want a performance-oriented assessment of my strength and conditioning program, with injury prevention as a secondary goal..." that would be self-explanatory. Maybe it wasn't. WHAT AM I ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR?So I started doing some research. And I've spent a surprising amount of time trying to figure out what the hell I'm actually looking for. Because I think I've realized that I'm not really looking for a conventional physiotherapy appointment. I'm not injured. I don't need rehabilitation. I'm looking for somebody who understands endurance athletes. Ideally somebody who understands triathlon. And even better, somebody who understands the particular problems that come with being a middle-aged—or, apparently, officially an older—triathlete. [Laugh] Because the questions I'm asking aren't necessarily: "Why does my knee hurt?" They're more like: "Is my right side weaker than my left?" "Is there something about my hip mobility that could eventually cause a problem?" "Is my strength program addressing the things that matter most for swimming, cycling and running?" "Am I wasting time doing exercises that aren't giving me much return?" "Is there something I'm neglecting?" "Does my strength program complement my endurance training—or is it interfering with it?" Those are the questions I want answered. And perhaps most importantly: Is there something about me that I can't see because I'm too close to the problem? That's where I think a good professional can be incredibly valuable. TRY NUMBER TWOSo I've gone back to the drawing board. I've been looking at physiotherapists in the Victoria area, and I've found somebody at the University of Victoria who seems much more closely aligned with what I'm looking for. She has experience working with endurance athletes—triathletes, cyclists, runners, rowers. And she has connections to the triathlon world as well. So suddenly I'm seeing some green flags. And I'm about to make another appointment. And I'm going into this one with a much clearer idea of what I want. I'm not looking for a massage. I'm not looking for somebody to tell me that something feels tight. I'm not looking for a treatment plan because I'm injured. I want an assessment. I want somebody to look at me from the perspective of an endurance athlete and identify anything that's potentially limiting my performance or increasing my injury risk. And then I want them to look at my strength program. Here's what I'm doing. Here's how often I'm doing it. Here's what I'm trying to accomplish. Does it make sense? Is there anything missing? Is there anything unnecessary? And is there anything that you would change based on what you've seen in the physical assessment? That's it. I don't think that's an unreasonable request. AND MAYBE I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS BACKWARDSThere's another thing I've realized through this. I've always thought of physiotherapists as people you go see when something goes wrong. You hurt your shoulder. You hurt your knee. Your back is killing you. You go to the physiotherapist. They fix you. You go home. But maybe that's a little too simplistic. Maybe as I get older, having a good physiotherapist or athletic therapist in my toolbox is actually part of being a responsible athlete. Not because I expect to get injured. Quite the opposite. Because I don't want to get injured. And if somebody who understands endurance sports can spend an hour looking at me and identify something that I haven't noticed, that could potentially save me months of frustration down the road. And it might improve my performance today. That's a pretty good return on investment. THE BIGGER LESSONI think the bigger lesson for me is that t
1 Sept

Rest Week Thoughts

I learned some things about myself in my week of easier training last week (the so-called rest week). Maybe you can relate? Join us at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete.com TRANSCRIPT Last week I completed my 1st "rest week" of my year long program. Not rest week, easy week. Not even easy week, easier week. Still keep the same frequency but drop a bit of volume and drop lots of intensity. Happened to coincide with a vacation week which made it a little harder to execute (once got in trouble at work for saying that word, same with "pitting" someone against each other.) But aaaaaaanyway. Here's what was on my mind: I missed the structure of a normal week - getting up early, doing my training, having it done before the rest of the demands of my day piled up. As it was also vacation, I also missed a couple of workouts because I was into other things or I was out all day and not home until late evening. And that bothered me. I don't like missing planned workouts. But when I really thought about it, I realized IT WAS NOT A BIG DEAL. After all, if you are going to miss any workout, at least let it be an easy "non-critical" or what we use in triathlon training paracme a non-breakthrough effort. After all, the rest week (sorry, easier week) is supposed to reduce stress not only on your body but also on your mind. But this doesn't come naturally to me, I know how important training is, how its a slippery slope to let one workout go because that can easily become 2 then 3 then your whole year is shot! A least, that's the fear lurking in the back of my mind. So, I continue to remind myself that a missed easier week workout is simply not a big deal. I also re-learned that as much as I might grumble about early morning training sessions, they really are the best time to do them for me. However, I still don't want to get blindly "get them over with" for two reasons: I think I get more from a session if I understand the WHY of the session, if I prepare myself for the session as in being ready if someone goes wrong (like suddenly struggling with an effort) and second, and probably most importantly, I want to ENJOY these sessions! This is how I'm choosing to spend some of my life force, my precious time on this earth. I want to be mindful and present in the effort, I don't want to go on auto pilot and just "get it done". Another thing I learned about myself last week was how naturally lazy I am, haha. On one hand, I am extremely dedicated and committed to this sport, I am very organized and show tremendous willpower and fortitude and grit. On the other hand, I can't always be bothered to use my foam roller or my IR sauna blanket or my ventilatory inhalation thing-a-ma-bob, or even do those special stretches my PT gave me. SIGH. And once again, it's because I leave certain behaviours down to change, I'll get to them when I feel inspired or have a bit of time. No, that doesn't work, I need to SCHEDULE them into my day. I need to pair them with something else that I have either scheduled or do regularly. Otherwise, the chances are good that I just won't do them. Who knew I'd learn so much about myself during a easy week? Thanks for listening to my insights, I hope you found some of them valuable and perhaps applicable to you. As always, I wish you the best training and/or racing week and I'll talk to you again soon. Peace!
1 Sept

[PREVIEW] Rest Week Thoughts

I learned some things about myself in my week of easier training last week (the so-called rest week). Maybe you can relate? TRANSCRIPT Last week I completed my 1st "rest week" of my year long program. Not rest week, easy week. Not even easy week, easier week. Still keep the same frequency but drop a bit of volume and drop lots of intensity. Happened to coincide with a vacation week which made it a little harder to execute (once got in trouble at work for saying that word, same with "pitting" someone against each other.) But aaaaaaanyway. Here's what was on my mind: I missed the structure of a normal week - getting up early, doing my training, having it done before the rest of the demands of my day piled up. As it was also vacation, I also missed a couple of workouts because I was into other things or I was out all day and not home until late evening. And that bothered me. I don't like missing planned workouts. But when I really thought about it, I realized IT WAS NOT A BIG DEAL. After all, if you are going to miss any workout, at least let it be an easy "non-critical" or what we use in triathlon training paracme a non-breakthrough effort. After all, the rest week (sorry, easier week) is supposed to reduce stress not only on your body but also on your mind. But this doesn't come naturally to me, I know how important training is, how its a slippery slope to let one workout go because that can easily become 2 then 3 then your whole year is shot! A least, that's the fear lurking in the back of my mind. So, I continue to remind myself that a missed easier week workout is simply not a big deal. I also re-learned that as much as I might grumble about early morning training sessions, they really are the best time to do them for me. However, I still don't want to get blindly "get them over with" for two reasons: I think I get more from a session if I understand the WHY of the session, if I prepare myself for the session as in being ready if someone goes wrong (like suddenly struggling with an effort) and second, and probably most importantly, I want to ENJOY these sessions! This is how I'm choosing to spend some of my life force, my precious time on this earth. I want to be mindful and present in the effort, I don't want to go on auto pilot and just "get it done". Another thing I learned about myself last week was how naturally lazy I am, haha. On one hand, I am extremely dedicated and committed to this sport, I am very organized and show tremendous willpower and fortitude and grit. On the other hand, I can't always be bothered to use my foam roller or my IR sauna blanket or my ventilatory inhalation thing-a-ma-bob, or even do those special stretches my PT gave me. SIGH. And once again, it's because I leave certain behaviours down to change, I'll get to them when I feel inspired or have a bit of time. No, that doesn't work, I need to SCHEDULE them into my day. I need to pair them with something else that I have either scheduled or do regularly. Otherwise, the chances are good that I just won't do them. Who knew I'd learn so much about myself during a easy week? Thanks for listening to my insights, I hope you found some of them valuable and perhaps applicable to you. As always, I wish you the best training and/or racing week and I'll talk to you again soon. Peace!
24 Aug

Get In Your Feels

I used to race according to a bunch of different metrics including the old stand-byes of heart rate and power. Then I got rid of my watch and raced with a new super power! Come join the fun at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete TRANSCRIPT Apologies to everyone for a screw up I made last week. You see, I thought I had uploaded the audio to my podcast but I didn't. So what you would have seen was my written transcript only. I corrected that mistake yesterday so if you haven't heard last week's podcast, it's there now. And now, onto this weeks' thoughts. When to comes to your race performance during a race, how do you know if you are doing well? How do you know if you are hitting your splits or your power curve or your heart rate? In other words, what measurement are you using to track how things are going? You see, when I first started I needed to know a few metrics in each sport so I could determine if I was doing my training (and, or course, racing) as prescribed. In the swim, I tracked distance. Warm up xM, drills for xM, main set x lengths with x rest. The problem was, I didn't know how fast or slow I was supposed to go. So then I moved into tracking speed - xM "on" :45, which meant swim a certain distance and if I had time left from the initial :45, I would rest and then do another length, resting until the :45 was used up, etc. The problem with that was sometimes the ":45" was too long -Id arrive at the end of the length and just sit there for such a long time. In oher cases, the interval was to short because I'd just finish my length and have 3 seonds of rest before I'd have to take off again. Eventually, I stuck with RPE and would swim a certain distance at an effort of x/10, 4 being quite relaxed, 7 being confortable fast and 9 or 10 full out sprint. Problem was, how fast was "relaxed"? How fast was "hard"? I knew what all out was. For a time I even trained by heart rate, almost like I was running but in the water. I sorta worked? But not really. It was hard to figure out what do do so I ended up just focusing on the distace and effort was either EASY or HARD. On the bike, I trained exclusievly by heart rate. I made the assupmtion that my maximum heart rate was 15 beats/min less than my run max and treated my bike just like a run. It worked pretty well, until I got into situations where it seemed that I was biking harder or slower than I wanted to because of hills or wind. I then shifted to focussing on distace with effort alteranating between EASY and HARD. Running was the easiest. I trained by heart rate. Forget pace, I did a maximum heart test by running uo and down a hill 5 times inceasngly faster each time until the final all=out effort where I imagined a bear was chasing me, then I added 3 bpm to extra measure. My training was then set according to 5 ZONES. It was simple and measurable. Then I read a few books on running by heart rate and realized that I needed to be setting my zone by heart rate reserve. All of a sudden, things started to feel complicated again. But my and large, training by heart rate was the way I went. During races, I was lost as to my effort in the swim. On the bike, I focussed on heart rate and on the run, I watched heart rate and pace. I raced this way for years and grew comfortable with the measurements. In the bike and run, if I saw my heart rate too high, I'd pull back. Conversely, if I saw my HR too low, I'd convince myself to speed up. About 10 years ago, I realized something that revolutionized my racing. With my experience in traing and racing and tracking a number of metrics, I started getitng very good at perceiving, without looking at a watch, how fast or hard I was going. Even better, I was able to sense how hard I was able to push muself without bonking by just listeing to my body. At any given time in a race, I could tell you within 2 bpm what my HR was or within 1-2kmhr what my speed was. After I had trained for a while accoding to POWER on the bike, I could also estimate by current power output with incredible prescision. But again, the important point wasn;t that I knew my number it was that I knew how sustainable that effort was given my envoronment - wind, hills, heat, energy. And this changed everythign for me 5 years ago. I raced for the first time without my watch or power meter. I raced 100% by feel. I knew how fast I could swim at a 7/10 effort so that was my goal. I knew what an 8/10 felt like on the bike - I knew what it felt like on the flats, up a hill, into the wind, early or late in a race. So an 8/10 was by goal. But I also knew if I was havig a day where I could push an 8 earlier, or an 8.5 later. I was no longer help back by a number. And on the run, I knew how hard I could and SHOULD push myself according to how I felt, I didn't race according to what the numbers told me. I think in years past, I may have held myself back with an artificial ceiling, limiting myself to a specific HR number rather than trusting my feelings. My racing friends thought I was crazy! You are cycling and running without a watch? How will you know if you are on plan? How will you know when you can push harder or determine if you aren't pusing hard engouh. And I get it, I was very nervous to get into a race and "fly blind" so to speak. But the reality is, without a watch, without tracking my metrics in a race, I'm racing more free than ever before. I can decide to speed up, maintain, or slow down based entirely on my subjective feeling. It was and continues to be an incredibly FREEING feeling! It no longer feels like I am racing without a plan, it feels like I am always in the driver's seat, not a GPS watch or some pre-determined numbers but ME, deciding on a moment by moment basis how I am doing. I trust my feelings. After each race I think about how I executed my strategy. Did I have more gas in the tank after the run? How did I feel in the last 2 KM? Upon reflection, I may realize that I am able to suffer more in the final 2km and so I rest what I expect to feel for the next race. And I've made mistakes, I cycled at much too fast a speed for my 70.3 last year and I know how I FELT (I felt great) but the next time I do a 70.3, that sensation needs to feel even less strenuous than "great", it needs to feel "really good and I have a a bunch left over in the tank." All this to say, I encourage you, even challenge you, to do a race without your measuremnt devices. Go based on feel and perception of effort. Once you make the association between approprite effort and performance that day, you will have gained a new super power. You can race anywhere, unshakled by devices, to great effect. You just have to trust yourself. Until next time, Peace
24 Aug

[PREVIEW] Get In Your Feels

I used to race according to hard metrics - hear rate, power, you name it. Then I got rid of my watch and gained a super power. TRANSCRIPT Apologies to everyone for a screw up I made last week. You see, I thought I had uploaded the audio to my podcast but I didn't. So what you would have seen was my written transcript only. I corrected that mistake yesterday so if you haven't heard last week's podcast, it's there now. And now, onto this weeks' thoughts. When to comes to your race performance during a race, how do you know if you are doing well? How do you know if you are hitting your splits or your power curve or your heart rate? In other words, what measurement are you using to track how things are going? You see, when I first started I needed to know a few metrics in each sport so I could determine if I was doing my training (and, or course, racing) as prescribed. In the swim, I tracked distance. Warm up xM, drills for xM, main set x lengths with x rest. The problem was, I didn't know how fast or slow I was supposed to go. So then I moved into tracking speed - xM "on" :45, which meant swim a certain distance and if I had time left from the initial :45, I would rest and then do another length, resting until the :45 was used up, etc. The problem with that was sometimes the ":45" was too long -Id arrive at the end of the length and just sit there for such a long time. In oher cases, the interval was to short because I'd just finish my length and have 3 seonds of rest before I'd have to take off again. Eventually, I stuck with RPE and would swim a certain distance at an effort of x/10, 4 being quite relaxed, 7 being confortable fast and 9 or 10 full out sprint. Problem was, how fast was "relaxed"? How fast was "hard"? I knew what all out was. For a time I even trained by heart rate, almost like I was running but in the water. I sorta worked? But not really. It was hard to figure out what do do so I ended up just focusing on the distace and effort was either EASY or HARD. On the bike, I trained exclusievly by heart rate. I made the assupmtion that my maximum heart rate was 15 beats/min less than my run max and treated my bike just like a run. It worked pretty well, until I got into situations where it seemed that I was biking harder or slower than I wanted to because of hills or wind. I then shifted to focussing on distace with effort alteranating between EASY and HARD. Running was the easiest. I trained by heart rate. Forget pace, I did a maximum heart test by running uo and down a hill 5 times inceasngly faster each time until the final all=out effort where I imagined a bear was chasing me, then I added 3 bpm to extra measure. My training was then set according to 5 ZONES. It was simple and measurable. Then I read a few books on running by heart rate and realized that I needed to be setting my zone by heart rate reserve. All of a sudden, things started to feel complicated again. But my and large, training by heart rate was the way I went. During races, I was lost as to my effort in the swim. On the bike, I focussed on heart rate and on the run, I watched heart rate and pace. I raced this way for years and grew comfortable with the measurements. In the bike and run, if I saw my heart rate too high, I'd pull back. Conversely, if I saw my HR too low, I'd convince myself to speed up. About 10 years ago, I realized something that revolutionized my racing. With my experience in traing and racing and tracking a number of metrics, I started getitng very good at perceiving, without looking at a watch, how fast or hard I was going. Even better, I was able to sense how hard I was able to push muself without bonking by just listeing to my body. At any given time in a race, I could tell you within 2 bpm what my HR was or within 1-2kmhr what my speed was. After I had trained for a while accoding to POWER on the bike, I could also estimate by current power output with incredible prescision. But again, the important point wasn;t that I knew my number it was that I knew how sustainable that effort was given my envoronment - wind, hills, heat, energy. And this changed everythign for me 5 years ago. I raced for the first time without my watch or power meter. I raced 100% by feel. I knew how fast I could swim at a 7/10 effort so that was my goal. I knew what an 8/10 felt like on the bike - I knew what it felt like on the flats, up a hill, into the wind, early or late in a race. So an 8/10 was by goal. But I also knew if I was havig a day where I could push an 8 earlier, or an 8.5 later. I was no longer help back by a number. And on the run, I knew how hard I could and SHOULD push myself according to how I felt, I didn't race according to what the numbers told me. I think in years past, I may have held myself back with an artificial ceiling, limiting myself to a specific HR number rather than trusting my feelings. My racing friends thought I was crazy! You are cycling and running without a watch? How will you know if you are on plan? How will you know when you can push harder or determine if you aren't pusing hard engouh. And I get it, I was very nervous to get into a race and "fly blind" so to speak. But the reality is, without a watch, without tracking my metrics in a race, I'm racing more free than ever before. I can decide to speed up, maintain, or slow down based entirely on my subjective feeling. It was and continues to be an incredibly FREEING feeling! It no longer feels like I am racing without a plan, it feels like I am always in the driver's seat, not a GPS watch or some pre-determined numbers but ME, deciding on a moment by moment basis how I am doing. I trust my feelings. After each race I think about how I executed my strategy. Did I have more gas in the tank after the run? How did I feel in the last 2 KM? Upon reflection, I may realize that I am able to suffer more in the final 2km and so I rest what I expect to feel for the next race. And I've made mistakes, I cycled at much too fast a speed for my 70.3 last year and I know how I FELT (I felt great) but the next time I do a 70.3, that sensation needs to feel even less strenuous than "great", it needs to feel "really good and I have a a bunch left over in the tank." All this to say, I encourage you, even challenge you, to do a race without your measuremnt devices. Go based on feel and perception of effort. Once you make the association between approprite effort and performance that day, you will have gained a new super power. You can race anywhere, unshakled by devices, to great effect. You just have to trust yourself. Until next time, Peace
17 Aug

A New Triathlon Challenge

As I embark on an ambitious (overly ambitious?) new triathlon plan I am discovering that it is going to be its very own challenge. How do I fit in more workouts than ever yet maintain my sanity and health? Check out more at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete TRANSCRIPT So, this week concludes the first week of my training season in my journey to Germany. Where I am taking things to another level. Specifically, I'm going to be taking things to another level in terms of exercise VOLUME. For most days of the week, I'm going to be doing two workouts a day. And I have to find a way—or, I should say, I AM finding a way—to also squeeze in two strength-training sessions into my week. At first, I thought this was ambitious but doable. And after one week under my belt, I now realize how truly ambitious it's going to be. In a number of ways. The first way is just schedule-wise. Trying to fit in two workouts a day doesn't seem that hard. It doesn't sound that hard. And I've done it before with no real problem. But I've only done it before occasionally. I've never had it comprise five of my six training days. And doing double workouts for five of your six training days is a COMPLETELY different experience than trying to fit in one or two doubles in a week. So, schedule-wise, I'm going to have to figure this out. So far, doing an early-morning SOMETHING—usually a bike—followed by an afternoon, or a noon, sorry, a LUNCHTIME run, works very well because I can eat at my desk while I work. I can blast out at noon for a 30-minute workout, get back to my desk, and I can eat and work. And that leaves the evening free for personal things, and for relationship stuff, and for other things. And that's important to me. Because one of the things I'm trying to figure out with this training block isn't simply, “How much training can I cram into my life?” It's, “How much training can I do while still HAVING a life?” Those are two very different questions. When it comes to swimming, though, most days I'm going to have to try to get out for an early-morning swim. And that means I've got to get out of the house earlier than normal—maybe 7:15 at the latest—in order to be back in time for work. So I could do an early-morning swim and then an afternoon cycle or an afternoon run. And I keep saying “afternoon.” I mean lunchtime. Because I'm working. I can't just take the time off and go do these long sessions whenever I want. I have to find some way to squeeze them in. And that's what I mean about scheduling. It's going to be a challenge. I think I can do it. I mean, I did it this last week. But I had some hiccups. I went to the lake at 7:30 in the morning, and there was blue-green algae. So I couldn't swim in the lake. I had to turn around, drive all the way back home, and figure out another way of doing things. And that's going to happen. There are going to be these constant little scheduling challenges. And I hope, for the most part, I CAN figure out something that works for most days so I'm not always having to figure out how to do it. Because that would get really old really fast. If I had to wake up every day and think, “Okay, how am I going to make this work today?” I'm not sure that's sustainable. So that's challenge number one. *Challenge number two is the ENERGY required to do two workouts a day.* I was fine this week until Thursday. And then it all really started hitting me. I was feeling quite fatigued. And TrainerRoad thankfully gave me Friday off and offered me up some easier workouts. And I was grateful for that. Because I could feel the fatigue. And that's something I'm going to have to learn to manage, not just REACT to. I'm going to have to manage it PROACTIVELY. Because I can see how, over the course of even a couple of months of this, I could bury myself in a hole that I would have a hard time getting out of. And that's not the objective. The objective isn't to see how tired I can make myself. The objective is to train, recover, adapt, and get better. And if I don't recover, then I'm missing a really important part of that equation. So focusing on energy preservation when I'm not working out is going to be really key. And that may mean adding an extra half hour to my sleep. Which is not easy for me to do. Because I don't LIKE sleeping. I'm too busy having fun to sleep. Heh heh I get eight hours a night and that's pretty good. But I'm going to have to be really, really cognizant of whether eight hours is going to cut it. And I'm going to have to be prepared to go to eight and a half hours—or even longer—if required. And certainly all of my recovery protocols need to be put into play. My infrared sauna blanket. My red-light therapy. My massage gun. My nutrition. Extra protein. You name it. That all has to be on point. Because if I'm going to increase the training load, I can't just increase the training load. I have to increase the recovery that supports that training load. And that's ANOTHER thing I'm learning this week. The training itself is actually only part of the challenge. There's the training. There's the scheduling. There's the recovery. There's the sleep. There's the nutrition. And then there's everything else going on in life. And that brings me to what I think may actually be the BIGGEST challenge of all. And that's not something that's easy to quantify. It's the fact that triathlon is on my mind all the time now. And don't get me wrong. I love it. I love thinking about it. I love talking about it. I love engaging in it. I love the process. I love the idea of starting with a body that's rested from good sleep, providing it some good pre-workout nutrition, giving it a training stimulus, and then responding with nutrition and hydration and recovery. I LOVE all of that. But I really don't want to become IMBALANCED. I don't want to give up too much of my mental real estate for triathlon-related stuff when I am also wanting to work on my novel. I'm also wanting to engage with my brother and my kids and my wife. I want to do some reading. There's lots of reading. There are a lot of things I want to do. Triathlon is not my life. It's merely a significant, important part of it. And I think that's something I'm going to have to keep reminding myself of over the course of this training season. Because there's a common joke that goes around: How can you tell a triathlete if you're at a party? It's the person who's always talking about triathlon. I think that's the punchline. I probably butchered it. But you know what I mean. Triathletes can become quite obsessed. Or maybe “obsessed” isn't even the right word. They become very, very focused. And there's a reason for that. Triathlon requires so much from you. It requires planning. It requires effort. It requires gear. It requires nutrition. It requires recovery. It requires travel. It requires time. And when you put all of those things together, it's really easy for the sport to become the main part of your life. And then, when you get to a party and somebody asks you what you've been up to, well... You've been running. You've been biking. You've been swimming. You've been thinking about running, biking, and swimming. You've been thinking about what you're going to eat while you're running, biking, and swimming. You've been thinking about what equipment you're going to use. You've been thinking about your next race. You've been thinking about your training plan. And suddenly, that's what you have to talk about. And I don't want to be THAT GUY. I want to be able to talk about other things. I want to read. I want to write. I want to spend time with the people I love. I want to be engaged with the world outside of triathlon. And I think that's particularly important for me because this is going to be a big training year. I'm on a journey to Germany. I've got a goal. I've got a destination. And I'm going to be taking the training seriously. But taking something seriously doesn't necessarily mean allowing it to consume you. And I think that's going to be one of the interesting experiments of this year. Can I train at a level that I've never trained at before while still maintaining balance in the rest of my life? Can I become better at triathlon without making triathlon my entire identity? Can I pursue something with real ambition while still being flexible when other things matter more? Because there are going to be days when training has to take a back seat. There are going to be days when life gets in the way. And I don't necessarily mean that in a negative sense. Sometimes life is more important. Sometimes relationships are more important. Sometimes your mental health is more important. Sometimes you need to go do something completely unrelated to triathlon. And I think that's okay. Actually, I think that's necessary. So this first week has been a really interesting lesson. I started out thinking, “Okay, this is ambitious but doable.” And now I'm thinking, “Okay... this is really ambitious.” But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm excited. I am VERY excited. This is going to be a challenge, much like the sport itself is a challenge. And I think the training season is going to be another unique sport, per se. Another unique challenge. I don't know how to DO all the things I want to do. I'm not sure if I can excel at all of the things I want to do. But I'm going to try. And I'm curious. And I'm interested in how it goes. And I'm going to be flexible and adaptable. That's probably the biggest lesson from this first week. I don't need to have the entire year figured out right now. I need to figure out what works. I need to pay attention to what doesn't work. I need to make adjustments. And then I need to keep moving forward. Because that's really what this journey to Germany is about. It's not just about the race. It's about the process of becoming the athlete who can show up in Germany and perform at the level that I want to perfo
17 Aug

[PREVIEW] A New Triathlon Challenge

As I embark on an ambitious (overly ambitious?) new triathlon plan I am discovering that it is going to be its very own challenge. How do I fit in more workouts than ever yet maintain my sanity and health? TRANSCRIPT So, this week concludes the first week of my training season in my journey to Germany. Where I am taking things to another level. Specifically, I'm going to be taking things to another level in terms of exercise VOLUME. For most days of the week, I'm going to be doing two workouts a day. And I have to find a way—or, I should say, I AM finding a way—to also squeeze in two strength-training sessions into my week. At first, I thought this was ambitious but doable. And after one week under my belt, I now realize how truly ambitious it's going to be. In a number of ways. The first way is just schedule-wise. Trying to fit in two workouts a day doesn't seem that hard. It doesn't sound that hard. And I've done it before with no real problem. But I've only done it before occasionally. I've never had it comprise five of my six training days. And doing double workouts for five of your six training days is a COMPLETELY different experience than trying to fit in one or two doubles in a week. So, schedule-wise, I'm going to have to figure this out. So far, doing an early-morning SOMETHING—usually a bike—followed by an afternoon, or a noon, sorry, a LUNCHTIME run, works very well because I can eat at my desk while I work. I can blast out at noon for a 30-minute workout, get back to my desk, and I can eat and work. And that leaves the evening free for personal things, and for relationship stuff, and for other things. And that's important to me. Because one of the things I'm trying to figure out with this training block isn't simply, “How much training can I cram into my life?” It's, “How much training can I do while still HAVING a life?” Those are two very different questions. When it comes to swimming, though, most days I'm going to have to try to get out for an early-morning swim. And that means I've got to get out of the house earlier than normal—maybe 7:15 at the latest—in order to be back in time for work. So I could do an early-morning swim and then an afternoon cycle or an afternoon run. And I keep saying “afternoon.” I mean lunchtime. Because I'm working. I can't just take the time off and go do these long sessions whenever I want. I have to find some way to squeeze them in. And that's what I mean about scheduling. It's going to be a challenge. I think I can do it. I mean, I did it this last week. But I had some hiccups. I went to the lake at 7:30 in the morning, and there was blue-green algae. So I couldn't swim in the lake. I had to turn around, drive all the way back home, and figure out another way of doing things. And that's going to happen. There are going to be these constant little scheduling challenges. And I hope, for the most part, I CAN figure out something that works for most days so I'm not always having to figure out how to do it. Because that would get really old really fast. If I had to wake up every day and think, “Okay, how am I going to make this work today?” I'm not sure that's sustainable. So that's challenge number one. *Challenge number two is the ENERGY required to do two workouts a day.* I was fine this week until Thursday. And then it all really started hitting me. I was feeling quite fatigued. And TrainerRoad thankfully gave me Friday off and offered me up some easier workouts. And I was grateful for that. Because I could feel the fatigue. And that's something I'm going to have to learn to manage, not just REACT to. I'm going to have to manage it PROACTIVELY. Because I can see how, over the course of even a couple of months of this, I could bury myself in a hole that I would have a hard time getting out of. And that's not the objective. The objective isn't to see how tired I can make myself. The objective is to train, recover, adapt, and get better. And if I don't recover, then I'm missing a really important part of that equation. So focusing on energy preservation when I'm not working out is going to be really key. And that may mean adding an extra half hour to my sleep. Which is not easy for me to do. Because I don't LIKE sleeping. I'm too busy having fun to sleep. Heh heh I get eight hours a night and that's pretty good. But I'm going to have to be really, really cognizant of whether eight hours is going to cut it. And I'm going to have to be prepared to go to eight and a half hours—or even longer—if required. And certainly all of my recovery protocols need to be put into play. My infrared sauna blanket. My red-light therapy. My massage gun. My nutrition. Extra protein. You name it. That all has to be on point. Because if I'm going to increase the training load, I can't just increase the training load. I have to increase the recovery that supports that training load. And that's ANOTHER thing I'm learning this week. The training itself is actually only part of the challenge. There's the training. There's the scheduling. There's the recovery. There's the sleep. There's the nutrition. And then there's everything else going on in life. And that brings me to what I think may actually be the BIGGEST challenge of all. And that's not something that's easy to quantify. It's the fact that triathlon is on my mind all the time now. And don't get me wrong. I love it. I love thinking about it. I love talking about it. I love engaging in it. I love the process. I love the idea of starting with a body that's rested from good sleep, providing it some good pre-workout nutrition, giving it a training stimulus, and then responding with nutrition and hydration and recovery. I LOVE all of that. But I really don't want to become IMBALANCED. I don't want to give up too much of my mental real estate for triathlon-related stuff when I am also wanting to work on my novel. I'm also wanting to engage with my brother and my kids and my wife. I want to do some reading. There's lots of reading. There are a lot of things I want to do. Triathlon is not my life. It's merely a significant, important part of it. And I think that's something I'm going to have to keep reminding myself of over the course of this training season. Because there's a common joke that goes around: How can you tell a triathlete if you're at a party? It's the person who's always talking about triathlon. I think that's the punchline. I probably butchered it. But you know what I mean. Triathletes can become quite obsessed. Or maybe “obsessed” isn't even the right word. They become very, very focused. And there's a reason for that. Triathlon requires so much from you. It requires planning. It requires effort. It requires gear. It requires nutrition. It requires recovery. It requires travel. It requires time. And when you put all of those things together, it's really easy for the sport to become the main part of your life. And then, when you get to a party and somebody asks you what you've been up to, well... You've been running. You've been biking. You've been swimming. You've been thinking about running, biking, and swimming. You've been thinking about what you're going to eat while you're running, biking, and swimming. You've been thinking about what equipment you're going to use. You've been thinking about your next race. You've been thinking about your training plan. And suddenly, that's what you have to talk about. And I don't want to be THAT GUY. I want to be able to talk about other things. I want to read. I want to write. I want to spend time with the people I love. I want to be engaged with the world outside of triathlon. And I think that's particularly important for me because this is going to be a big training year. I'm on a journey to Germany. I've got a goal. I've got a destination. And I'm going to be taking the training seriously. But taking something seriously doesn't necessarily mean allowing it to consume you. And I think that's going to be one of the interesting experiments of this year. Can I train at a level that I've never trained at before while still maintaining balance in the rest of my life? Can I become better at triathlon without making triathlon my entire identity? Can I pursue something with real ambition while still being flexible when other things matter more? Because there are going to be days when training has to take a back seat. There are going to be days when life gets in the way. And I don't necessarily mean that in a negative sense. Sometimes life is more important. Sometimes relationships are more important. Sometimes your mental health is more important. Sometimes you need to go do something completely unrelated to triathlon. And I think that's okay. Actually, I think that's necessary. So this first week has been a really interesting lesson. I started out thinking, “Okay, this is ambitious but doable.” And now I'm thinking, “Okay... this is really ambitious.” But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm excited. I am VERY excited. This is going to be a challenge, much like the sport itself is a challenge. And I think the training season is going to be another unique sport, per se. Another unique challenge. I don't know how to DO all the things I want to do. I'm not sure if I can excel at all of the things I want to do. But I'm going to try. And I'm curious. And I'm interested in how it goes. And I'm going to be flexible and adaptable. That's probably the biggest lesson from this first week. I don't need to have the entire year figured out right now. I need to figure out what works. I need to pay attention to what doesn't work. I need to make adjustments. And then I need to keep moving forward. Because that's really what this journey to Germany is about. It's not just about the race. It's about the process of becoming the athlete who can show up in Germany and perform at the level that I want to perform at. And becoming that athlete isn't simply about pu

An age-grouper with 25 years of experience overcomes a life altering brain injury and starts hitting the podium. Be motivated and inspired as he recounts the daily grind of an amateur triathlete and join the growing community on Patreon. You don't have to be a lonely triathlete anymore!

Creator

Todd Sauder
Years Active

2021 - 2026
Episodes

48
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 5 years, Todd Sauder, The Lonely Triathlete
Show Website

The Lonely Triathlete