Playtri Coach Jim

My favorite bike metrics for non-drafting race day, no matter the distance.

Heart Rate: This is king/queen. Know your zones and stay in them! IF HR is too high, SLOW DOWN!
Normalized Power: To gauge how close you are to your target power range for the race.
3 sec. Avg Power: To gauge current effort as you try to keep power steady.
Cadence: The canary in the coal mine. Cadence often drops first before other metrics get off.
Timer: Not necessary, but nice to have just to see how long you've been riding.

(I also use pre-programmed timers to tell me when to drink and eat. And auto-lap at 5 miles, so I know how far I've gone.)

What are you favorite metrics for race day?

Things you probably didn’t know about Coach Jim.

🏊‍♂️ I was a competitive swimmer growing up and was quite good but quit when my coach said I had to swim during the soccer season. Backstroke and butterfly were my thing. I really can’t do those two anymore, because…
😩 I also had to relearn how to swim as an adult after two catastrophic shoulder injuries to the same shoulder. Each shoulder injury happened when my wife was pregnant. I blame my two daughters.
🚴 I learned to ride a bike when I was 18 because a woman I was in love with in college had a bike and rode it everywhere. We’ve been married since 2003. I’ve been a triathlete since 2004. Coincidence?
🏃‍♂️ As a child when my friends would go biking around the neighborhood, I would run next to them. I got very good at chasing down the ice cream truck and having it wait for my sister and neighbors to show up.
⚽️ I got in to triathlon after a DIII collegiate soccer career as a bench warmer. I sat on the bench for three years. Each year we won the conference and went to the NCAA tournament. The one year I didn’t sit on the bench because of rehabbing a stress fracture, the team had an off year. Coincidence?
🎉 It is far too easy to be focused on outcome goals in triathlon (World Championship Qualifications, PRs, Podiums, BQs) and lose your joy for the sport. (I know, because it’s happened to me once or twice.) I’ve been in this sport for over 2 decades and been a coach since 2018 because it is so much fun to play triathlon and aim to become a better triathlete.

Saturdays are great days for coaching and to start vacation!

It's another race weekend! Good luck to Siri & Estelle.

Hey athletes!

If you like group training, check this out!

🎯A 16 week training program delivered to you through Training Peaks

🏊‍♂️Saturday coach-led and lifeguard supported Open Water Swim workouts

🚴Saturday morning coach-led bike/run workouts

🏅Monthly group zoom calls

🤯Athlete discounts at Dallas including all camps and races (some exclusions apply)

🏅3 Group rides & brick runs on quiet Denton County Roads.

📍Where to sign up? https://www.playtri.com/703-group-training

🙋🏻‍♀️Questions? Email me at [email protected] or send me a DM

If you're over 40 and still looking to race at a high level, here are 5 things I include in my masters triathletes' plans.

1) Nutrition & Hydration. Yes, for training and on race day. AND we also talk about daily nutrition & hydration. Our metabolism is slower now than it was when we were in our 20s & 30s. Keeping rule #1 of triathlon (Don't get injured. Don't get sick.) starts in the kitchen.

2) Recovery. We don't bounce back from hard workouts like we used to anymore. Get your 7-9 hours of sleep. Stretch and roll regularly. Hard workouts are spaced out to give more time for the body to adapt.

3) Strength training. We start losing approximately 1-2% of muscle mass at age 35. I program 2-3 strength sessions each week (minus taper & race week) for all athletes.

4) Controlled intensity. After 40 we are more susceptible to lower leg injuries especially on the run. Where I might give an athlete in their 20s/30s more speed work on the track, for my masters triathletes I give more hill repeats. On the bike, I still give Pmax and FRC intervals depending on the time of year. Zwift races are a fun way to get intensity in too.

5) Technical skills & technique matter even more. My athletes in their 20s & 30s can overcome their technical deficiencies with fitness (to a certain degree). My masters athletes, not so much. Swim technique, open water skills, aerodynamic bike positioning (and the ability to hold it comfortably), transition skills, and run form become even more important as our natural power declines.

I've had a good number of conversations with athletes who were thinking a lot about what-ifs and marginal gains.

Focus first on what you can control, mastering skills, and having fun while doing it. You'll get a lot further in endurance sports and in life.