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Yeah.

Welcome to the Tried out podcast.

I am very excited to keep our series rolling where we bring on a different triathlon coach every single week to help us troubleshoot the most common things that go wrong on race day.

And today we are talking about the eight common things that go wrong during the run portion of the a triathlon.

Our coach joining us is coach Chris Navin who leads Four Star Endurance.

Based in Chicago, Illinois.

Chris has raced over 100 triathlons and is a metabolic efficiency training specialist.

Coach Chris, welcome back to the show.

Hey, thanks for having me.

Well, I am Andrew, the average triathlete, voice of the people and captain of the middle of the pack.

As always, we're going to start off with a warm up question.

Settle in for our main set conversation where coach Chris will help us troubleshoot the eight common race day run problems.

Then we'll wind things down by asking an audience question to Coach Chris on our cooldown.

Lots of good stuff.

Let's get to it.

Time to warm up.

Let's get moving.

All right, for our warm up question today.

While we're talking so much about running and what can go wrong while we're out there, I want to know what is the biggest race day problem you personally have encountered during the run portion of a race?

Coach Chris, what does this answer for you?

Oh, I've had a number of issues over the years.

A lot of races with standalone marathons, but also a lot of Ironman races.

So I've had a lot of hiccups along the way, whether it's running into hydration fueling issues and I've had to throw up in the middle of the run a couple times, sometimes more than once.

That's what you want?

Yeah, that's what you want.

I've also done a full Ironman where I've had to power walk the entire marathon because of a torn meniscus.

So I've had a little bit of everything over the years.

But yeah, it's, you know, the life lesson to be learned is just keep moving forward and learning how to adapt to different environments is part of the fun adventure of dealing with running events.

My answer to this moral question, like you, I've had a number of different kind of categorically things go wrong and we'll talk about some of that through the main set.

But what I think is probably the biggest race day issue I've had while running when we did I say we, we had a lot of tri dotters there at Clash Daytona a number of years ago and I, I, I was training a little bit.

I wasn't like actively doing my tryd out workouts every single day.

I wasn't in like PR shape by any means.

And so what I decided to do was sign up for the sprint on, on, on Saturday and then I did a relay for the middle distance on Sunday and I was the runner in the relay.

So I go out to do my sprint and did the swim, did the bike and I Chris, I've run barefoot for sprint and Olympic triathlons dozens of times, right?

And I, I've done them in several different shoes.

I've run barefoot in my vapor flies.

My vapor fly next percents that I was wearing on this day.

But for some reason, maybe it was the Florida humidity, I don't really know.

Maybe I got a pebble in the back of my shoe.

I don't really know.

But halfway through that 5K and that sprint triathlon, I could tell I'm getting a really gnarly blister on the back of one of my heels.

I've never had that problem before and I saw it through to the finish.

I kept running and sure enough, pretty, pretty bloody down there after that sprint.

And so the next day I'm supposed to run 13.1 miles as the runner in a relay and I don't want to let my relay partners down, right?

It was try to coach Tony Washington, try to coach Dan Caskey were my relay partners.

And so I went to Walmart and I got some, you know, pretty, pretty heavy duty blister band aids and made sure that thing was really padded and I wore, I didn't wear my race day running shoe for that.

I wore my training shoes which were fit a little looser, didn't put as much pressure on that heel area and I was able to run okay through that, but I could definitely feel that.

So I kind of had a race and a half there where I was really dealing with gnarly blister and that's this answer for me.

But we're going to throw this out to our Try Dot podcast audience.

So find this question in the Try Dot community hub.

Find this question.

It'll get posed to you guys on our Instagram Page and find it in the I am Trotted Facebook group because I want to hear what is the wildest, just most unfortunate, troublesome problem you've had while running during a race.

On to the main set.

Going in 3, 2, 1.

On to our main set.

And now that Chris and I have kind of kicked around some problems we've had on the race course, we're going to walk through the eight things that our team thinks are the most common problems athletes experience when they're on the run portion of a triathlon.

And coach Chris, as a guy who's been there, done that, coach there, coach that he's just going to walk us through, what should we do when we encounter one of these problems on race day?

And common run problem number one, Coach Chris, is at some point during the run, you begin to feel pain.

This can be tweaking a muscle.

This can be having just a side stitch that won't go away.

This can be some.

Some joint pain coming in, some foot pain coming in.

It can be having a blister like me.

It can be having a tor meniscus like you.

But if we're running on race day, we're in pain.

What do we do?

Yeah, I think I.

I like to say A, B, C, A, assess the injury.

You know, is it something that is major or is it something that's minor?

And, you know, if.

If there is any sign that this is progressively getting worse as you're moving along, that's a sign that it might be, hey, you gotta pull the plug and go, you know, go to an aid station, go see a medical professional, have them assess for you if you're not sure and decide whether you do want to continue or not.

And usually the barometer is if it's something that just feels like a little bit of a nagging pain and you might be okay to go through with it, you might be fine.

But if there's a sign that it's getting progressively worse, you know, small muscle cramp versus an actual, like, breaking of a bone.

I've had a few athletes over the years who have actually tripped on a curb and broken.

My wife actually broke her toe on a swim, not on a run.

I've had athletes break their feet entering the swim, exiting the swim.

How did that happen?

Yeah, my wife cracked her toe on a rock going into the swim at one race.

But I've had an athlete at Ironman, Arizona, that took a bad step on a curb and actually broke their foot.

And they didn't know it at the time, and they Just kept going with it.

And so, you know, obviously in that situation, the goal should be shut it down, the race is done.

But if it's something that is minor, you want to start saying, okay, now how do I deal with it?

So after you assess it, um, focus on just your effort level.

Um, focus on breathing.

So I say A, B, C, A, S, B, breathe.

Because oftentimes aches and pains and cramps, whether it's a muscle issue, whether it's a hydration issue, something else, they get exacerbated if your effort level is too high or if you're just not getting enough energy out of your body.

And sometimes taking a breath, like taking a deep breath, focusing on your breathing can help get you out of those situations where, you know, you're helping your body get the fuel that it needs to, you know, deal with what you're dealing with.

So, you know, B, just take some deep breaths.

If it's a side stitch cramp, that's actually a great way to get rid of the side stitch cramp is to do hard, big exhales, big inhales, and it'll slowly go away.

But you do have to drop your pace down too.

So C is actually check your heart rate.

So check your breathing and then check your heart rate and just say, hey, am I going on the plan that I set for myself or is my heart rate running too high?

Because if you're dealing with an injury and you're going at too high of intensity, that's going to be a recipe for disaster.

So, you know, check your heart rate and then start slowing things down and see how that pain is still going.

Is it getting worse?

Is it staying the same?

Is it maybe alleviating a little bit?

And usually by adjusting that pace, if the pain is getting less, that's a sign that, hey, maybe this is a manageable thing on race day because depending on what type of running event you're doing, if it's a full ironman, for example, that can be a long run.

And you want to make sure that you deal with anything early before it starts getting progressively worse.

I would not have thought of your step two.

Just, okay, breathe, get your heart rate in check.

Make sure that's good to go before deciding what to do from there.

So lots of good stuff there.

Chris, from you, common run problem number two.

This one, I think, is extremely common to our age groupers.

I wanted to put it early in, in the show because of that.

This is where an athlete begins to struggle holding their goal pace for no big reason.

Other than just good old fashioned fatigue.

Right.

So you have a goal pace.

You have the pace your race X told you you should be able to hold for your run, or you have a certain time in mind where, okay, I want to try to hold this pace for the run.

You know, you're, you're, you're clocking along, you're doing good, and then just, just all of a sudden you're just starting to fade, starting to slow down, heart rates creeping up, and there's not an injury, there's not, there's not, you're not dehydrated, you're not, there's no tangible reason.

Chris, if we see that goal slipping away and we're struggling to hold the pace that we feel like we should be able to hold, what do we do?

Yeah, it's, it's tough.

And you know, you can do as much planning as you can.

And especially if you're using, you know, I always say use a, a smart tool like, like try DOT for, you know, shameless plug.

But it, it matters to not just have a pace plan based on your pace, but have a pace plan based on your environment, the conditions, and to have at least one eye on your heart rate as well.

Like I would even say focus on heart rate over pace.

And so if the pace is slowing down for some reason, as long as your heart rate is where it needs to be, you're okay.

You're adapting for the environmental conditions.

Maybe it's a little more humid than was forecast.

Maybe it, you know, the heat just came up a lot higher than what was forecasted even by Race X that gets the weather forecast and, you know, kind of adapts for it.

Um, so you always, as, you know, as an athlete, you need to be ready to adapt.

And so you can look at a couple different things.

Like one, obviously just start backing off and do the same thing like assess where you're at.

I always focus on that, that, that be of breathing because oftentimes when someone fatigues that fatigue and accelerates because you're not getting enough energy and whether that's, you didn't take in enough fuel or which is often the case when people get tired, their breathing goes down and they stop breathing in as much oxygen.

And you know, I focus a lot on metabolic testing and VO2 max and stuff like that and geek out on all that.

And a lot of you learn when you do stuff like that that oxygen is one of the most primary fuel sources for your body.

And if you can get more oxygen into your system, you can get more energy out of your body, right?

You oxidize your fat stores for more energy.

And the longer in distance, like Ironman especially that fuel source becomes much more important.

So just breathing is one of the most important things.

I sometimes when I cheer my athletes on at races, I'll actually hold up a sign and I'll yell at them and I'll say, just breathe to get them to remind themselves to breathe deeper.

Like, get more oxygen in.

I use the analogy of a campfire.

You know, if you fan the flame, it's going to burn more.

And so if it's just a fatigue thing, you can oftentimes kind of biohack your body a little bit into actually getting more energy out of your body by just focusing on your breathing.

Establish that breathing, you know, work on that respiration first.

Oftentimes that can help you get out of a bad spot, whether it's your mood or whatnot.

But the other thing which is sometimes on course, sometimes it isn't, is caffeine.

Love it.

Take advantage of any little caffeine boost.

So sometimes if you know the pace is just dropping down, maybe you didn't get enough energy in, but maybe more calories isn't the solution, but just that extra little kick, that extra little bump can help.

But if you do start using caffeine, continue to use it.

Because if it's a long event and you kind of come off that caffeine high, the crash can sometimes be worse on the other side.

Like, I've.

I've had actually at least two Ironman races where I got so tired on the run, I.

I'm like, I can't continue.

And I actually sat down on a park bench and took a mini nap for a couple minutes and then pick myself back up again once I felt like, okay, maybe I just need to focus on my breathing.

Maybe I just need to get that next aid station, get a little caffeine boost, and then was able to continue on.

But I needed those couple minutes just to reassess where I was, you know, have a clear head.

Because sometimes if you're dehydrated or you have low blood sugar, you're not.

You're not thinking straight.

And so breathing is oftentimes that first step to kind of get you out of that bunk.

This is episode 297 of the Tried out podcast.

And I have never heard a coach or an athlete say that during the course of an Ironman, they laid down and took a nap on a park bench.

Chris, I'm just curious what race Was that at that you did that?

So I've done that at 2 so far.

1 was Ironman, Arizona, and it's right before the hill, if you know, the hill on the backside of the park.

I found a little dark spot.

It was still.

I was, you know, trying to be, you know, you know, not, not doing anything that would be high risk.

So I was on a park bench that was right along the run course so people could see me.

You know, somehow I passed out or whatever.

Somebody was there.

And then at Ironman, it was when Des Moines had a full Ironman.

It was a very hot condition day.

It was actually the, the, the same race that I was power walking the run and the, the run because I couldn't, I couldn't run the run.

I had to walk, walk the run.

I was wearing a knee brace and everything with the meniscus issue I had.

I was just out there for so long and it was a very, very hot day and I just got in that dark spot, you know, late in the race.

It was probably mile 18, mile 20, something like that, the marathon.

And I'm like, you know what?

I got plenty of time.

I can afford to just sit down for a little bit, kind of regain my composure.

And that little five minute nap helped and I was able to continue on.

But I would say if you ever feel that way, like, first and foremost, don't go off in the bushes somewhere.

Find a place where other people are around you and can help you in case it's something else that's at play.

Yeah.

And really with that, it's almost a comical version of it.

Right.

It's the extreme side of this, but it gave you a chance to reset, right?

Yeah.

And so for a lot of people listening, okay, in your local sprint, your local Olympic, you're half ironman.

Okay.

You might not be like Chris and find a bench to take a nap.

You might.

I don't know.

But maybe that reset is just walking an aid station, you know, giving yourself from where you are now to the next stop sign and just walking for a minute, re clearing your head, you know, and just breathing right.

And resetting your head.

And so, yeah, lots of good stuff here.

I'm always on board for anybody who encourages me to take caffeine and more of it.

And I'm always down for a nap.

So, Chris, I really like how this podcast is going so far.

Common run problem number three is you start fighting muscle cramps.

I almost rope this into problem number one, but to me it's just a little bit different when you're cramping as opposed to feeling an injury like pain.

So if we're feeling cramps on the run.

Coach CHRIS what do we do?

Yeah, and oftentimes people say, oh, just take more sodium.

Muscle cramping has to do with electrolytes and whatnot.

Um, but that's, that's really only half the picture, if not a third of the picture.

Typically, um, you know, usually muscles cramp not just because of hydration and electrolytes, but oftentimes because they just don't have the glycogen stores the energy to use.

Um, you know, the example I use for running is, you know, if you do the math for a typical runner running a marathon, and you look at how much glycogen your body has stored, and that's, you know, glycogen is the stored sugar, the carbs your body has, whether it's in the muscle tissue, in the blood or in the liver.

And if you add that up, the average person might have somewhere around 1500-2000 calories in that tank.

And for a marathon, if you ran at a high intensity, like around your threshold of typical kind of hard running pace, and you didn't take in any other fuel, you would bonk and your muscles would run out of glycogen completely at mile 18 and a half.

And when people take a little bit of sugar, they might prolong that a little bit further.

So usually in a marathon run, it's around that mile 18 to 20 point that you start seeing people having calf cramps and issues that start slowing them down.

And usually, and I think we're learning this now, sports science over the last 10 years, the recommendations for how much fuel to take in and how you can get your body to perform better with more in the tank, as long as it's the right balance, you can prolong pushing a harder pace, but you can also help avoid cramping.

And so I always say make sure that you are looking at it not just from an electrolyte standpoint, but when it comes to getting some carbs in your body, that can help quite a bit with muscle cramps.

And I think that oftentimes is overlooked.

So it's really three different things.

It's the electrolytes, it's also the fluid, you know, the liquid, and the carbs, you know, your body stores.

I think it is three and a half to four grams of water of water weight with every gram of carbs.

So when you're taking carbs in, you need the fluids as well.

And with the electrolytes, you know, one of the muscle relaxant electrolytes is magnesium.

And oftentimes all sports products have sodium chloride, calcium, potassium, but not all of them will always have magnesium.

Usually if it has calcium, it'll also have magnesium, because those are usually in a ratio with each other.

So look at electrolyte products that have magnesium and calcium as well.

So more carbs and more magnesium and calcium.

And, you know, whether that's.

I like the salt stick chews.

Those have a good amount of actually magnesium and calcium in them.

But just look at the labels.

Look at the labels of the products that you have.

And I always have in my little race belt, I have a little pouch of those, because I know, like, if I do start cramping, that's going to be my.

My way to get myself out of that situation.

Or look at the aid stations and take advantage of some of the products that you'll see on course.

So don't think just hydration.

Make sure you're getting on top of the carbs as well.

Yeah, I'm glad you said that.

I.

There's, you know, I, I hydrate religiously because I grew up in Florida.

I live in Texas.

Like, it's just.

It's.

It's a way of life, right?

Like, it.

On a Wednesday with zero workouts, I'm hydrating properly.

Right?

Like, it's just.

It's just life in the South.

Um, and.

And so many people just simplify cramping to electrolytes.

It's like, well, it's not that simple.

Cause there's.

There's plenty of workouts where I, I probably overdo with the electrolytes and still can have some muscle cramping.

And so you kind of learn.

Okay, it's.

There's more going on here, right?

And the science tells us that.

So I'm so glad you brought that knowledge to the podcast.

Just to remind people, picture it holistically.

Picture it as there's.

There's a couple levers there that can influence those cramps and get fuel on board, get electrolytes on board.

You know, give yourself a chance to kind of reset and give your.

Give your muscles the fuel they need, not just the electrolytes they need.

And the other thing I would add, too, like, with the.

I mean, this goes a little bit back to the assessment side, but when you have a muscle cramp, oftentimes where you feel that pain is not always the problem area.

Like, oftentimes it's, you know, kinetic change in the body and it's the muscle group or the joint or something above or below that might be tightening up and pulling on something.

And you feel the pain in the area that's being pulled, but the root cause is directly above or below that.

So you get a hamstring issue.

What you can actually look at doing, too, besides the fueling part, is massaging the muscles.

Try to get the muscles to actually physically relax above and below that point.

If you've ever seen.

I think the most notable one in recent years was Christian Blumenfeld.

A couple races, like in a T100 race, an Ironman race, he would just.

His legs would seize up completely on the run or getting off the bike, and he would stop and massage.

And people thought, oh, his race is done.

And then he gets right back in and he keeps going.

But he just figured out, and he knows his body well of, like, where that issue is, and he knew where to address it and be able to continue on.

So that's another thing besides the fueling, you know, fueling hydration, electrolytes, sometimes just addressing and making sure that the kinetic chain, the muscles above and below, wherever you feel that pain, are not the ones that are causing the root cause of the issue in the first place.

Yeah, really good addition there, Chris.

Common run problem number four.

We're going from cramping to pooping, kind of sort of not really GI issues.

Right.

There's a variety of ways a GI issue can manifest.

Sometimes this is just having an upset stomach that's hindering your performance.

Sometimes your stomach can shut down and it just doesn't want to take in anything.

But, you know, you need to take in something.

Sometimes this can be palate fatigue, where you've got a gel in your hand, a bar in your hand, and it's just not appetizing to your body.

If we're.

Sometimes.

This is what I led with.

This can be.

You got the poops and you keep visiting the Porta Potty a little more often than you want to.

Chris, if any of these GI issues begin to make themselves realized on race day, what do we do?

Yeah, there's a lot to that.

I know GI issues can come out all different ends, but yeah, runners troughs, as we call it.

Sometimes just the act of jostling your insides around causes things to push through.

But sometimes people have medical issues, too.

So always, like, if this is something that is chronic, you have something that's happening quite often, make sure you get it addressed.

Sometimes people, if they have Crohn's disease, some other types of conditions, things that just make their bodies respond differently.

Whether it's a nutritional thing.

That's part of the journey of figuring out how to be a healthy person.

Not just a fit person, but a healthy person overall.

So figuring out how to deal with the GI issues, I think is a common thing.

But, you know, the.

When.

When the gut shuts down, it can be hard to figure out.

You know, how do you deal with this?

Oftentimes it's a fluid balance issue.

And like, something just went off.

Like you.

You took in too much water.

And that's usually the first thing that I try to look at right away is, you know, what.

Again, assess.

You know, what was the.

What.

What was the issue?

This is something that's happening, a GI issue that's very late in the race.

And, you know, if you're drinking a lot of water and you're not allowing your body to absorb that with herbs and electrolytes.

Right.

Everything in moderation should be the theme.

When you're doing an extreme event.

Make sure you get that addressed.

So if you've been taking in a lot of water, sometimes it's just a matter of getting a little bit of electrolytes and a little bit of sugar back in the body, not necessarily getting more water back in the body, and just something to help you restore that fluid balance because the osmolality of your system is off.

But sometimes it can just be, you ate something bad, you digested something bad.

I've thrown up at least.

I can probably count three or four Ironman races.

I've done about 20 plus Ironman races.

And yeah, I've had the issues where I've thrown up after a race.

I've had issues where I've thrown up during a race.

I've had runners shots.

So depending on what happens, like some races, unfortunately, you know, you can get something from the water, from swimming and bacteria, something your body's maybe more sensitive to.

Some people have allergies to different foods.

A lot of things can go wrong.

And if you do end up having a.

An issue with things coming up, make sure that you're focusing on establishing that fluid balance again.

So carbs and electrolytes especially, I think is typically the solution.

But again, it can vary.

And you do have to kind of learn what.

What works for you if runners trots are the issues.

And, you know, that's kind of like a chronic thing for you.

One of my biggest recommendations is to actually, before the race, try to make sure you get everything out of your system.

You know, look at your pre race routine and sometimes just going for a quick jog to kind of force things through before the race starts.

Go take care of that.

That oftentimes solves issues completely.

For people that have that as like a chronic thing, like, you get nervous, the gut in the morning sometimes is a little bit more.

You're waking up earlier than you're used to waking up and.

Yeah, yeah.

And if you're, if you're trying to like, shove food into quickly and whatnot, like, dialing in that morning routine, you know, is really the most important thing.

But doing a quick jog before the event is usually what really does help for a lot of people that tend to have that particular issue.

Yep, great stuff, Chris.

Everything in moderation.

And hopefully we have our long workouts right.

Hopefully we're kind of practicing and training how our body responds to different amounts of fluid versus sodium versus this versus that.

But then you get on race day and the conditions are different, the pressures of race day are different.

And you'll even see, Chris, the pros sometimes get this wrong.

Right?

It's their job.

They race for a living, they train for a living.

And sometimes they'll just misdo that, balance that ratio of taking this to that, to that to that, and stop and walk at mile 18, mile 9, mile, whatever.

So if you find yourself with runner strats, you're in good company.

Some of the best in the world had this happen to them too.

Yeah.

And sometimes it's not a physical or nutritional thing.

It's mental.

Like just the nervous energy, the nerve gets to you and change how your, how your gut responds.

And, you know, I think the, the theme of this podcast is also like, how to deal with it.

Right.

So sometimes thinking about, like, hey, what are the different things that can help me?

And at least over the years of, you know, I've done over 130 triathlons, I've done 40 plus marathons.

I've learned a lot of little things.

And so I have like, usually something to deal with everything in my, my gear bag, but also in my race belt.

It's actually run with some good things just for a couple of people.

If this might work for you, you can experiment.

Chewing gum.

I keep chewing gum in my, in my race belt.

So if my stomach gets upset, sometimes just the act of cleansing your palate and chewing with your mouth gets your.

Body to use like a minty gum or like a fruity gum or just.

A regular kind of plain, you know, standard chewing gum.

Something more minty probably.

Um, also I've been ginger chews.

Ginger can sometimes settle your stomach.

Um, so for some folks, ginger works really well.

I actually used to put ginger chews in my race belt as like an emergency situation item.

Um, and then also like, if, if.

Because I've thrown up at a couple of races, what I, What I've done, what I've learned is.

Tends to work for me, surprisingly, to kind of like, re.

You know, step get back from those situations.

Like, you empty out a lot of fluid right away, you end up being dehydrated.

And sometimes it's hard to actually get things in, like you just don't want to eat anything after that.

So I do meal replacement shakes, like a boost and ensure, like a ready to drink item that you can find at a convenience store.

I put those at least for full Ironmans in my special needs bags.

So if I ever have an issue, at least at the, you know, in transition, each transition, I usually have one and also in special needs.

And so that kind of planning ahead of time is something that I've just learned works for me and is a way that I can deal with those situations if they do happen.

Yeah.

And it's so funny, Chris, I love the suggestion of, of just having some stuff in your race belt, your race pockets, your.

Your personal needs bags, if your race has personal needs bags.

I literally, like, the day before Ironman Waco, my coach and I were talking about like, oh, yeah, I should probably throw like some, some Pepto Bismol or like, something.

And I've never done a full Ironman just.

Just in case my stomach gets upset.

And we just never in all the things you're doing, all the boxes you're checking, right.

To get ready for race day.

Just never went to the convenience store and grabbed a couple of things that I might want to throw in there.

And so I didn't have that on race day.

And sure enough, upset stomach for the first time ever during a race.

And yeah, so I was like, man, I should have taken the extra 30 minutes to get all that ready.

But what works for some people too?

And I've seen, because I've also had athletes, you know, that volunteer or volunteer special needs, and you see the different things that people put in their bags.

My wife likes like the chews, the Tums, so like a calcium chew and that, that helps her whenever she gets an upset stomach, that's her solution.

So she puts that in her, you know, transition bags and her special needs bags.

So finding out what works for you or if you're not sure.

Yet just having options is sometimes a good, good way to plan ahead.

Drink a ton of milk and then go for a hot run and then test what product calms your stomach down.

That's what we're saying here, right?

CHRIS Common run problem number five is you begin to feel chafing blisters or hot spots.

This can be on your feet, this can be on the skin around your tri kit, especially on longer races or saltwater races.

Coach CHRIS if you start to really feel some friction somewhere, it's bothering you out on that run course.

What do we do?

Yeah, a lot.

So usually the painful ones are when you get a lot of your own sweat and salt, you know, dipping into a wound.

And so any chafing spot usually happens from, you know, there being a heat liquid like water or sweat and salt mixed together.

And if there's any open wound that ends up causing a lot of pain, usually if that does happen, almost every race, at least the big ones, they will have medical tent or medical supplies at the aid stations.

Just go and see if you can get Vaseline or Aquaphor or one of those products that can act as a barrier.

They have it in so many different places.

Medical staff on the course, sometimes roaming around, you know, police, if they're blocking an intersection, they might have something in their, in their vehicles.

But if it's really bad, then you need it addressed right away.

Yeah, get, get some type of barrier on it over it.

But be careful because you don't want to just like pour water and then have a bunch of your salt dipping into a wound.

So clean the area if you can, you know, wipe it clean.

I usually, and I've been trying to find for the longest time and finally found, I think it's Aquaphor.

Makes little tiny packets of Aquaphor that are just like, it's like a single, you know, thing.

You can buy them in bulk.

And I now put those in my, my run belt.

So I always have that on the run just in case, whether I have an issue or somebody else.

So sounds like your run belt always has everything.

Yeah, I have a little bit of everything.

So if you ever see me in a race and you have an issue, nine times out of 10, I'll have a solution for you.

But.

But yeah, and then for, I guess this would be more for after the race, but A and D cream.

So Vitamin A.

Vitamin D is actually good for helping the recover.

So if you have that next day or you get in the shower after a race and you have that real painful you know, chafing.

Mark, get that baby ointment.

A vitamin A, vitamin D.

The A and D cream is a really good solution for that as a whole.

Or.

And this is another thing I have in my race belt, I should probably just reach over.

I have my race belts back here to do a little show and tell, but is hydrocolloid band aids.

So the blister band aids, I put them in a Ziploc bag so they're waterproof.

And I always have at least two of them in my.

In my race belt.

So if you get that back of the heel chafe like you mentioned, you can just very quickly put that on and have that barrier because those are designed to repel moisture out.

They're more hydrophobic than other band aids, and they create a water seal barrier, essentially.

So whether it's during the race or after the race, the hydro colloid band aids are the way to go.

If you're at a convenience store, I know the band aid brand has them always in a silver package.

So just look for the silver package at a convenience store if you want to just have those extra items to help out on race day.

Yep.

No.

All.

All great tips.

The.

The other one I'll throw out is our friends at Two Tom's, which as a company, our favorite, like every trydot pool school has two Toms on deck because their wipes are so good for all the swimmers in the pool that are putting fins on and swimming with fins.

It's so good waterproof blister protection.

But they actually have a product called Blister shield, which now I keep packets of in my bag after experiencing that Clash event as a tennis player.

I've been playing a lot of tennis lately, and I've also used their blister shield when I played a couple days in a row.

And I can feel a hand blister coming on.

I'll just give my hand a little wipe and then go play.

And no issues whatsoever.

So lots of good options there.

And.

And yeah, it's so interesting.

Like, okay, because there was that, like, obvious, like, oh, I have a blister right now feeling at Clash Daytona.

And that.

That story I shared when I did Ironman Waco, my first Ironman, I remember, I think I was at mile 16, 17 on the run, and it was the first time I'd ever felt, like, hot spots on my feet.

And I'm like, I'm gonna get done with this race, and my feet are just gonna be torn up.

And I got done, and my feet were fine.

It Was literally just a feeling.

Right.

And it can be so, like, elusive.

So I like what you said earlier, like, stop.

Kind of like equating it to having an injury.

Stop.

Evaluate what's going on with a spot.

Is it just something I'm feeling?

So I've been in the sun for a while.

Is it my skin actually being rubbed raw and I should address it?

If so, absolutely.

Stop.

Try to get some help.

Try to get some items.

Fun fact, Chris.

Fun fact.

Yeah.

A and D cream.

Try that.

Coach Matt Bach, who makes appearances on the podcast, uses A and D cream as chapstick.

He swears by that.

He swears by it.

He made us all do it.

I'm in Arizona one year.

He goes, everybody put some of this on your lips just for fun.

And I refuse.

But he made me do it anyway.

There's a lot of good anti chafe products out there, and I think if there's anyone new listening to this podcast too, that's one thing that triathletes learn the hard way, usually with a lot of bike mileage especially, is, you know, figure out what products work as shammy cream.

The lubricant makes a big, big difference.

So being, you know, prepared ahead of time obviously helps, but, you know, learning how to deal with it on the fly helps as well.

And, you know, some races, too, will have sponges at the aid stations.

Like, just getting the salt away from a wound can make a big difference as well.

Yeah.

And just protect getting something over it.

Like, you could even try plastic bags, like getting a plastic bag.

Or volunteers will sometimes have latex, like a box of latex gloves at the aid stations.

Grab that, you know, rinse it off and put that on top and just have it between your.

Your tri suit and wherever that chafe is, just to act as a barrier to help avoid more chafing.

So get that.

You know, that fluid barrier established is usually the key to get rid of the chafing areas.

All good ideas.

Common run problem number six is you encounter weather conditions that were not expected.

This can be it just getting way hotter than you thought.

The course being way more exposed to the sun than you thought.

This could be high winds kicking up, rain kicking up.

I was at 7.3St.

George one year as a spectator, not an athlete, when it started hailing on the athletes that were out there on course.

And I was at a coffee shop drinking coffee, watching the hail fall down and all of my athlete friends who were racing that day.

But, Chris, if we're out there on course, we're running, we're exposed to the elements and some weather rolls in.

What do we do?

Yeah, I think just having the mindset of, you know, how to deal with a situation is always challenging.

You know, sometimes you're, you're not thinking straight when you're a little dehydrated or under fuel.

So make sure, you know, assess and get some fluids in you or get some sugar in you, but also just think about how to deal with different things.

So let's talk like extreme cold, for example.

Um, you know, there's a lot of creative things that you can do on the fly.

One of, I remember one race I did a beach to Battleship.

It was a full, full Ironman, North Carolina.

And the, the wind picked way up, it was overcast, it started raining, temperature dropped like crazy.

And I had issues that actually started on the bike where my hands got so cold I couldn't grip onto my handlebar anymore.

And what ended up saving me.

And I actually did this again, I think more recently it was Ironman, California.

It just rained all day.

And I use latex gloves, bike mechanics gloves on my bike, I have them and I actually started putting them in my run gear for wet condition races because there's something that's easy, you can throw it off in the trash at the start of a run if you don't need it, or later on in the day.

But just getting your extremities so your hands especially warm does a really good job of getting your body warm again and just creating a wind barrier for your hands.

The part of your body that's moving the most and getting the, you know, wind cooling effect is probably one of the most important things.

So get your extremities from not going numb is always the first and foremost thing.

Also on the fly, like sometimes depending on where you're running, you might find a plastic bag.

And cyclists know this.

If you put a plastic bag down the front of your jersey, it acts as a wind barrier if you're doing descents off of mountains.

That's how a lot of cyclists will stay warm.

They'll put newspaper or something in the front.

So actually I did that at same race, Ironman, California.

I think I was struggling and I was with a couple other athletes.

One athlete dropped out because of hypothermia and I had told somebody else on the.

I found out after the race that she dropped out.

But I told a few other athletes, like, just grab that plastic bag, shove it down the front of your jersey and keep your torso warm.

And that will help your Body warm up as well.

So sometimes you can get just really creative with what's on course.

But you could also just think about like, you know, what are other things that you can do to protect yourself from the wind, especially on cold conditions.

So anything you can do to add extra wind layers.

People put plastic bags in their shoes sometimes.

So taking your whole foot out of your running shoe, putting a plastic bag over your foot and putting it back into the shoe, you know, I wouldn't recommend it because it could cause blisters potentially.

But in a pinch, if you're really struggling, you know, learning how to deal with that cold is important.

But yeah, I've had races where here in Chicago we run on the lakefront and we get strong winds off the lake.

And I've had runs where I actually run seeking where the direction of the wind is.

I changed my running route so I would keep running behind trees and large objects just out of the wind every couple minutes.

And running away from the wind even for a couple minutes can actually warm you up quite a bit.

So while it might be counterintuitive and counterproductive to some degree, you could actually run in the reverse direction or turn around and run backwards for a couple strides and that actually can, can warm you up as well.

And then in hot condition races, the other extreme, learn, learn how to deal with the conditions.

You know, obviously, hopefully look at the weather forecast ahead of time when you're on the run.

Looking for shady spots on the run course, which you can do the opposite in cold races.

Look for running in the sun whenever you can to stay warm.

And I, I have on a run course before very egregiously not taking a tangent to stay in the shape on a hot day.

Right, yeah.

Well, you know, sometimes the priority is, you know, you and your body, not the time that you're going to be setting.

If it's a survival mode race.

I know we here in Illinois, we had a downstate race.

I was always in the heat of summer, the cutting edge half classic down in Effingham, Illinois.

And we used to call it the death march, not a run, it was a swim bike and a death march because the heat index would always be around 105.

One year was 115 degrees of the heat index.

And you're just in survival mode, you know, and it's, it's not about running, it's about power walking, it's about finding the shade.

It's about using the aid stations to cool your body.

You know, whether that's, you know, just Getting more fluids in, dumping water, ice.

Sometimes you have the tri suits that have little pockets you can put the ice cubes in.

I also encourage the arm sleeves, like the sun sleeves.

You can put ice down the front of those or just pouring water on that because that will cool your body down.

As your arms are swinging, you'll get more of a wind effect to help you stay cool.

But yeah, any little tip and trick that you can put together, have that in your mental toolkit and then also physical toolkit.

In some cases, just having those extra items can make a big, big difference because, yeah, not some triathlons are very standard, but some are intentionally, you know, extreme condition races.

And the adventure is figuring out how to deal with those situations.

Yeah, I do want to say, too, Chris, you mentioned earlier, sometimes on the run course, when this weather is kicking up, we're not always in the perfect state of mind.

And if you're out there and race officials pull the athletes off the course for some reason, either temporarily as a pause or permanently, race is shut down.

Listen to them know that they're not doing that without absolutely having to.

But here in Texas, 70.3, Galveston Ironman in the Woodlands, there's been several years where those races have been either paused for 30 minutes or.

Or just, hey, everybody's done for lightning.

Right.

Which is a dangerous condition.

So.

So trust the officials.

That happens.

You know, there's.

There's been years of those races are paused, and then they let everybody back onto the course 20 minutes later.

And.

Okay, yeah, like, some people might have skirted that and stayed on course.

Some people might have cheated the system.

Yeah, your.

Your timing and your placement might be messed up a little bit, but, you know, do your best to listen to the safety.

You know, the safety.

Brief briefings and decisions that.

That are being made by the race director in real time.

That's.

And that's really important.

I.

I had one full Ironman race I was doing where I was on mile 70 of the bike, and the weather looked fine, but all of a sudden the police told us, pull over.

Everyone's getting off the course.

There was a lightning storm on a different part of the course, and we had to just wait and wait for an update.

And then eventually they said, okay, they're canceling the race.

Everyone has to get bused back.

We're like, why bus back?

We have our bikes.

We can bike back.

And so they gave some athletes the options, like, yeah, if you want, you can bike back.

You have to turn your chip in.

But there is a storm coming.

And people are like, I want to get my training miles in.

And they just went, sure.

Athletes.

We waited.

We waited for the bus and the bus picked us up.

And on the way back, it was the most torrential downpour, like, felt like a tornado coming through, hail, you name it.

And we were so glad we listened to the officials and took the bus back rather than.

We ended up seeing a couple people about four hours later that came back and they got pelted by hail and had to seek shelter somewhere else.

So listen to the officials.

If they're telling you to stop, stop.

There was a reason why.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Live to see, live to fight another day.

Common run problem number seven is you experience a tech failure of some kind.

We talked about this one last week on the bike version of this conversation.

But a tech failure on the run course is usually your watch dying.

In a longer race, it can be your heart rate sensor beginning to malfunction or your run power meter beginning to malfunction.

Coach CHRIS if there's some tech that we're used to having and we're out on the run course, how do we handle that?

Yeah, I think one common issue we see a lot is, yeah, just forgetting to charge stuff and batteries dying.

So make sure you have that as part of your plan to, you know, juice up things ahead of time.

I've done whole YouTube videos on like the little Garmin settings to change to boost the battery life.

So if you're, if you're worried about that, definitely look into, you know that and make sure you pack your charger and spare batteries.

Now with electronic shifting especially, too, all the time I've been guilty of that.

I was at a ride, I was actually bike marshaling for a local half marathon here and I charged, I was charging one of my batteries and I forgot to put it back on my bike.

And so I rolled out the door and all of a sudden, like, oh, missing.

Missing a battery.

Can't shift my gear.

Luckily, I have the SRAM shifting, so I could take the battery from my front derailleur and put it on my rear and I at least could shift my, my rear, rear gears on the bike.

But that's a bike issue.

So I would say yeah, for, for tech stuff, obviously the battery thing is, is usually the main tech issue that people deal with.

The other issue, though, we have a lot of nervous athletes who are so dependent on, like, seeing their heart rate to gauge their pace, and we get so tied to that.

And I'm, I'm a big tech tech geek I love my data.

I look at my heart rate powers, data all the time.

But learning how to pace yourself without that is important.

You know, whether it's just for dealing with those situations when things go wrong, or just having a second way to assess things.

Because oftentimes, if you have, like an optical heart rate on your wrist and all of a sudden the heart rate doesn't look correct, like, some devices will have issues like cadence law and whatnot.

The PPG technology, the optical technology is not as good as an ecg, a chest strap.

So for heart rate stuff, what I encourage runners to really focus on is, is learning how to assess your pace based on your respiratory rate.

So if you're not familiar with, like, asymmetric breathing is something I talk a lot about, is, you know, if you run and you count how many steps you take as you breathe out and how many steps you take as you breathe in, you can correlate your breathing rate with your cadence.

And that very closely ties to a heart rate zone.

So if you're running at a really high intensity, you might be breathing out two steps and breathing in two steps, like, and that's zone five for most people.

If you're at a three, two breathing rate, like, you're exhaling for three steps, inhaling for two, that asymmetric rate, that's usually a zone four, like a racing zone.

And then if you're doing like an Ironman or a longer distance, you know, ultra marathon, going down to a 3, 3 or a 3, 4, asymmetric breathing rate is ideal because then you can just learn how to deal with, you know, the environmental conditions you can deal with.

You know, when you get cramps and other issues, you can still gauge your own effort level without needing that heart rate just in case that that heart rate monitor is, is acting up on you.

But I also like that tip because it makes you focus on your breathing.

And if you get more inhaling, you.

Get more oxygen in your system, you're going to get more energy.

So it's a little more just breathe, baby body hack.

Yep, just breathe.

Because nine times out of ten, just breathing and getting more oxygen into your system will help you, you know, adjust for cramping, fueling, other issues.

But also, whenever those tech issues go wrong, and I use it competitively, actually, when I.

When I'm in a running event and I'm running next to somebody who I might be competitive with, I listen to their breathing rate.

And if I can keep my breathing rate more in check than theirs, then I know I'll have that extra gear later on in the run, so competitive athletes can use it as well in some fun ways.

Yeah, good stuff.

The other one I've seen that I find very helpful, and I'll share this with runner friends of mine that I don't have a Garmin watch, don't have a HARI monitor, but they're getting more into it and they kind of want to know how to gauge their effort.

There's videos on YouTube, from cycling magazines, running magazines.

One in particular that I saw has a cyclist on a indoor bike trainer.

And she's out loud reading a book as she's pedaling.

And it shows you how well is she able to talk while pedaling and correlating that to a heart rate zone.

So obviously in zone two, she's able to read the book just fine without it sounding like there's any break in the text.

Zone three, there's a little bit of huffing and puffing, but she's still reading it very effectively.

Zone four, there's quite a bit of breathing in between words.

It's taking her a little while longer to finish complete sentences.

And in Zone 5 and Zone 6, she's barely getting anything out at all because of the effort making her out of breath.

And so finding a video like that, just to give you a gauge of, okay, I'm out on course, my watch has died.

I'm kind of interested in how hard am I pushing?

How well can you talk to the people around you?

How well can you make a comment to somebody at an aid station or an athlete going by you or, you know, a spectator going by, you know, are, are you labored in conversation or are you easily holding conversation?

That's also a really good way I like to self regulate.

Okay, what, what RP am I at?

What zone am I probably in right now?

Comment Run.

Problem number eight.

Chris, last one for the podcast today.

This is an athlete.

They're on the run course on race day and they're just finding it hard to concentrate.

Maybe they're starting to feel foggy.

Maybe they're hitting a dark patch mentally where they're really finding it difficult to press on.

Coach Chris, what do we do when we face a tough moment like this in the run stage of a triathlon?

Yeah, a couple things.

One, obviously, I always go back to that breathing thing.

Sometimes if the breathing is the first domino to fall, that ends up becoming a downward spiral that affects everything else.

So always assess, focus on your breathing.

Get that started.

But.

And then also, you know, the encore stuff, I think we talked about as well, like getting a caffeine as a, as something to give you a little bit of a boost if you need that extra boost of energy.

So those are always the two kind of first things.

I also like to have a focus on biomechanics.

So if you're having trouble focusing on, you know, what pace you're doing or whatnot, focus on something simple.

You know, focus on your cadence.

You know, sometimes a little hack when you're, when your energy is not there and you're having trouble focusing.

What I go to is my kind of fallback when I know I'm like, okay, mentally, I might not be there a hundred percent, but I can at least have one thing that I can focus on.

And I just try to pump my arms with a higher cadence and short arm stride.

And what that does is it gets my, my cadence to increase a little bit and it gets my, my legs to go.

Because the reason your arms swing while you run is, is because your body is trying to balance itself out, right?

Your right foot goes forward, your left arm swings forward so you're not falling down on that side.

And so you can hack your biomechanics by just focusing on swinging your arms a little bit quicker.

And just having something simple like that, a biomechanical thing to focus on is very helpful.

Any type of running form.

Tip.

Have that in your mental toolkit and just say, hey, when, when something else is, you're struggling, you know, and you've tried everything else, you've tried to slow down your pace, you've tried to focus on your breathing, you try to get more carbs in, you know, what else is there to do, and sometimes you just need that little thing to focus on or that distraction, so to speak.

The other thing, though, when it's more like, you know, mentally you're down and you're just not feeling great, I often say give out positive energy, like, fake it until you make it.

If you see spectators on the course, if you see volunteers at the aid stations, say thank you to them or cheer on your fellow competitors.

And when you give out a little bit of energy, even if you're feeling down on the inside, just giving that energy out, you get that energy back.

And oftentimes that's a little hack you can do to elevate your mood again and give yourself that final boost whenever you're struggling out there on the run, you know, just find that way to just dig deep, give a little bit of energy out, and you're going to get that back Tenfold.

I know one, one hack and I think she used to do this on the, on the bike more than the run.

Chrissy Wellington, a well known, you know, pro triathlete, Ironman, undefeated in Ironman distance, you know, legend of the sport.

She used to write smile with an exclamation point on her water bottle.

And she found that every time she would look at that, it would remind her to smile and that would elevate her mood and it would also make her competitors think she was like crazy.

Like, why is she smiling when they're going really, when she's going really, really hard?

So she would play some good games of people too, I think it was.

But, but just reminding yourself to smile, you can write it on your arm like a mantra or something just to kind of get, force yourself to remind yourself of, you know, why you're doing this or, you know, that you're enjoying this even when you're struggling.

It's supposed to be fun, right?

It's supposed to be fun, fun.

But you know, we're, we're, we're spoiled to be able to have this be, you know, a hobby in the sport that we get to do.

So I think it's important to always, you know, give, give back to the volunteers a little bit as well and spectators that come out to cheer you on, but also use that as a way to, you know, encourage others on the course and you'll find that you'll get that energy back and you'll get out of those dark spots when you're on the run especially.

Great set, everyone.

Let's cool down.

On to the cool down portion of our show where we ask our coach a question from our audience.

And this week's question comes from an athlete named Alan.

And Alan wants recommendations for indoor cycling trainers which could be the best price benefit.

There's a lot of ways to play your indoor cycling setup and this is a run focused podcast, but believe me, coach Chris Navin is the right guy to answer this question.

Chris, what would you advise Allen and other athletes who are just looking for the best kind of, kind of price benefit?

Best per budget, per the price point, whatever it is in Deutsche cycling setup.

Yeah, I think there's a lot of questions that come with that of like what are your main training goals?

And if you're more interval training or course simulation or just looking something super simple.

You know, if someone doesn't already have a power meter on their bike, sometimes I'll say, hey, just, just get a power meter for your bike and a dumb Trainer and that's the simplest option or any of the wheel on trainers.

You know, the, the Wahoo snap, the Saris M2 I think it is.

You know, those are very popular wheel on trainers.

Elite also has the Tuo T u o I believe those are real simple ones because it's easy to get your bike on, it's easy to get your bike off, you don't have to deal with taking the wheel off.

And those can provide a good enough solution for most people.

But if they're looking for more kind of, you know, spending a little bit more, those are usually around the $200 and under price point.

Now with the sales and whatnot, but with tariffs, who knows, prices could be all over the place, both high and low.

But for smart trainers, you don't need to spend an arm and a leg.

Like there are those, you know, thousand to $2,000.

Smart trainers still these days with all the bells and whistles.

But there are some that are, you know, for $300, $400, you can get a top, you know, top performing, real direct drive trainer rather that we see most triathletes who get into the sport for a long time wanting to have just because they're, they're silent, they're more efficient, they provide a little bit of a better experience in core simulation and better power range in the inclines and all that.

So Wahoo has like the kicker.

Core is a really popular one.

Jet Black is another brand that has a really, really good, actually pretty fully featured direct drive trainer for around $400.

So I would say, you know, look, look at the features and, but also think about what, what are your priorities with, you know, with what, how often you're going to use it and what you're using it for.

Some of the simplest solutions for others have actually been just getting like I have the feedback sports omnium trainer which is a foldable roller.

It's not really a full, you know, trainer, but I just use that with a power meter on my bike.

And you can spend a couple hundred dollars on power meter on your bike, get a portable trainer and you can take that anywhere you can put on your back porch.

So if you need a versatile or a solution to travel with, sometimes that can actually be a low budget option, but also a very simple option from a setup and versatility standpoint.

Yeah.

One that I never thought of, Chris, because I had a power meter on my bike already.

And if you have a power meter, yeah, you already have the watt numbers that you're pushing.

Right.

Without investing in A smart trainer.

And so yeah, you can just get a dumb trainer and train just as well as somebody with a $3,000 indoor setup.

Watts are watts if they're being read accurately.

And then, so if you're gonna, to your point, if you're gonna buy one thing, if you're buying the power meter, well then you also the power meter outside and you're benefiting from that data when you're outside.

So I do like that solution.

I know for me, when I was looking at this as a first time purchaser of a smart trainer or of an indoor training setup, I, I just, I was not interested in dealing with the setup of making the tire connect to the trainer because you have to do that just right for it to read accurately and then you're rubbing the tire every single time and you're burning through your tires faster.

So, so to me it was worth saving up a couple hundred more to get an entry level wheel on trainer.

This, this is going to depend differently for everybody, just depending on what you prioritize and what your budget is.

But I saved for a little while to get one where I could actually take my wheel off, put my bike directly to the trainer.

But that was important to me to not have the wheel rubbing and have to deal with that every single time in my setup.

So yeah, some great options there posed by coach Chris and a little more $0.02 put in by me.

But these days, thankfully there's a lot of options and the price point for some of the good options have come down significantly.

One last resource I'll quote is if you go to Zwift's website, Zwift is very motivated to make it easy for people to ride their bike indoors because then you're going to sign up for Zwift, hopefully in their line of thinking.

So I just pulled up their website while Chris was talking and they have so many different products on here at different price points, different ways of connecting your bike to a trainer to make it easy for you to ride indoors.

And so that's just a resource.

One thing I was going to add to that too is like, yeah, look, look at price points as they change quite dramatically.

Now that, that Zwift Insider is a great resource that lists all those trainers, but also smartbike trainers.com I think it is a YouTube channel they do.

I think their website actually lists all different pricing for different trainers because some of them.

I was going to actually throw out one more.

The, the Saris H3 Saris used to charge $1,000 for that trainer.

Now it's same exact trainer under $400 and so a lot of them have just priced differently whether it's to clear inventory or whatnot with tariffs, who knows.

So shop around because you can find some really, really good options at literally the 400 price point if you're willing to spend that much where you've got, you know, pretty much a top of the line trainer might miss one or two features here and there, but there's some great deals to be had and that'll make your training so much more effective at the end of the day.

So definitely shop around and ask others to join the Try Dot chats, join the Circle app, the Facebook groups.

People are getting rid of old trainers.

People have different options where they might just be looking to clear out their closet.

So that's always a good starting point too.

Thanks for joining us.

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