When it comes to triathlon training, we often hear terms such as Heart Rate, Power, RPE, HRV, VO2 consumption, and many others. Today I’m focusing on one of those frequently used terms, Lactate. Let’s begin with the basics, what is lactate? To put it simply, lactate is the result of glucose utilization by muscle cells under aerobic conditions. Because we always produce lactate while exercising, it is known that the greater the training intensity the more lactate we produce. Blood lactate accumulation happens when pyruvate is reduced to lactate when the mitochondria in our cells ca ..read more

  Have you ever gained weight when starting an exercise program or during a race build-up? This has to be one of the most frustrating situations. You’re training down the house, putting in endless miles, dealing with sore muscles, and still, the scale goes up. Spoiler alert! You probably haven’t gained 20lbs of muscle. (I’m guilty of telling myself it must be muscle gain). So, what are the possible reasons you might be training weight? Cortisol - A small increase in cortisol is a good thing, it helps you crush workouts and stay focused. However, if you continue to push your body ..read more

   How important is it for triathletes to be mentally tough? Most of the time during training, the goal is to prepare our bodies for the upcoming race. This involves training plans, diets, fine-tuning our race day nutrition and hydration, etc. For this blog post, we will switch it up and cover the psychological side of training and preparation, and how becoming mentally tougher will ultimately improve our performances in triathlon.  Let’s get straight to the point. Success in endurance sports boils down to how much pain you can put your body through for an extended period of tim ..read more

   To first understand how cool this season was for me, I think it is important to go back towards the end of 2019. Early that year, I flew over to Australia to train with a professional triathlon team. We were there from January to May and in Spain from May to September. It was probably the best year of my life until now, to be honest. One of the major take always from that year was that I wanted to try out the 70.3 distance and stop racing in the ITU for a bit. I had noticed that I simply was not as “fast” as my competitors and that the longer-threshold style of training came relat ..read more

   Triathlon is a complex sport and there are many paths you can explore to improve your overall performance. For beginner athletes, consistency in training is the obvious way to get the biggest gains. For more advanced athletes it is less simple. You’ve most likely already grabbed those low-hanging fruits, which means shaving one more minute of your 70.3 race, now requires significant effort, comprised of time, money, and energy. You can optimize your physical condition by hiring a coach, and your equipment by purchasing new and better gear. You can also, gain valuable time polishin ..read more

   After taking a pause in 2020, the Ironman 70.3 World Championship is back! The stage was set in St. George, Utah, the same town that previously hosted the 70.3 North American Championships earlier this year. St. George showcases a beautiful and unforgiving course located in the high desert of southern Utah. It has been showcased as the "Land of Endurance", taking a foothold on the Ironman race circuit.  In 2021, we had 20+ athletes and coaches qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship! Quite an impressive number, being this year our Team’s first. We are thankful to have ..read more

   Our team has had the luck of working with Amp Human for over a year, and although our coaches and athletes love the product, we were still curious enough to understand how it works from a scientific perspective. What sparked our curiosity? Recently, the Park City based company entered into a US Air Force research contract focused on human performance. So, if there is enough scientific evidence for the US Air Force to potentially use this for “optimizing human performance, wellness, and resilience”, then we want to know what it is. Furthermore, if ..read more

  “I train so hard, I do my long runs, I’m improving as a triathlete, I can endure long hours on the bike… Why then can’t I lose weight? In fact, why in the world am I gaining weight?” Does this sound familiar to you? You are way ahead of the average population, you train long hours, you consider yourself to be living an active lifestyle. You go to the gym, you are runner, a cyclist or a triathlete. You look at your wearable device and you are proud to burn thousands of calories. Why then are you not losing weight? Or even worse, why are you gaining weight?  This seems to be a v ..read more

   Slowly but surely we are seeing a return in races, specially Ironman branded ones. It started in Europe, next was Australia, Asia and Mexico towards the end of September… Then this past weekend, US athletes finally had a taste of normality and hope thanks to Ironman 70.3 Arizona! We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, are you? We are incredibly thankful to everybody participating at these events for acting responsibly and being safe. We cannot keep this up if races become spreading events for COVID 19, so we all need to work together and keep our eye on the pri ..read more

   Surprise, surprise. You are in the middle of the season and suddenly something starts to ache. As endurance athletes, we are no strangers to pain, so we ice it and decide to wait and see. Then after a few days it gets worse… Story of our lives, right?  I’m very proactive when it comes to aches and pains, and that is always my advice as a coach.  I’ve learned that waiting and seeing what happens is just not the way to go when you are training us much as we are.  That is how I came across SOLESTAR. A few weeks before I was set to race IRONMAN Malaysia, I develope ..read more