The Triathlete Hour

Triathlon swim coach Gerry Rodrigues of Tower 26 joins us from his home in Los Angeles, California to talk about swimming through the pandemic, answer your questions, and give away a few copies of his new book Triathlon Swimming. Watch all the Triathlete Live episodes here: triathlete.com/ama

In episode four of Fitter & Faster, Matt Dixon—head coach and founder of Purple Patch Fitness—talks about how he's built one of the largest and most successful triathlon squads in the world. What started as a sketch of his "coaching vision" on the back of an airplane napkin has now led to him guiding athletes to 300+ pro podiums and almost 300 Kona age-group qualifications. In this episode, Matt covers a lot of ground—from the biggest mistakes he sees athletes making to the common traits he finds in all of his highest-achieving racers. He dishes out some real talk on how to overcome pandemic fatigue and speaks candidly about some of his biggest coaching mistakes, as well as his greatest successes. As a coach who has worked with many world-class athletes, he gives some insights into finding race-day magic, particularly how he helped take pro Tim Reed from overanalyzer to world champion. Matt's work with age-groupers is equally interesting, helping scores of athletes fulfill their potential on 10 hours of training (or less) per week.

In episode 3 of Triathlete’s new training podcast, Fitter and Faster, Ironman champion Dede Griesbauer joins host Emma-Kate Lidbury to talk about how she stays fit, fast, motivated, and injury-free—despite being just a few months away from her 50th birthday. Dede is a three-time Ironman champion and Ultraman champion who broke the Ultraman world record earlier this year. In this episode, she uncovers how she still gets the most from her body, shining a light on her training, strength work, self care, sleep and recovery. She talks, too, about the moment at which her doctor told her that her body was "eating itself"—a turning point which forced her to reexamine her approach to fueling and nutrition. As someone who used to work full-time (on Wall Street, no less), Dede has plenty of takeaways and tips for age-group athletes who are looking to get the most from their training while balancing life—and the aging process.

The legendary Andy Potts joins us for episode 12 of the Triathlete Hour. He looks back on his 19 years in the sport, how he found his way to triathlon after *just* missing out on the Olympics in swimming, and when he realized he might be good at this. Plus, an extensive discussion on when it's OK (and when it's not OK) to poop yourself during a race, why he's bummed the harder races often get canceled, and how his wife's cancer diagnosis pushed them down a path of chasing what you love. We also promise, in the episode, to share a few of his daughter's Would You Rather... ...be stuck outside on a gnarly weather day or stuck inside on the most beautiful ever? ...lick the salt off of a very salty pretzel or eat the pretzel that someone licked the salt off of? ...travel to the past to talk to yourself or the future to talk to yourself? ...successfully summit Mount Everest or successfully dive the Mariana Trench? And first, a discussion with the amazing Dr. Shaunna Payne Gold on the barriers to diversity in triathlon and what can be done about removing those barriers. We mentioned the history of exclusionary policies when it comes to swimming and for those who want more information, here's a New York Times article on the topic: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/01/sports/black-people-pools-racism.html This week’s episode is sponsored by Whoop, a fitness wearable that provides personalized insights to tell you how recovered you are and how hard you should train for optimal performance. Right now, Whoop is offering 15% off by going to www.whoop.com and using the code ‘TRIATHLETE’ at checkout.