Endurance Unlimited

Tony Kanaan is a force to be reckoned with. Not only has he dedicated his life to Indycar racing for the past 23 years, but he is also a triathlete with an insatiable dedication to his training.  From pulling massive TSS weeks to carving out triathlon racing time between a 17-week car racing season, there is no doubt that Tony is addicted to competition and driving to greatness. Listen as Dirk div...

An athlete like Alison Tetrick brings a lot to the table. Not only does she have a long history of athletic ambition (playing NCAA tennis and dabbling in triathlon), but she is also an absolute beast on gravel.  Her coach Adam Pulford matches her completely. He calmly helps her navigate healthy recovery practices and enables her to be her truest self, even if that means turning a blind eye to her...

If creating a true champion requires a special cocktail of raw talent, mental toughness and dedicated mentoring, Coach Jim Miller is exactly the kind of bartender you're looking for.  He comes from a long line of coaches, but never originally planned on getting into the business himself. While racing on the pro circuit as a young cyclist, Jim met his first client, Chris Baldwin at a stoplight. Fro...

A true legend not only in the cycling arena but in sports history as well, Kristin Armstrong has had one of the most prolific careers of all time. She began as a walk-on high school track athlete plagued by injury, transformed into a triathlete and finally honed her craft in cycling. She has finally landed with a successful coaching business, guiding the most promising young female cyclists on the...

In the world of triathlon, Julie Dibens has pretty much done it all. From going top three in Kona, qualifying for the Olympics, winning a 70.3 and bagging many Xterra trophies, the laser-focused athlete is now a Boulder-based coach. She is dedicated to her local and remote athletes and fuels the squad with patience, empathy and cookies.  Listen to Julie and Dirk review her career achievements and...

If you're stuck indoors with plenty of motivation and time to train, this is the episode for you! This week we interviewed the loquacious Michael Lovato, voice of IRONMAN Live and former pro triathlete. Michael discusses what it takes to be an IRONMAN commentator—from talking for nine-and-a-half hours straight to keep an eye on athlete power output, to even strategizing around limited bathroom bre...

What do racing an IRONMAN and climbing the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat have in common? Perhaps more than we originally thought. This week, co-author of Training for the New Alpinism and Training for the Uphill Athlete, Scott Johnston sat down with us to chat about the training commonalities between 'traditional' endurance athletes and elite alpinists.  We'll also explore the science behind Aerobic...

Coaches should always strive to build training according to their athletes' unique physiology, but how many of our training practices are weighted toward the male experience? Are you thinking about how nutrition and hydration affect performance? What about even coaching practices to increase beneficial bacteria in the gut? Dave sat down with Dr. Stacy Sims to discuss the topics above and many more...

Anyone who has ever stood at the starting line knows how important confidence can be for athletes embarking on a difficult race. But, as a coach, how do you help instill that confidence in your athletes before race day? Dr. Nicole Adams has wrestled with that question much of her career as an endurance coach, sports psychologist, and an athlete. Adams recommends working with athletes to develop a...

You have probably pushed yourself to your limit before during training or racing, but what if you could push further? As science continues to unlock mysteries about human limits and performance potential, evidence supports the idea that maybe our mind is much more important in endurance than we previously believed. Dave sat down with Alex Hutchinson, New York Times best-selling author of Endure: M...

Let's face it. Even driven athletes only have 24 hours in the day.  Every athlete has limitations when it comes to how much they can train, but you should be taking more than just their available hours into consideration. Are you thinking about life stressors, recovery, and balance? All too often, athletes "burn the candle at both ends" as they try to make every workout count, and coaches sometime...

Starting your own coaching business is always a risk. This is especially true when you already have a successful career that you can depend on, even when your true passion might not lie there. Richard Thompson, while waiting for the Australian Supreme Court to rule on a case he was working on, found himself checking the latest results from IRONMAN Melbourne. That's when he knew that helping other...

Are you or your athletes struggling with GI issues, fatigue, and poor performance during races even after adjusting your nutrition strategy? You might be suffering from hyponatremia, an imbalance of sodium sometimes caused by over-hydrating.  After suffering from hyponatremia himself, Andy Blow, co-founder of Precision Hydration, started his journey to help athletes solve their own hydration probl...

As more endurance athletes turn to strength training to boost performance, it's becoming increasingly important for coaches to keep up with the latest science. Are you confident you're properly prescribing strength workouts for the biggest impact or are you just depending on the same old routines you're used to? Dave Schell sat down with Strength and Conditioning Coach Jess Elliot to talk more abo...

It takes more than athletic experience and luck to build a full-time coaching business. Advancing your business to the next level requires dedication to your athletes, organization, developing a coaching niche, and effective sales techniques. Have you spent enough time working on the tools that will help you build your business? Dave sat down with Coach Tim Ballintine from Koa Sports to discuss ho...

Without proper recovery, training alone might not get your athletes to their goals. At the same time, how much of what we know about recovery is actually based on unscientific assumptions? You might be surprised at how much we don’t know about recovery. Dave Schell sat down Christie Aschwanden, author and lead science writer for FiveThirtyEight, to discuss her new book, Good to Go: What the Athlet...

In its simplest form, training is a method of increasing biological stressors in order to increase performance in an athlete. But, how do coaches know when they push their athletes too hard and actually hurt their performance? This is especially important considering athletes encounter stress from more than just endurance training such as work, personal life, illness, and even environment. Dave sa...

Endurance coaches have a lot on their plates already. They are physiologists, psychologists, nutritionists, motivators, voices of reason, scheduling experts, and friends. So, how are they supposed to fit "marketer" on the list, too? Dave sat down with triathlon coach, social media influencer, and business coach Jen Rulon to find out how she helps other coaches find their voice online while maintai...

As the New Year approaches, you will likely hear about new diets and nutrition trends. At the same time, it can be difficult for even the most knowledgeable endurance athlete to separate the fact from the fiction. Are you prepared to the bust the myths around nutrition this year? Dave sat down with Asker Jeukendrup to get to the bottom of some of the most prevalent endurance sport nutrition trends...

How do you approach goal setting with your athletes? Are you actually helping your athlete develop healthy, attainable goals? And, are your athletes' goals really what they're striving for, or do they have unstated, "secret" goals that they are ultimately judging themselves by? Dave sat down with Mental Skills Coach Carrie Cheadle to learn more about the goal setting strategies she recommends coac...

All too often, athletes and coaches are strapped for time and looking for new training methods to get the most our of their workouts. If you are familiar with polarized training, you already know that a smart mix of high- and low-intensity workouts might be the perfect solution. But, are you actually approaching polarized training all wrong? Dave Schell and Cody Stephenson sat down with renowned a...

In today's world of big data, is technology improving endurance sports coaching or is it just a distraction for coaches and athletes, alike? As the advancement of performance technology outpaces actual use, coaches are faced with staying on top of new developments while also sifting through a lot of noise. Are you prepared to get the most out of your athletes' data? WKO Product Lead Tim Cusick exp...

Ask anyone involved in endurance sports what the most important attribute in a coach is, and you will have a different answer every time. Is it the ability to coach with conviction? Is it incorporating your experience into your coaching? Is it motivating your athletes to simply adhere to their training plan? According to Coach Ben Day, it's a mix of all of these and more. Dave Schell sits down wit...

The IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii are finally here, and weather conditions are shaping up to make it another challenging year.  First, Dave discusses updated race conditions with Ryan Cooper. Then, Lance Watson joins the discussion to share lessons from his 30+ years of experience coaching triathletes to Kona.

For some triathletes, making it to Kona is the achievement they have strived for. For others, Kona is yet another chance to test their determination in a challenging, unforgiving environment. Regardless, all of the triathletes will face the same punishing heat, humidity, and wind on a course that is known for testing the best racers in the world. Dave Schell discusses this year's race conditions w...