The Middle Miles

This episode focuses on the mental side of race week and how to decrease nerves and anxiety leading up to a race. As coaches, athletes, and friends who have raced together, Angela and Amy give a 360 degree view of how to get to the start line confident and calm, while also acknowledging that everyone approaches race week differently. Topics covered: Outcome vs process goals What does trust your tr...

Today's episode focuses on Angela's two big gravel races- Unbound and Finland Gravel. Unbound is part of the Lifetime Grand Prix series, and is a  200 mile gravel race in Emporia, Kansas and it's known for its crazy weather and mud, both of which Angela experienced this year.   After Unbound, she got on a plane to Finland for the inaugural Finland gravel race, which was 177 km. She had strong show...

BONUS EPISODE TIME! Fresh off the finish line, Angela and Amy recap their race at the Patriot Half Triathlon in Lakeville, MA.  It was a fun local race, with lots of friends, some rain and some speedy race times.  Lots of takeaways in here for racing, pacing, and fueling a 70.3 distance!  Have a listen! 

This episode recaps the Unbound 350 XL gravel race with Scott Myers and John Skarupa, who finished 6th and 7th.   For those who don't know, the 350 XL starts at 3 PM the day before the rest of the distances start, and the racers ride through the night, stopping at gas stations to refuel.   It's a long difficult race, not just because it's 24 hours (if you are fast) but because the flint hills of K...

Physical Therapist Christine Saleeba is back and answering all of your physical therapy questions so you can be your healthiest, strongest, and most durable self in training and racing.  Christine is also a runner and triathlete, which helps her understand the unique needs of endurance athletes.  Topics covered: How often should you do PT at home? 5 things a PT wished people did/did not do   When...

It's open water season- our favorite! This podcast covers open water swimming and how to make your summer of swimming and racing successful. List of topics: Water temp Wetsuits How do workouts change in open water? How do you make it more interesting in open water? Dolphin diving  Sighting Watches and GPS Get rid of pace   Amy's summer goal Tools to feel comfortable in open water - in racing and t...

This episode focuses on training fatigue- the good, the bad, and the ugly...or zombie fatigue as Angela likes to call it.    Fatigue does build fitness, but how do you know when it's too much and what can you do about it? Topics covered: Sleep   Fueling Good vs bad overload   Knowing when to say when Looking at the big picture   Signs of overtraining   When the load you can normally handle shifts...

In this episode, we recap our Xterra New Jersey race! An Xterra is a swim, a mountain bike, and a trail run.   Angela did the Olympic distance and Amy did the sprint. And, in the spirit of clebrating accomplishements, they both won first female in their races! This race was deifnitely outside of our comfort zones, but that's where growth happens. Plus, it's fun to mix it up from regular tri traini...

We are back with part 3 of our "back to basics" series and we are talking about the run! We talk about how to build up run miles safely, how to get faster on the run, all about run cadence, nutrition tips and more.   Also, we are now one week into our 250 Miles in May bike challenge to support this podcast, and yes, you can still join and just enter all the miles you have ridden so far.   You get...

It's time for part 2 of Boston Marathon, where we talk about Amy's experience at Boston and her unconventional build (a bit of an understatement there). We talk all things training and tapering, cross training, the mental aspect of racing, and the mystery of the stolen race belt!  As the title of this podcast implies, sometimes you just have to show up and see what the day brings, knowing it might...

The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest marathon. Created in 1897, inspired by the success of the first marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, it has become a bucket list race for runners across the world. Today's podcast features two our of athletes, Jen Segerson and Patti Shea, who both ran their first Bostons and both BQ'ed, meaning they ran a time that is under the qualifying time...

Today is Part 2 of our "Back to Basics"Q and A series for the bike. We all want to be stronger and faster on the bike, and we dive a bit into how you can make that happen. Some topics covered: Components of the bike and what Angela uses on her bike and why it's set up that way   All about tires, wheels, aerobars, seats, chainrings, and cranks   Cadence and pedal stroke   Is the bike intimidating?...

We are getting back to basics for this podcast and we have a great swim Q and A! Topics covered: Is it really possible to get faster if you only started swimming as an adult? How do you you pick the right drills for you?   The body position drill that worked for Amy How Angela is working on her rotation It's all about balance Head position Catch, pull, and  finsh drills Are you braking yourself wi...

Today's guest is Australian Pro Triathlete Renee Kiley. Up until 10 years ago, Renee was living a completely different life.    In January 2014, Renee was 230lbs, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, and the owner of multiple successful small businesses. But she was not happy, and definitely not healthy. After watching a triathlon, she decided to give it a go.   In March 2014, she competed in her f...

This podcast features Jodie Swallow, a now retired pro triathlete, coach, and mom of three young kids. Jodie has had an amazing career. She is an Ironman 70.3 World Champion, twice ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Champion, a three-time Ironman Champion, A 15-times Ironman 70.3 Champion and a British Olympian in Athens 2004. She then retired in 2017, had her first child with her pro triathlete hu...

This episode features I Race Like A Girl teammate and triathlete Jensine Fraser. One of the questions we hear a lot is: how do I get faster? Over the past two seasons, Jensine has had some pretty big breakthroughs in her performances, culminating in her first Ironman last fall.   Angela has been coaching Jensine for about five years, so we wanted to dive into Jensine's training and racing from bot...

We are back with marriage counselor John Weiman, where we continue our conversation on what makes a successful marriage or relationship and how athletes in particular can navigate their relationships while also prusring their dreams of training and racing. If you have not listened to part 1, go back about 3 episodes and listen to that and then come back to this one.   In this episode ,we start by...

Today we are talking about ambition, more specifically, relentless ambition- the need to do more, train more, race more, buy more…to BE more.   Now, let's be clear- ambition is fantastic. Ambition turns your dreams into realities and gives you purpose and a drive to do big things. We wouldn't be able to train or complete our races without ambition.   But what happens when you lose sight of what's...

This episode was recorded in Girona, Spain, edited over the Atlantic Ocean, and shared with you from Cape Cod, MA. It's a very well-traveled episode!  This one is dedicated to myth busting. We are going to attempt to set the record straight on these statements, given to us by our teammates on I Race Like a Girl and Girls Get Gritty. Only water is needed for a workout under 90 minutes No music on t...

Today we are talking about motherhood, more specifically, how to balance training, racing, and being moms to our amazing children.   We do recognize that each phase of parenthood: newborn, toddler, grade school, teenage years, college, and beyond all have different challenges  We actually recorded this episode waaaay back in October after Chelsea Sodaro won Kona, only 18 months after having her fi...

Today we are going back to basics and we are talking about heart rate zones- what they are, how to your find your zones, why each zone matters, and what training looks like and feels like in each zone.   Whether you are a seasoned athlete, or just coming into structured training, this podcast will help you learn, or re-learn, about heart rate training.   Heart rate zones let you know how hard your...

We all use race mantras, or mottos, to help us out when we need extra motivation or when dealing with something challenging, like "be strong," or "control the controllables," or "attitude of graditude." But we often forget that it's the language we use every day that shapes how we see our present selves and what we expect and hope out of our future selves.  In this episode,  we talk about the powe...

In this episode, we bring marriage counselor John Wieman on the podcast to talk about what makes a successful partnership. As you know, we believe that in order to find success in your sport and in life, it helps to have supportive people in your corner, and for many of us, that is a partner. John and Angela have worked together in the past and he is highly regarded in his field. We talk about the...

One of our biggest limiters in sport and life is the fear of what others think of us. We skip out on races, events, or group rides, runs, or swims, because we worry that we will be slow, or we won't fit in. We often let other people's perceptions of us get in the way of our own goals and what WE want to do.   Yet, once we DO take the leap and move out of our comfort zone OR once we decide to NOT w...

We sit down with our teammates at our training camp in Clermont, Florida for a live Ask the Coach Q and A.  We talk about whether you should set time goals, fueling, hydration, peeing on the bike (!!), race anxiety, and then Angela answers a couple of questions about being pro.  Have a listen!