Record-setting powerlifter and triathlete,
Rachel Cosgrove.

Click here to read part I of Rachel Cosgrove’s profile.

Question: It seems that the nutrition approach for power lifting and endurance sports would also be contrary to one another. How do you reconcile those different eating regimens?

Cosgrove: Actually, they’re not really that different. For both sports you need to fuel your body with healthy foods throughout the day. I would also recommend a post workout shake for both. Triathlon is much more dependent on your nutrition during the race while powerlifting does not even tap in to your blood sugar. I try to eat healthy 90 percent of the time and when I am cycling or running I may use a sports drink or Gu’s during my workout and then finish with a recovery shake. When I am doing a deadlift workout I will have a shake when I finish my workout. The nutrition principles are not too different at all. For powerlifting you want to be the lightest you can be and still be the strongest you can be and guess what? For triathlon, you also want to be the lightest you can be and still be the strongest you can be. So, both sports benefit from keeping your body fat at a lower level while your strength is up. You don’t have to be “big and bulky” to be a powerlifter.

Question: Since The Outdoor Journey mostly covers short course events (lasting less than four hours), we typically look for ways to increase speed during these races. Some say that speed work has little relevance and power development through weight training has even less relevance to improving one’s times. The rationale is that to get faster on the swim, bike or run, you must do more swimming, biking, and running. How do you respond to that?

Cosgrove: Why are men faster than women? It never fails at every race, the men come in before the women. What one thing do they have more of? They have more strength, more muscle and more power. If the only difference is strength than adding strength does help increase speed. If every step you took your muscles were able to produce more power because you have been training them to in the gym doing squats or lunges, you would be faster. Now, I am not talking about bodybuilding strength training. I am talking about functional programs that will transfer directly over to running, biking, and swimming.

Also when you think about it, running or biking is doing a resistance training exercise over and over again. Running is a one leg plyometric jump. On your bike you are pushing and pulling over and over again. How can you say that you can’t come up with an exercise that would benefit those movements and get you stronger at those movements when they are such simple movements done in the gym? I am not saying you can or should try to replicate running or biking in the gym but the action can be improved by increased strength in these simple movements. You still need to run, bike and swim.

Question: Some enlightened coaches who do advocate weight training espouse light weights and high reps, while a rare few espouse the benefits of the heavy, explosive-style movements found in Olympic lifting. Where does your coaching philosophy fall?

Cosgrove: There is a place for all types of training depending on where the athlete is weak and what they need to work on but for endurance athletes who are generally already good at higher rep endurance work and need to work on more power I would tend to use lower rep, heavy explosive movements and leave the higher reps for their endurance training. You can’t replicate running, biking or swimming in the gym so that is not the goal. Endurance athletes still need to go out and do their endurance training. The goal in the gym is to get strong, explosive, and powerful.

Question: Let’s back up six weeks from one of your races. What is the frequency of your weight training leading up to a race?

Cosgrove:Right now I am about two weeks out from the Olympic distance world championships and I am lifting weights twice a week. I will lift twice a week right up to the event.

Rachel at the Pacific Grove triathlon

Question: What are some of the biggest mistakes you see newbie triathletes make?

Cosgrove: Not having a plan and doing too much. Most endurance athletes think doing more is better so they keep adding on more and more volume and never sit down and plan out how they will peak for their race. Most of them could use more recovery and more of a plan.

Question: If a short-course athlete could do one thing to improve his or her race-day performance, what would you suggest for the swim, bike and run?

Cosgrove: This is tough to generalize. Every athlete is different. Most endurance athletes could definitely benefit from adding in strength training to increase their power. You can also use strength training to increase lactate threshold and build up a tolerance to lactic acid. This would help them to surge when they need to surge ahead which is extremely important in a sprint distance race since most of the race is spent at their lactate threshold.

Question: I noticed that you promote your services specifically to women. Do you work with male triathletes?

Cosgrove: Yes, I do work with males as well and have had a few male clients. Also when I coach for Team in Training, it is coed. Either way, I love helping a client accomplish their goal whether it be to complete their first triathlon or qualify for Kona. Tell me your goal and I’ll do everything I can to get you there. As a coach there is nothing better than seeing your athlete cross the finish line for the first time or qualify for Kona or win their age group. Whether they are male or female, seeing them accomplish more than they ever thought possible is why I do what I do and love what I do!

Your can learn more about Rachel Cosgrove at www.rachelcosgrove.com and also at www.inspirefemalefitness.com.She has just released a new book “So You Want To Train For a Triathlon” which is available in her online store. I’ll be sharing my review of the book this Friday.

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Rachel Cosgrove puts the multi in multisport.

Question: What is your athletic background and how did you first get into triathlons?
Cosgrove: I have always been active. I started going to the gym with my dad and learning about weight training and cardio when I was about 12 and then I was a cheerleader in high school. I went to college and studied physiology with a minor in exercise and health sciences. Throughout college I was on the dance team and lifted weights and did cardio, but I did not get into triathlon until much later, which is unfortunate because I went to school in Santa Barbara, California where it is a great place for triathletes to train. Looking back, I can’t believe I didn’t get into it sooner while I was living in there.

I started doing triathlons about eight years later after being married for six years when my husband, Alwyn (click to read Alwyn’s great piece “Why endurance athletes lack staying power”) was diagnosed with Lymphoma. That same week he was diagnosed, a flyer came in the mail for an organization that trains people to complete their first triathlon while they raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society called Team in Training. I had always been active but had never thought about doing a triathlon but this seemed like a great way to fight these diseases while my husband was fighting. When he was diagnosed I felt completely helpless, there was nothing really I could do to make it better. At least if I trained for and raised money for the cause I would feel like I was actively doing something to fight these diseases while he was fighting. Little did I know I would get hooked on the sport of triathlon.

Question: How is Alwyn doing now?

Cosgrove: He is in complete remission and doing great! He kept a very positive attitude right through everything and never gave up and fought the entire time. He definitely inspires me and after watching what he had to go through nothing seems hard. Training for an Ironman is a piece of cake compared to a stem cell transplant. He is coming up on two years this summer in complete remission.

Question: What role, if any, does strength training play in your triathlon training?

Cosgrove: Since I started triathlon with a strength training background I went into the sport a lot stronger than most triathletes. I was not about to give up my weight training of which I am a big believer in the benefits for triathletes. The benefits I experienced because of my strength initially were:

1. Climbing hills on my bike came super easy to me. Anytime we would hit a hill I would fly up it using the strength in my legs. I could also surge ahead when I needed to.
2. No injuries. Of all my triathlete friends I would say I get the least injuries. They are all constantly complaining of a sore knee or hip or ankle but I believe since my joints are all surrounded by muscle and are strong that I have not had problems with injuries. I also am able to undo some of the imbalances the sport creates with my programs.
3. My abs look better than most triathlete’s!. Yes, adding some core/strength training into your schedule will give you better pictures at your races. I believe weight training can be used to burn fat better than triathlon training since your body adapts so quickly to triathlon training. So, if you want a six pack when you cross the finish line, weight training is the key.

Question: When you mentioned imbalances, what are some of the most frequent imbalances that you see with triathletes?

Cosgrove: Most triathletes are very quad dominant and have tight hip flexors. They need to focus on switching on their posterior chain to use more of their glutes and hamstrings and stretch their hip flexors. Also from swimming the rotator cuff tends to be a common place for injuries. Performing exercises that strengthen the back and stretch the shoulders and chest are helpful.

Rachel trains for strength in preparation for her
record-setting deadlift AND triathlon.

Question: You have what I would consider a true multisport background. Most people who call themselves multisport athletes are really just endurance athletes using different forms of locomotion. However, you race competitively in triathlons and just set a powerlifting record in the deadlift. How do you balance those very different training systems in your life?

Cosgrove: I always like to have a goal when it comes to my training. I am very goal oriented. Strength training and sports such as powerlifting are actually more natural for me than triathlon. I have to work much harder at training for a triathlon. In my triathlon strength training program I had deadlifts. Deadlifts are an excellent exercise to strengthen the posterior chain, plus holding the bar is recruiting the muscles in your rotator cuff and of course your core is working. so a deadlift is an awesome full body exercise to use when training for a triathlon. Especially because most triathletes are very quad dominant.

I naturally am pretty strong and have been lifting for a lot longer than I have been doing triathlons. One of the trainers who works for me is a powerlifter and he said I was doing enough weight that if I worked on it, I would be competitive at a powerlifting competition. I tend to be competitive and once I heard that there was a powerlifting competition in the area I decided I would continue working on increasing my deadlift while I was training for a triathlon. So, that’s what I did.

When I showed up at the powerlifting competition I had no idea what to expect but I had a great time and ended up winning and setting an American record with a deadlift of 297 lbs. I pride myself on being able to set a goal and accomplish it rather than be a single sport athlete. I enjoy competing and bringing out the best in myself whether that be through powerlifting, triathlon, 5K’s or figure competitions. This is also what I love to do with the clients I work with. I always like to challenge myself. Currently I have my sights set on the Triathlon World Championships in June and I will continue to have some form of deadlift in my program but I won’t be pushing it to the levels I did at the powerlifting competition. Most triathletes don’t spend enough time getting stronger. I probably spend too much time because it comes easier to me.

Question: You mentioned deadlifts, which is considered by many to be THE exercise of exercises. How would you recommend triathletes incorporate deadlifts into their training program? High reps? Low reps?

Cosgrove: Most triathletes have endurance but need strength so I would say error on the side of lower reps. It is hard to give a general recommendation but I would definitely say when a triathlete is in the weight room their goal is strength without building a lot of bulk. Hypertrophy happens in the 8-to-12 rep range so I would say they should stay under this in the 4-to-6 rep range to increase their strength without increasing their size.

Question: How big a role does nutrition play in your training?

Cosgrove: I think nutrition is a huge part of anyone’s training. Get the basics down first which includes eating every few hours, only eating fruits, veggies, protein and whole grains and drinking enough water. Once you are eating healthy every day, then we can talk about performance nutrition such as using a recovery shake which I would say is the most important part of performance nutrition. Having a shake during and post workout will improve your recovery and enable you to train harder next time. Everybody is different when it comes to nutrition so this is something you have to practice. I have a saying: “Nothing New on Race Day!” You should not try out a new drink or a new supplement on race day. Practice. Practice. Practice. Especially for half Ironman and Ironman distances, your nutrition can make or break your race.

Stay tuned for part II tomorrow…

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Tomorrow we get to meet a remarkable woman. One who embodies what I consider to be the true multisport lifestyle: endurance, power, and a great set of abs.

Watch the video above as Rachel Cosgrove sets a new California and U.S.A. Powerlifting record in her division in the women’s deadlift. (Note: the video is a bit distorted for some reason.)

Dig this…she’s also competing in the World Triathlon Championships in two weeks.

Starting Tuesday, I’ll share a two-part interview (read Part I and Part II) with Rachel to learn her secrets for power and endurance and on Friday, I’ll review her new book on triathlon training. Should be an educational week ahead folks, so stay tuned!

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Question: What led you to transition from SEAL to personal trainer?

MacLaren: What led me to a career as a personal trainer was actually a combination of experiences over the years. For starters I took notice in the SEAL Teams and other Special Forces units who got injured, and who didn’t, and what their training programs were. I look for patterns in everything I see, hear, and think, and there were such obvious differences as to what type of training program appeared to make a difference in performance in that environment.

After getting out of the Navy, I started to work in the gym that I belonged to more out of boredom than anything else. Initially I ended up working with your average amateur bodybuilders on contest stuff and I really hated that at the time because as much as I admire the consistency and effort of bodybuilders, it just wasn’t my interest personally. Personal training was really just getting going in those years and I was also really ignorant in so many areas of mechanics and performance so I just didn’t have the fun in the business that I do now. We did the best we could, but back then compared with the knowledge I have available today, I can take an athlete in a year to the place that it took me four or five years to get to back then. If you have the knowledge, training today is safer and faster than it ever has been before. Unfortunately the knowledge seldom makes it to the amateur or college athlete level. The old habits of exercise and physiology programs are slow to change so often times the training information that athletes come to me with is older than they are.

The area of study that most influenced my understanding of training was actually biological psychology. Bio-psych is the study of the chemistry of our psychology but even more than that it is the chemistry of everything that happens in our bodies. Neurons and other stuff may bore some people, but those areas of research always thrill me to learn more about. When I really began to study the chemistry of psychology, I adjusted much of my thought on how to train people for performance and to minimize injuries. The results were almost immediate and I began coaching and training clients and athletes to entirely new levels in just weeks. It was at this point that training began to get really fun for me and I have truly been in love with the field of performance and rehabilitation ever since. I never get tired of testing and evaluation biomechanics, V02, muscle balancing, and endurance levels. I could literally do it all day every day but I find most often that if people don’t hurt enough yet, they are often slow to change their programs and awareness.

Question: What has been your experience working with triathletes?

MacLaren: Yes I have worked with triathletes. Since Los Angeles is such a center for sports and athletics, they are always crossing my path. I have a little saying though when I work with triathletes: People in the gym are often ignorant of proper training methods but triathletes are obstinate!

A triathlete will have great information right in front of him and still continue to do the very same thing that he and his friends have always done. I will take ignorance in a client over obstinance anyday! I laugh every time I say it but it still rings true every time I’m sitting around a bunch of triathletes listening to them talk about being stuck on some plateau and hearing about their programs, so I am always happy to get out whatever tips and training methods that will help their speed and minimize injuries.

Question: With the triathletes and their obstinacies, what are they typically hung up on changing?

MacLaren: I actually shouldn’t talk about an entire group of people as being obstinate because it’s more of a joke than anything, but the point I was making is that often times when athletes get very, very involved in their sport and it requires a large time and effort commitment, it is easy to lose sight of the basics that create progress. I find this when working with fighters as well. So much time is spent in one environment that the foundation of mechanics and endurable strength can fall by the wayside and lead to a much greater increase in injury potential.

Question: What is it with endurance athletes and their aversion to strength training? How do you work to overcome their belief that all they need to do is more running, biking and swimming?

MacLaren: I think much of the aversion to strength training comes from a s simple lack of understanding of what is occurring during strength training. I definitely grew up in world where the gym and working with weights was sold as the way to get bigger. Stronger sure, but the magazines all sold strength training as the way to bodybuilding and conversely running in general was still thought to be a sport that involved mostly the lower body. It wasn’t until I started lifting weights at 18 years old that I realized how much faster I became as a runner when I started to incorporate weight training. If we consider that isolated resistance training is really about increasing efficient neurological function then strength training suddenly begins to make very good sense. Running coaches around the country now realize this even if they do not fully understand biomechanics and the left/right imbalance that is caused by the way our brain hemispheres function.

There is an inherent problem in using your sport itself as your training method. Running for example does very little to balance out your strength and it do even less for those areas of the body that support our running stride but are not directly utilized in our running itself. I often use the expression that running is not training its practice for your sport. The same would be true with cycling, it is practice for your sport and although we all accept the term training I like to differentiate between practicing my sport and actually breaking down the motions of my sport and training each individual muscle and nerve area with the objective of creating maximum efficiency when I go out for those runs or long rides.

I have a good friend who trains for triathlons pretty consistently and he is pretty good overall. This friend of mine and I go riding on occasion and although I ride about once every two months, lately I easily breeze by him in almost any environment. I should tell you that I am not a great cyclist by any means but the reason that he cannot compete with me is that he is simply not strong enough to use the mechanics of his bike to his advantage. Now project this concept forward to the run and imagine what his additional level of fatigue is doing to his performance on his run.

I have long since stopped offering advice or opinion to athletes unless specifically asked and even then only if I really feel that they can and will use the information I would offer them. I work with triathletes every year who have been out there killing themselves in their training programs and wondering why they are not getting faster. As soon as I get them in the gym it becomes so obvious that they are simply not strong enough and not bio-mechanically aware enough to perform anywhere near their potential. Whether they can understand this or not is simply up to them and I often suggest that they simply try it a new way for three weeks. If they don’t find that they are faster and better recovered then they are welcome to go back to their old way. Notice that I am not talking about months to improvement but weeks! That is the beauty of a scientific and highly efficient program, the response comes week to week.

I often joke (half seriously) that if you cannot look in the mirror and do an alternating dumbbell biceps curl and have both arms doing the exact same thing and taking the exact same path throughout the range then there is no point in even thinking about having great mechanics on the road. Next time you go to the gym take a look at people doing biceps curls and watch how many people have one arm coming straight up and one arm turning out to the right or left as they come up. That will tell you all you need to know about their mechanics because that imbalance is systemic and you will find it in their shoulders, hips, knees, and feet.

Our brains are not built for balance, they simply will not do it! We must always be breaking down motions to their most basic elements to even attempt to achieve some sense of balance in our strength, form and endurance but it will never happen completely and we will always have to be working in that direction. For every ounce of your body that is off balance there is that much energy being used to try to get it to go in the direction you want it to go in. Form is simply how much of your whole body is supporting you in doing exactly what you intended it to do and endurance is how long you can hold the most efficient positions throughout the range and over the distance.

Question: Looking around at many triathlons, there are quite a few body types and much to most people’s surprise, a fair share of overfat triathletes. Many entered the sport to lose body fat and even after a few seasons of hardcore endurance training, are still carrying around too much flab. Is it diet, type of exercise, or just plain ol’ genetics that keeps these individuals from losing the fat that would not only improve their performance, but make them look better in their Speedos?

MacLaren: I say this a lot. We can always out-eat our training program. The average human body can digest and utilize about 50 grams of carb per sitting, 30 grams of protein and about 30 percent of their meal in fat. If you have ever wondered why you hear that you should eat several smaller meals per day? This is it in a nutshell.

The body digest and utilizes food but it has limits as to how much and how often it will do it with a high degree of efficiency. So what happens when we eat 250 grams of carbs in one meal, or a big steak with 75 grams of protein in it? The bulk of the remaining carbs and protein is broken down, re-assembled and stored as fat. Bummer I know, but that is the way it is.

For the average person who eats the bulk of their calories every night after 6 p.m., they are killing the benefits of fat burning that they worked so hard for all day. This type of eating also tends to adversely affect performance so eating large meals kills your race times as well. Utilizing the science of eating is simply the difference between just showing up and setting a PR in your events.

All things being equal it’s the science of your training program and your nutrition program that will leave you injury free and performing at elite levels. Your genetics play a factor of course but they are what they are so some of you will find that at 10 percent bodyfat you look ripped, while others still have a bit of a belly at 10 percent and will need to bring it much lower, at least for a time, to have the ripped look you want. By the way, being ripped is not for everyone and at 6-12% bodyfat, most athletes will find their highest level of performance. That being said, there is no single magical fat percentage number. It will vary from athlete to athlete and VO2 Max, muscle mass, body structure, height, gender, injury history, and age. All of these factors play a part in how we perform at the end of the day.

This is a great question because it touches on several areas that are often debated at length in the fitness community. In the end, body fat is a math issue. Calories in and calories out over time equals body fat percentage. While there are heart rates and training time lines that have higher fat per calories burned than others, the overall concept is still calories in and calories out. There are several theories on body types and fat burning and how much fat a particular body type should have to perform at peak levels but there seems to be no doubt that carrying “excess” fat is in conflict with performing to an athlete’s potential. This would be particularly true in the running phase of a triathlon since we are actually lifting our weight off of the ground and that is the limiting factor in speed and endurance. The mechanics of the bike seem to neutralize some of the excess weight factor and this appears to be true in swimming as well that there is a buoyancy and energy processing factor in swimming and fat percentage of swimmers that does not appear to have the same negative effect that carrying excess fat on a run has. Notice here that I use the words, “appear” and “seems” because no matter how many tests are done in these areas, the findings are still theoretical and are not reproduced in every test group. In the end training is ALWAYS theoretical and I never assume that anything is actually known.

Fat on humans can show up in different ways. One athlete might carry more visible fat around the middle while another might carry more visible fat around the hips and thighs while at the same time having clearly defined abs. For each of these cases it can be a real challenge to eliminate those “problem areas”.

Over the years of testing VO2, AT, AET and RMR in all types of bodies and activity levels, I have found that there is somewhat of a pattern in fat deposits and VO2 max, but only in the most general sense. Most of the athletes I have tested with a VO2 Max over 60 Ml/Kg have had a pretty even fat distribution overall and this pattern does leave me thinking that plain old genetics play a very large factor in how we lose and gain fat. In the end we could always lose more fat if we simply did the math and ate and trained accordingly, but the end does not always justify the means.

For instance, I work with a female athlete who is just barely five feet tall. At 104 pounds she still has a hip and glute area fat percentage that is noticably higher than the rest of her body. I never like to see an endurance athlete down around this weight because in my view there is nothing but pain and injury coming for an athlete who is this close to 100 pounds. However, this client very much wanted to lose as much fat as possible in her “problem areas” so we did a bit of a test.

Bodyfat does not seem to come back in exactly the way it comes off and I have a feeling that this has something to do with the amount of time it took to develop the fat percentage to begin with but for the people who have a very hard time with certain areas, while being very lean in others, you will most likely have to go well past what is attractive to you overall to remove the fat in those hard to reach areas and then come slowly back up in fat percentage until you are satisfied with your overall look. What this means is several months of your friends saying things like, “Hey are you ok? Do you have an eating disorder?”

For most people this method is uncomfortable and can be detrimental to your race performance so I often suggest doing the best you can and paying great attention to your calories in/out and pro/carb/fat intake levels per meal and per day and practicing some acceptance of your body type. Not easy I know, but we all can’t be built like the Soloflex guy or gal.

Question: You coached Tom Jane, the actor from the movie “The Punisher,” through a remarkable physique transformation. Can you briefly describe where Tom started in terms of weight and body fat and where he ended up? What would an endurance athlete be able to learn from that case study?

MacLaren: Thomas was an interesting client in that I begain working with him with only nine weeks to go before the beginning of his film shoot. He had been training for some months but just not in the way I would have recommended for his body type and the role he was about to play.

The first week was a bit of a challenge since we did not know each other and I am not sure how thrilled Thomas was at being assigned a trainer since he had one already and with only nine weeks to go to lose five inches on the waistline and add inches to arms, chest and back. I enjoy this type of work and I often joke that I am the “emergency trainer” when your race or film is coming up rapidly and you are just not getting what you want in your current situation, but it is extremely difficult on the client or athlete because a major body transformation in nine weeks is very difficult on a body. Thomas and I did a few workouts together and as always, we faced the “well my other trainer says” conversations which is normal and my answer is always very simple: “I am not here to tell you that your other trainer is incorrect, I am simply going to tell you what I suggest and why and you will do what makes the best sense to you.”

When a safe, but average, program turns into a scientific and highly effective program the results are week-to-week so you will know immediately that you have changed your program for the better. Thomas walked into the gym on week two with an entirely new idea now of what potential was in him that was just not being released on his other program. That next Monday, Thomas turned on like a light switch and became the most intense workout machine that I have ever seen. This is where it really got fun for me in that I now had a client who I could work out the most minute details of his training and diet and he would be follow them to the letter. I joked often at the time that not even NASA had the science in their programs that Thomas Jane had in his and week to week the results showed.

Two weeks later the guys from Marvel comics called and said, “My God John, what are you guys doing to make such a change in two weeks?”

The real problem was that we were going for maximum fat loss while trying to avoid losing major amounts of muscle mass and there are limits to how much fat a body can lose per week without seriously increasing muscle loss and those limits are set by 100,000-plus years of evolution so we are stuck with them. They can be manipulated somewhat but not changed. Because of this Thomas lifted in a very isolated, heavy, almost bodybuilder, type program on a four-day week. You will hear many bodybuilders tout the 6-day per week heavy lifting program, but if you are dieting and lifting in a non-anabolic enhanced program, I wouldn’t suggest 3-on-1-off for your lifting program.

So what’s the moral of the story that athletes might take from all of this? One, your success will not be found alone. I find this to be true in all of life. At least find a partner in your training program but research and develop all areas of your training program.

Two, never accept or expect that your training program is good enough. All programs are worth constant examination and because it worked for your buddy does not have any bearing on how it will work for you.

Three, you always have 10-30 percent more in you than you currently realize. I can take almost any athlete on the planet and find a 10-30 percent improvement in performance if they have the will power and can follow a program. There is ALWAYS a way to get more out of a body. I was at dinner not too long ago with the CEO of very large health product company and he is very much into triathlons. I listened to him talk about his training program and he is obviously a hard working and talented athlete. When he finished I told him to consider just spending two weeks with me because I would be interested to watch his increase in performance. I actually offered it at no charge because the value in increasing his awareness, given his position and influence, would have potentially benefited countless athletes and that is worth far more to me than money.

I watched his eyes glaze over and the story of how he really wanted to stick with what he was doing because of this or that reason and I was again reminded that you can’t give information away to certain people and that everyone has their own timeline for gathering that information.

To contact John MacLaren to find out more about his programs, you can reach him at john@maclarenmethod.com or at www.getfitla.com.

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So what does physique transformation have to do with endurance athletes? Well, MacLaren is also a former U.S. Navy SEAL.

Got your attention now?

For those who don’t know, SEALs are those amphibious special warfare operators who are put through what is considered the most grueling military training in the world. Attrition rate through their Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL program is often near 80 percent. They do a lot of swimming, running and calisthenics as part of their conditioning…which leads to many a male triathlete fantasizing that he has what it takes to be a SEAL.

I talked to John to find out what it does truly take to be a SEAL as well as his work with triathletes and how his unique background influences his coaching philosophy.

*******

Question: Let’s go back to the beginning to set the stage. What was your athletic background growing up?

MacLaren: As a kid I was so skinny that I could watch my heart beat! I spent most of my time in sports running 5K and 10K races and cross country skiing in the winter in New Hampshire. I remember my dad buying me a shirt when I was 12 or so and on the back it said, “I may be slow but I’m ahead of you.” It was a joke of course but I never could wear it in a race for fear that someone would run on by me out of pure motivation and annoyance brought on by reading my shirt!

I loved running and if I even had a spare 25 minutes I would throw on some shoes and run for 20 minutes. In high school I spent my time in track and cross country and I was pretty fast but even in those days you had to break a 4-minute mile if you were going to be anyone in high school or college. I just could never get past that 4:03 and 4:04 barrier. I ran 10Ks for one of the Navy Teams when I first went into the Navy but very rapidly I found out about SEAL Training and couldn’t resist heading in that direction.

Question: Since you were a track and cross country runner, and admittedly skinny, how did you go about developing the strength you needed to make it through BUD/S?

MacLaren: When I first began working out I don’t think I could have put 10 pounds on the bar to do a bench press. I was at my first duty station in the Navy and I had a good friend who was a competitive bodybuilder down there and one day I confided in him how sick and tired I was of being so skinny. He said very simply, “I’ll bet you have never worked out before.”

I said, “Yes I have. It just sucks!”

But his response was that if I worked out for more than 30 days in the gym I wouldn’t ever stop and he was right. Thirty days later I was hooked and running my fastest 10K times ever for the Navy team. What I didn’t realize at that time was how much my lack of strength and upper body conditioning was slowing me down. By the time I got to BUD/S a year later, I had a great strength foundation for that age and it made all the difference in training.

Question: How would you compare the physical training you did in the SEALs to that of an age group triathlete?

MacLaren: BUD/s training and triathlon training, hmmmm this is an interesting question. SEAL Team training is more about the individual than it is about the training itself. I have known a ton of pretty tough and endurable guys in my life and it often surprises me how many of them drop out of BUD/s training in the first several weeks. Certainly they were physically capable as they often were your football stars, triathletes or a variety of other assorted sports fiends. But still they bail because it is just not them and if you ask them, which I have, they will give you a variety of reasons as to why they found it too difficult. So it would appear that they have many reasons, but in the end I wrap it all up under the umbrella of lack of desire for that type of lifestyle. In a nutshell a body can do amazing things and our mind has to constantly decide what it will allow it to do. The body will last far longer than the mind will allow itself to go in most cases and when it doesn’t, the body just cramps up or passes out and that is that.

To speak to triathletes specifically in relationship to their training and BUD/S training, there are some major differences. First off, BUD/S has an underlying mission of keeping you cold, wet and miserable as long as it can and as often as it can. Whenever I have trained for triathlons I was typically riding my really sexy bike, or spending an hour or two in the water at a time or off on a run staring at smoking hot chicks on the Strand, so overall it was just more fun to train for triathlons. Not to say that triathlon training is easy because as you all know, it isn’t. It’s just that the objectives and the whole theme of BUD/s training are different than the objective and theme of training for tri sport races.

I will say that, in my opinion, being a good runner can make BUD/S training so much more livable and that is great news for the triathletes who might consider BUD/S. BUD/S training is just a lesson in pain for the guys out there who would rather have bamboo shoots driven under their nails than go for a 5-mile run. You never have to run fast for more than 4 or 5 miles in BUD/S and although we did it in jungle boots, if you like running races then most of your group training runs are cake for you while they are misery for those low V02 max non-runners around you.

Many triathletes in days of old had a tendency to be notoriously weak in the upper body area (and lower actually) and while that trend seems to be shifting since some triathletes have discovered the wonders of weight training. It takes a fair amount of pull-up and upper body strength to make it through BUD/S. You will tend to carry up to 80 pounds or so on your back and be out there blazing trails all day or night until your shoulders bleed or somebody quits and after a while in training nobody quits anymore so you just bleed.

So, that being said, do I think most triathletes could make it through BUD/S?

Hell no! Most everyone wouldn’t make it through the program and that’s just plain old statistical data based on years of watching every kind of individual go through the program. Most people quit, simple as that. It’s not that I think BUD/S is hard, and in fact I don’t think anything you are in the mood to train for or accomplish is hard, but that’s just the way I think and not everyone would agree with me. I have to imagine that training for and winning the Ironman is hard but yet people do it every year and a lot of other people finish well so it’s obviously not too hard for them in their minds. I have a general belief that anything a few thousand people on the planet can do, I should be able to do if I am interested in it. I was interested in BUD/S training so I did it.

As far as me competing in an Ironman? I am only interested in watching the race and am truly an almost professional level spectator. So watch for me cheering you on out there!

To be continued on Wednesday…

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Susanna Loewy: Flutist.
Doctoral Student. Triathlete.

Known to her legion of fans on the Internet, triathlon blogger Susanna Loewy, aka, Curly Su, is a doctoral student at Rutgers University, amazing flutist and hardcore triathlete. In my ongoing quest to learn from others in the multisport world, I contacted Loewy to talk about her efforts at achieving a balance between triathlon and the rest of her busy life. You know, stuff like family, friends, work, school…you name it.

Question: What inspiration led you to start your first triathlon?

Loewy: I was in Maine at a music program, and I had a friend there who had completed a century ride with Team in Training and then moved on to sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. She told me what the sprint distance was, and my reaction was “Hey, I can do that.” So, I ordered the book “Complete a Triathlon in 6 Weeks” and started training.

Since I’m stubborn, I didn’t really pay attention to what the book said and just tried to do each of the three sports every day. I thought I knew how to swim, but considering my racing half-mile time of 28-something, I was obviously just flailing. I didn’t have a bike, and bought a hybrid the day before the triathlon, having done all of my training on a recumbent stationary bike. I was afraid to run outside for fear of looking stupid, so had done all but one run on the treadmill.

Anyway, I guess I’m not really answering your question. What inspired me? I have to admit that a lot of it had to do with wanting to be fit, wanting to feel confident with my body and in my own skin. I had never been athletic before. I was always the kid reading in the corner while others played outside. So the idea of doing something like a triathlon both scared the crap out of me and exhilarated me to no end. It was hard to turn down that kind of excitement. Just the idea of a triathlon is still the equivalent of a really amazing drug. Somehow, something that makes you feel so great isn’t illegal, and to that I’m extremely thankful.

Question: What made you come back for a second triathlon?

Loewy: I was instantly addicted. I have to admit, it definitely had something to do with knowing that I looked a lot better after six weeks of training than I ever had in my life. But it also had to do with knowing that I felt better than ever before. It had to do with the rush of crossing that finish line. It had to do with the pain that I felt and conquered out on the course. It had to do with the people I met before the race that were there cheering for me at the end, even though I finished second to last. It had to do with the fact that I had just found a whole new side of myself that I didn’t know existed, and I wasn’t going to let it go…ever.

Question: Fitness can be a powerful drug can’t it? How did you go about your training from that point forward? Did you read books and self-coach? Find a mentor? Hire a coach?

Loewy: I started with a book called “Finish a Triathlon in 6 Weeks” or something like that. It was a good book in that it inspired me to get out there, but I have to say that I did a horrible job of following the plans. I was convinced that I should do at least two of the three sports every day, and kind of just trained every spare second I had. I don’t think I was over-trained at the end of it, but I definitely wasn’t properly trained.

After my first one, I joined the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training, and had a coach through them. He helped me through several Olympic Distance triathlons, as well as my first half (Wildflower). From there, I did IronMan France, and I didn’t really have a specific training plan for that, if you can believe it. I just kind of kept going with the half plan, but intensified everything. Once again, I completed the race, but I definitely could have trained smarter.

Now, I’m getting coached by someone here in New Jersey. He’s a great, hands-on coach who is always ready to join me for a workout, or offer books on nutrition. I just started his Ironman training plan, and it’s pretty intense so far… but he helped me break four hours in a marathon, and PR my 5K time by over a minute…so I’m trusting him with this plan too.

Question: You lead a pretty full life as a full-time student with practice, recitals, etc. How do you balance your training around your life?

Exiting the water during a recent triathlon.

Loewy: Well, it started out as training being the balance in my life. Before, everything was so centered around music that finding something else I was interested in was a huge relief. Now, I do have to be careful that athletics doesn’t start to take too much time. Afterall, I’m not looking for a career in triathlon, but I am pursuing one in music. I just try to make sure that I’m still allowing myself to strive for athletic goals without letting those goals encompass my requirements as a musician. In other words, if I have to make a decision between music and athletics (I try not to let it get to that point), I remember that music is, in fact, more important. On a daily basis, I plan my time so that I can fit everything in accordingly, and I try to keep in mind that if you can’t do everything every day, you’re still going to be just fine.

Question: Have you found that you’re a bit of an oddity with your fellow musicians? Musicians are usually not known for their athletic prowess.

Loewy: Yes, I’m definitely at an oddity! More than an oddity, people just don’t understand. Most times, they try to relate it to music and say how the swimming must help the breathing on the flute, or some other reason why I would be doing the athletic stuff. In other words, they can’t reconcile it without bringing it back to the musical realm.

To me, it’s the exact opposite. There are some similar traits between athletics and music, but I don’t let the two of them mix. When I’m running, I’m a runner. When I’m playing the flute, I’m a flutist. Other musicians don’t have to get it, just as other athletes don’t have to understand me as a musician. The two aspects of my life are simply that…two aspects of me. Neither one singularly defines me, but you don’t have to relate to every part of me to be able to relate to me as a person.

Question: It sounds like you have busy schedule. What’s a typical day like for you?

Loewy: Because of my school schedule, no two days are the same. Each day has different classes, rehearsals, lessons. I’ll give you a sample Monday…don’t worry, I sleep in on Tuesdays and Thursdays!

• 4:48 - wake up
• 5:40 - warm up on Spinning bike at gym
• 6-6:45 - teach Spinning at gym
• 6:45-7:30 - lift weights at gym
• 7:30 - shower, get dressed at gym
• 8:00 - get back home, deal with e-mail, eat breakfast
• 8:30- 10: 30 - sleep, grab some food to go– eat during the day
• 10:45-12:45 - practice the flute at school
• 1-2:00- flute lesson with my teacher
• 2-4:30 - library time- study, write papers- whatever I need to catch up on
• 4:30- 4:50 - practice a little before flute class
• 5-6:00 - flute class with my teacher and other flutists at school
• 6-6:30 - dinner at the student center
• 6:30-6:45 - practice before orchestra
• 6:45-9:45 - orchestra
• 10-11:00 - bike another hour on the trainer
• 11-11:45 - unwind…read, watch tv on the computer, catch up on blogs, etc.
• midnight - go to bed

How do you balance life with multisport training? Smile a lot.

Like I said, every day is completely different, and honestly, Monday’s are probably one of my more busy days. Basically I just fit in practicing for about three hours, two training sessions (another three hours or so), rehearsals/classes/teaching (spinning and flute lessons on alternating days), and studying whenever I can find the time.

Question: That’s a tough schedule. How do you handle recovery with this type of stress on your system?

Loewy: Well, a few things first. Every day is not like that. My Mondays through Thursdays are pretty busy and then I don’t have anything that I absolutely have to do Friday through Sunday. So, I do get to recover. I get exhausted through the first half of the week though, and it has led me to getting sick. I know it’s not an ideal schedule, but I don’t know how to get everything done otherwise. Plus, I’ve figured out that I do need the downtime on the weekends. It doesn’t work for me to spread everything out through the week. I get burnt out really quickly that way. Everyone is different though, and I’m sure other people work better when they lean more towards the moderate constant.

Question:What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a triathlete and doesn’t think they have the time to train? Especially if they look at your schedule and say “Holy crap! I could never do that!”

Loewy: Well, again, every day isn’t like that. Then, there are still a couple of things to remember. This training schedule is to prepare for an Ironman. There are plenty of more reasonable events that a triathlete could do and have an easier time fitting the training into their schedule. Also, and probably most important, you need to once again remember that it’s OK to miss a workout or a class or whatever else. The world is not going to fall apart if you can’t do everything every day. Yeah, it’s great when the day goes exactly as planned, but when it doesn’t, it’s important to be flexible enough to go with the flow– and not make yourself feel guilty because of it! If you can’t wake up with your alarm, it’s not because you’re lazy, it’s because you need the extra hour of sleep. Go with it. You’ll do the workout later, and if you don’t your race is not going to be won or lost because of one workout. It’s more about the general habits, and more than anything else, it’s about the mental strength.

One other thing I think about is the fact that I really do have it easy. Yeah, I’m a student and I work part time and I practice and I train. But, I don’t have a family to take care of. I only have to deal with myself. I’m a lot more admirable of all the moms and dads out there that manage to do everything I do, plus take of a family and hold down a healthy relationship.

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Eric “Sully” Sullivan is a top contender for first place at this year’s Mt.
Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. Photo by Dan Campbell.

In my interview with Josiah Middaugh, I described the first time I saw the four-time Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathalon champion flying down the mountain on the seventh leg of the race. This was around the three-hour mark of a brutal human-powered assault up and down the mountain and about a minute behind, just one minute, was Eric “Sully” Sullivan, the 27-year-old adventure racer from Gunnison, Colorado.

I’ll never forget the look of pain on either racer’s face. While Middaugh looked focused and cool, Sully was this two-legged inferno. He had the look of a mountain lion chasing down its prey and I had never seen such intensity in an athlete this far from the finish line.

Although Sully had managed to close the gap to Middaugh, in the end, after 42 miles of biking, running, nordic skiing, and snowshoeing, he finished 1:14 seconds after Middaugh to take second place.

Tomorrow, the Quad marks it’s 25th anniversary. It should be an epic race and a highly anticipated battle between these amazing mountain men and women who truly embody the spirit of multisport endurance athletes.

Question: You’ve done Mt. Taylor four times and have an incredibly diverse background. You wrestled in high school and were a gymnast for seven years. How did you get into endurance sports and adventure racing?

Sully: It all started with mountain bike racing. I moved out from Kansas to Colorado in 1999 to go to school at Western State College. I started mountain bike racing in 2001 and eventually found out I was much better in the longer events. I don’t have that top end speed for two-hour races. For four hours though, I can keep going at a pretty good pace. In regard to heart rate and pace, there’s very little difference between my two-hour and four-hour speed (laughs).

Team Salomon Crested/Butte (left to right): Sully, Jari Kirkland, Jon Brown, and Bryan
Wickenhauser. Photo by Dan Campbell.

About five years ago, Jon Brown and Bryan Wickenhauser from Team Salomon/Crested Butte were looking for a replacement team member for a race so I joined up. We ended up winning that event and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Question: Do you train and race full time?

Sully: Mostly. During the winter, once the adventure racing season is over, I do a lot of odd jobs. For example, this summer I was helping Wick (Bryan Wickenhauser) remodel his house. This winter, I’ve been busing tables three nights a week so I can still train during the day. It seems like if I try and have a regular job during the summer, it’s more of a hassle. I’m gone so much traveling from race to race that it’s difficult to get my shifts together.

Question: When was the first time you did the Mt. Taylor quad?

Sully: The first time I did Mt. Taylor was in 2004 and I ended up winning the 19-24 year-old age group that year and in 2005 as well. In 2006, I won the 25-29 age group and took fourth overall. Last year I was able to sneak in there and get second overall.

It is definitely one of my favorite races. The amount of support you get during the race is amazing. You come into the transitions and there’s just tons of people there to help you out. It’s one the best organized races that I do. You get such a great variety of sports where you are biking and running and skiing and snowshoeing and you have to be fast up and fast down and that’s a pretty good distance for me.

Question: Were you pretty close to Middaugh throughout the race?

Sully: Josiah was ahead of me on the bike up and the run up. I knew that’s where he would be strong so I tried to be a bit more conservative on those parts of the race. Once we got to the snow portions of the race, I started to whittle away on his lead. I think every split of mine was faster than his after that.

Question: The ski up. Power hike or V1 up the mountain?

Sully: I go with full skins, tip to toe, so there’s no glide on that one flat section of the course at the bottom. At that point, I just jog. Then when you hit the steep climb on Heartbreak Hill, you’re not slipping out. From all of the rando races I’ve done, I’ve developed a pretty good feel on where I need to go hard and where not to. I just skin hard up the steep sections. I keep it pretty mellow on the bike and run. Once I get on the skis, that’s where I like to open it up and push hard.

For the first-time racers, just try and keep a jog going through the flats with the skins on and use your arms. On Heartbreak, make sure you don’t slide out and try and keep a good tempo going.

Question: The last portion of the snowshoe up is wicked with most of the 600-foot elevation gain coming in the last portion of the one-mile leg. Former triathlon champ Wes Hobson, who raced Mt. Taylor once, wrote that the sand ladder at the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon seemed like nothing compared to the final “up” leg of the race…especially at 11,000 feet. At the elite level, do you run up that portion or is it just an aggressive hike?

Sully: I don’t run the whole thing that’s for sure. I run quite a bit of it, and then I go into more of a power hike mode since I’m running at my red line and I still have a long ways to go once I reach the turnaround at the summit. I don’t wanna blow up.

To tackle that part of the course, I just push off my quads with my hands real hard and try and keep a real fast tempo going. I find that if I try and run up that super steep section, I just go into the red line and it kills me for the rest of the race.

Question: What’s the biggest rookie mistake you see people do on the course?

Sully: People want light skis for the leg up so they go with nordic gear. But on the downhill, those skis aren’t always the best in regard to control and people need to practice their downhill skiing. I was looking at the splits and some people were taking over 30 minutes to get down. The downhill ski portion is really treacherous. It’s narrow and there are some really tight hairpin turns without much room to slow down. You need to be really on it to make it down there.

With there being so many transitions, you make sure you have your transitions down. The night before, when you’re packing your bags, make sure you’re organized. Put the stuff you need on top. If you can save 30 seconds over six transitions, that’s three minutes right there.

Question: I can attest to challenges on the downhill ski portion of the race. I saw plenty of snow angels on the corners of those hairpin turns and added a few to the collection! I think I set the record for the slowest downhill at 1:17. I was on my face more than I was on my skis…and I’m a pretty decent downhill skier. So, the million-dollar question: skate or classic skis?

Eric Sullivan in the 24 Hours of Sunlight Race in February 2007.
In the background Mount Sopris.

Sully: I like classic because the tips are a little bigger and that keeps you above the snow a bit. They’re also a little longer and a little wider. Plus, the motion of kick and glide that is used on the ascent with the skins…the classic binding is built exactly for that.

Having said that, it doesn’t make all that big of a difference as long as you have a full skin on the way up the mountain. Going down is about the same whether you’re on skate or classic skis.

Question: Do you do any training specific to Mt. Taylor?

Sully: With all of the randonee racing I do before the Quad, I’m in pretty good shape. For example, last year I had completed the 24 Hours of Sunlight (where competitors hike up the mountain at the Sunlight Ski Resort in Colorado and then ski, snowboard or snowshoe their way down for 24 hours) two weeks before the Quad and I was pretty skeptical on how well I was going to do. I was tired and had been in the hospital for pulmonary edema as a result of the Sunlight race and I pretty much didn’t do anything for seven days. Just before the Quad, I did a little jog one day and then went and did the race.

As far as specific training, since it’s so cold outside here in Colorado, I’m in the gym quite a bit. I’ll do a lot of brick workouts on the indoor equipment. For example, I’ll do some work on the bike, then hop over to the treadmill and increase the incline, then hop back to the bike. I’ll go back and forth like that a few times and do those bricks two-to-three times a week leading up to the Quad.

That’s the huge surprise for a lot of people right at the start of the race. You’re coming off this huge climb from the first bike leg and you are totally red lined. You transition to the run and start climbing again and your calves seize up. I try and train to keep that from happening…too much.

Question: You don’t have an off-season do you?

Sully: No, not at all. We just came back from the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (a six-day adventure race held in December) and I have the Snowmass Randonee Ski race and the 24 Hours of Sunlight race coming up. I try and take it easy around Christmas because I can get pretty cooked from all of the racing I do. I’m finding out more and more that recovery is critical with all of the racing on my schedule. The volume is pretty ridiculous.

Question: Since your racing is year-round, do you do most of your training at a pretty low intensity then and use the races as your high intensity efforts?

Sully: Not really. Right now I don’t need any more miles for my aerobic base so I’m just really trying to focus on quality. I want to get really good workouts with top end stuff where I can get top end on the bike and top end on the run and also get some brick workouts thrown in the mix.

With the randonee races, that’s two hours of nothing but full throttle ski racing. So actually, the winter season is where I get my top end, high intensity stuff going because I race by myself and the races are shorter.

Question: Do you train with a heart rate monitor?

Sully: Most definitely. Especially for the bike-specific stuff. I have certain workouts that I really like and what heart rates I need to train in on the bike so I can maximize my time. I don’t want to be on the trainer three hours a day in the winter like a pro mountain biker.

Question: Have you found that the nordic skiing and the weight training have a pretty good cross-over effect for your fitness?

Sully: Oh yeah. The nordic skiing and rando skiing are full-on legs and upper body because your pulling really hard and using your core. By the way, I’m going for the half course at the Rage in the Sage in April (1.2 mile swim/56k mile bike/13.1 mile run) so I’ve been getting in some swimming as well. I don’t like swimming (laughs), but I figure I want to come out of the water in decent shape. Then I’ll thrown down once I get on land.

To follow Sully’s racing exploits, check out the Team Salomon/Crested Butte blog.

A special thanks to Bryan Wickenhauser for sharing the photos used in this article.

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I know of Lisa Goldsmith more by reputation than personal connection. My fitness advisor/coach and all around great guy Steve Ilg introduced me to Lisa during the awards ceremony at the 2007 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. The duo had just captured the overall win for mixed pairs and all pairs, with the 40-something-year-olds handily trouncing all challengers in both divisions. Lisa did the bike and run portions while Ilg took on the snowshoe and cross country ski. (Editor’s note: Ilg is returning as a soloist this year so stay tuned for updates on that race.) For those of you who are going to the Quad this year, go to last year’s results and look in the pairs division for a Fair Pair of Mountain Yogis too see some impressive times.

To say that Lisa lights up the room is an understatement. Her life force, energy, aura, chi, whatever you want to call it, was apparent for all to see. Even after a grueling day running up and down the mountain, she had the smile and vibe of someone who had just come back from a week at the spa.

I wanted to talk to Lisa for this series on Mt. Taylor athletes under the assumption that she was returning to the mountain this weekend. Unfortunately, her training for the Boston Marathon in April has pushed the Quad to the backburner for this year. Lisa, however, does provide a great perspective on the race and endurance training in general. Just one look at her resume should impress the hell out of anyone who has ever toed a start line.

A collegiate soccer player, she was a triathlete from 1984-1989 and captured the USTA (now USAT) amateur national championship in 1988. She briefly raced as a pro in 1989, taking 9th in the Olympic distance and 5th in the sprint distance during the nationals.

From triathlon, Goldsmith focused on cycling for the next four years and was a member of the Kahula Pro Team and helped her team keep the yellow leader’s jersey for seven days during the 1992 Tour de France Feminin.

After cycling, she put her energies into running and was a member of the U.S. mountain running team in 1997 and holds records in several races like the Pikes Peak Ascent, Imogene Pass, and Mt. Washington, to name a few. She was the 2001 North American Snowshoe Champion and took fifth place in the 2007 Masters World Mountain Running Championships in Austria.

Oh yeah, she also took second in the master’s division of last year’s Boston Marathon.

Question: What’s your relationship with the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon?

Lisa enjoying a bit of snow during a frolic through the mountains.

Goldsmith: I have raced Mt. Taylor just the two times with Steve Ilg as my partner. The first year, 2006, I was part of a three-person team with Steve doing the two upper legs of the race (cross country ski and snowshoe). We beat all teams in 2006 and beat all of the pairs in 2007, including the men’s teams, when we raced as a mixed pair.

The tragedy for me is that I have never been to the top of Mt. Taylor! I could very much see going as a soloist for the overall individual competition, however, I am too focused each winter on my running/skate skiing. Plus, I just do not have the gumption to train for that race. Those past two forays on Mt. Taylor are perhaps the highlights of my long racing career primarily because of the energy of my partner, the venerable Ilg! I owe him big gratitude for bringing me down to Tsidol (the Native American name for Mt. Taylor)! I have often been intrigued by this race having heard of it and its lure to serious multi-sport athletes. With Danelle Ballengee having been the queen for so long, and me being competitive with her in many snowshoe races over the years, someone inevitably would ask me, “So, ya doing Mt. Taylor?!”

I was just too intimidated by the drive to get there in the winter and all of the equipment necessary to race as a soloist…not to mention the pure act of doing all eight legs by myself. Fortunately, Steve had put out an 11th-hour call for a runner and I was psyched when we hooked up and that he wanted to race with me. That first race was a blast!

Question: You’ve competed in the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon as a part of two different teams. How would you describe the race to someone who doesn’t live around mountains or any appreciable hills?

Goldsmith: Mt. Taylor is a special/unique event for sure! It is a party of athletes trying to get up to the top of a mountain and back down, either solo or as a relay team. This means the person next to you, in front of, behind, may or may not be there during the next leg. It’s a very interesting concept because it forces you to do your own thing, and not get too focused on the competition so much as doing your part well!

Question: Let’s go back a bit. How did you discover your talent or passion for endurance sports?

Goldsmith: Hmmm…I don’t ever recall not loving to play sports. My first inspirational endurance experience was racing bikes as a kid in my neighborhood. I remember riding so hard one day that I nearly passed out. I fell off my bike into my dad’s arms, hyperventilating.

It wasn’t until I ran my first 5K during my second year of college that I had another inspirational endurance experience. I had only been a soccer and all-around sports-playing girl when I entered this 5K, so I took off like I was chasing a soccer ball! I was fairly anaerobic the entire run, feeling completely nauseous and, well, even peeing in my shorts as I crossed the finish line. I was so impressed with the difficulty of such an event. Anyway, if those two things didn’t keep me from endurance racing, they surely inspired me to learn about how to race an endurance event.

I ran my first ever triathlon in a relaxed way with a boyfriend in 1984. I took third in my age group and got hooked! I decided to leave my partying school life where I was intramural athlete of the year in 1983…that involved a lot of beer drinking…and I started racing more seriously within months of that triathlon.

Probably my third endurance experience of great inspiration occurred in December 1985 when I decided to run the Dallas White Rock Marathon. I thought I was in the best shape of my life at the time, never mind that I’d never run more than 10 miles at once prior to that. I ran the first half in well under 1:30. But from that point forward I went downhill. I was shuffled across the finish line in such pain at 3:42! Ouch!

I didn’t run for a month for that. However, I was intrigued. How does one do this endurance racing correctly?

By 1987-88, I won every amateur triathlon (Olympic distance/short courses) I had entered, beating some pros along the way. After winning the 1988 USTA Nationals in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where I placed 15th among pros, I was invited to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to try out for an Olympic development team in cycling.

Question: Wow. That’s quite an impressive leap from partying intramural athlete to blossoming Olympian. What happened next?

Goldsmith: I went out to Colorado and went through their testing program which evaluated my VO2 Max and my “all-around athletic ability and coach-ability.” I was selected to join the team and promptly quit triathlon, and my job, to move to Colorado Springs for my new life as a full-time bike racer. Up to that point, I had never actually raced my bike aside from triathlon time trials.

My first real bike race was the International Tour of Texas. I got waxed, but learned a lot! I then raced in Europe that spring and summer, and even won a “Queen of the Mountain” prize which honed my love for going uphill. By the end of the year, I was well enmeshed in the sport of cycling. I made time to race three pro triathlons that fall and that was the end of my days as a triathlete.

I raced quite successfully through 1993 and into ’94, but felt very tried and burnt out. I quit bike racing cold turkey and got a job as a bike courier in Boulder for eight months before entering massage school in January 1995.

Question: You must have felt like returning to racing at some point because it seems to be such an integral part of your being.

Goldsmith: Yes. I decided to try another marathon in 1996 and completed it in 3:04. I got re-hooked in to the simple act of just running!

The next year, I ran a 2:58 and decided to hone in on trying to qualify for the 2000 Olympic Trials. I missed the cutoff by 12 seconds at the Boston Marathon in 1999 with a time of 2:50:12.

Since then I have just followed my bliss around the running scenes of trail/mountain running, hill climbs, road racing…I have a particular love for the marathon and for races that only go up.

In 1997, I competed in my first mountain run at Mt. Evans. I loved this race! I was asked to be on the U.S. Mountain Running Team that was traveling to the Czech Republic. I said “yes” and was the top placed American.

I came home and soon after La Sportiva was trying to start a mountain running team and called me I accepted and mountain running has been the main focus of my running. I still dabble in road racing along the way, particularly the marathon, which I am convinced is the best all-around kind of training for a runner of any genre! My Pikes Peak Masters record felt like such a culmination of years of work and, more importantly, figuring out how to train and race for these kinds of events. It has all been so rewarding.

Question: What’s a typical training day for you?

Goldsmith: I usually run six-to-seven days a week with some weight training included. My longest run is 20-ish miles, but I don’t do very many of those. I typically do one-to-two long runs per week. I also do lactate threshold intervals once a week during certain phases of training, a tempo run once a week, and a hill workout once a week. I run maybe twice a day if I have the time.

I always work in the middle part of the day which generally leaves me not having to get up too early to run! I’ll do more specific hill training come late spring into summer for mountain running events. I am looking to the master’s record at Mt. Washington this June and a spot on the Mountain Running Team as it is an uphill year with a very deep field of women in the U.S. these days. It will be a challenge to make the team this year.

Question: What’s your take on strength training for endurance athletes? Is it a waste of time or is critical to an athlete’s success?

Goldsmith: Well, I have been in the weight room consistently for all of my years of training, since high school and even through my beer drinking intramural days in college. I have never gotten very muscular though. That’s probably because I am made up of 99.9 percent slow twitch muscle fibers! I have never bulked up, which is nice, because I have always thought I can do weight training anytime of year and get the overall benefit of straining my muscles and tendons in a way that is healthy.

I think of weight training as a healthy compliment, like my feeble yoga practice, and a necessary component of healthy living. Much of the day, I am literally bent over, if only slightly, in my massage practice. Plus, running and cycling is also very forward bending to the spine. I just know that keeping my back and arms strong is a huge benefit for my posture and health.

Question: You mentioned yoga. How much of a role does that play in your training?

Goldsmith: I was introduced to Hatha Yoga and meditation from a mentor-type friend back in the 80’s and during my triathlon days. While it is not a big part of my everyday life, it does make a significant impact on my health as I have been relatively consistent with both yoga and strength training. I have no doubt that yoga plays a bigger or more natural part of my everyday life than I give it credit, but I don’t have a regular “practice.”

But to get back to your question, I will say that the yogic principles of balance/strength/flexibility absolutely do play a role in my training. I pay close attention to my posture, my holding, letting go, reaching, allowing, flow, and energy aspects of my movements in my body and my mind. I am always aware of these things as I train and work. I am quick to recognize when things aren’t right in my body or mind and this is when I might give more particular attention to my meditation and yoga to “right” myself. I also get massage and chiropractic adjustments regularly.

Question: What are some of the biggest mistakes you see in people new to endurance sports?

Lisa at home…going up.

Goldsmith: Hmmmm…everyone has their own arsenal of mistakes, from which to learn hopefully!

First off, I don’t think one (a coach, mentor, or friend) can actually keep someone who is ambitious from making mistakes, so it always seems futile to try!

Typical mistakes are in training much too quickly, say coming back from an injury. Our minds and our cardiovascular systems will come back much quicker than say a muscle or tendon injury, and often athletes will get excited to come back quick only to have set-backs and re-occurrences of the injury.

For example, my last injury was a torn tendon at the metatarsal head of my second toe joint in 2002. After fussing around with training, not training, cross training, etc., I finally took eight weeks off completely. It felt like an eon. OK, I did a little bit of swimming, but I wouldn’t even push off the wall on my bad foot.

After that eight week period was over, I started back by running with a very, very light load. I would run five minutes one day and take the next day off. Then I would run six minutes. Take the next day off. I continued that pattern until I was running 20 minutes for the day. From that point forward, I increased each run by five minutes and then eventually began to run on consecutive days for longer sessions. But, I never ran over 90 minutes for an entire year.

Since then, I have been injury free. Each of my past 4-5 years have actually felt like progress in fitness and speed. I feel like I restarted when I turned 40!

So, maybe I can summarize some thoughts on mistakes:

• Coming back too quickly form rest/injury.
• Not doing the maintenance work (body work/rest/eating-hydrating well)
• Not making changes according to what was learned from an injury or illness (different shoes, get more massage/body work).
• Not tapering for races.
• Worrying too much! I know people who physically get sick worrying about performance and they aren’t even in contention for the podium. They’re just participating age-group stuff. It is supposed to be fun, no?
• Having expectations that are not in line with your training preparation.

Question: Are there any training tools that you believe should be in every endurance athlete’s tool box?

Goldsmith: Every endurance athlete must become efficient. Long days out are absolutely a must!

A calm mind is a must, especially for events such as Mt. Taylor where there are up to six transitions!

Be organized and fluid!

If you only train these things in your mind with visualization, you’re ahead of the game. You can literally, of course, train transitions as well, but you never have that race energy until race day. To mentally prepare for that chaos and unknown can make you suffer or have a brilliant day of fun!

Question: What is the one thing that an athlete could do today that would improve their performance tomorrow?

Goldsmith: Know why you are doing what you are doing and have some goals. Then, ask yourself, “Does what I am doing line up with my goals?”

I believe my performances have improved over the years by simply honing in on this idea!

You can follow Lisa Goldsmith’s racing season at Mountain Running La Sportiva and the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team.

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The first time I saw Josiah Middaugh he was running down a mountain at Mach 3. We were at the 2007 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathalon and were somewhere close to three hours into the epic event where athletes race 42 miles to the top (and back) of the highest peak in northwest New Mexico.

While Middaugh was blistering down the mountain on seventh leg of the race to claim what would be his fourth consecutive overall victory, I was running up on my second leg. Did I mention that hibernating bears move faster than I do? For their inaugural challenge to the Quad, many newbies join up with teams of two-four members to split the workload based on each athlete’s strength. Being rather overconfident, and daft, I opted to go as a soloist to make Mt. Taylor the capstone race for my first year back to the sport of triathlon. Needless to say, my hubris was smacked clean out of me as I recounted here.

All athletes start together in the town of Grants, New Mexico where they begin a climb 1,800 feet over a 13-mile bike course, transition to a five-mile run with another 1,200 feet of climbing, then strap on cross country skis for an elevation gain of 1,200 feet over two miles, trade their skis for snowshoes for the final one mile, 600-foot climb to the 11,301-foot mountain’s summit, with most of the elevation gain coming in the last quarter mile. Once the peak has been captured, athletes reverse the course back down the mountain to the starting line. Overall, it’s a lung-searing, quad-burning, ego-busting journey that leaves an indelible mark on your soul.

When I returned to Las Vegas and at the final results, I had to find out who won this beast of race. I saw Middaugh’s name and a slow glimmer of recognition began to creep into my feeble brain. This guy is no average local mountain huckleberry. Middaugh was the Xterra National Champion in 2004, 2005 and 2007. He was also the USAT Long Course National Champion in 2005, the USAT Winter Triathlon National Champion in 2006 and, get this, Snowshoe Racer’s North American Champion in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.

With the 25th Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon only days away, I had the good fortune to chat with this remarkable athlete about his training and plans for this year’s attempt at a fifth consecutive victory.

Question: You’re a successful Xterra athlete and since your season is over, why not kick back and work on building your “base” like so many athletes? Why continue in the winter sports such as snowshoe races and the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon?

Middaugh: I would say that I have an unconventional base training phase. Select winter races, including Mt. Taylor, fit well into my base training model. I think it is important to stay motivated in the winter months and take advantage of your environment. For me, that means spending time in the elements and Mt. Taylor represents the ultimate test of winter endurance sports.

Question: Let’s stop there for a second. Why do you consider your base training unconventional?

Middaugh: My winter base training is unconventional for several reasons:

1. Most professional triathletes do not race in the winter months while I continue to race in all four seasons.
2. Living in the mountains of Colorado makes bike and run training more challenging. Embracing winter endurance activities has allowed me to build a very strong base.
3. Last year my run training was limited due to surgery from a broken patella in June 2006. In November 2007, I had another surgery to get the screws taken out, so my training has been anything but ordinary. The only running I am doing right now is with crampons or snowshoes heading up ski runs.

The hazards of the Xterra athlete.

Question: Youch. How did you break your patella?

Middaugh: I broke it at an XTERRA race in Alabama in June 2006. I had it screwed back together but I was out for most of the season. I actually came back and placed 4th at the XTERRA world championships that same October with no run training.

Last year I trained a little differently than in the past and I decided to get the screws out two months ago. I am feeling pretty fit right now though and I am looking forward to Mt. Taylor this weekend.

Question: While the overall distance of the Quad does not seem that imposing, it’s the never-ending climbing that has a tendency to knock one’s ego down a few pegs. Compared to the other races you compete in throughout your season, from Xterra to snowshoe races and half Ironmans, where you put Mt. Taylor on a scale of 1-10?

Middaugh: On a scale of 1-10 it is probably 11. It’s my favorite winter race and it is a true epic winter multi-sport event. The fact that you summit the 11,300 ft peak with four events makes it an epic adventure.

Question: What advice would you give to someone who will be attempting Mt. Taylor as a first-time soloist?

Middaugh: Good general aerobic fitness is important. If possible, I would suggest that you take most of your running uphill. Long runs or snowshoes once a week are very important. It is not necessarily important to be fast for Mt. Taylor, but you definitely need to be strong.

Question: What about any ambitious Nebraskans who want to come out and test their fitness against Mt. Taylor? What can they do if all of their training is done on terrain that is as flat as a pancake?

Here, Middaugh demonstrates his picture-perfect recovery form.

Middaugh:For the people that can’t train the hills I would recommend focusing on their long run once a week. Running will have the most cross-over benefits to the skiing and snowshoeing. A long run should range from 90 minutes to 2-1/2 hours.
Question: With your broad background and winter racing schedule, do you specifically train for the Quad?

Middaugh: My unconventional winter base training is very specific to Mt. Taylor, minus the swimming. A majority of my training hours are spent biking, snowshoeing, running, and cross country skiing. I am fortunate to live and train in the Vail Valley because the conditions are perfect for ” />

Most of my run volume in the winter is replaced with snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Usually twice a week I snowshoe run up Vail Mountain or Beaver Creek, shooting for 3,000-4,000 feet of elevation gain. My training typically breaks down like this:

• Biking: 10-12 hours per week (5 days)
• Swimming: 4-6 hours per week (4 days)
• Running: minimal (this is mostly due to my knee injury; not what I recommend)
• Snowshoeing: 3-4 hours per week (2 days)
• Cross country skiing: 2 hours per week (1 day)
• Weight training: 2-3 hours (2-3 days)

During the winter, 99 percent of my training is aerobic with very little high intensity. I have two or three training sessions per day during the week (6 a.m. and afternoon) which includes a mid-week long workout and a long bike and long swim on the weekend.

Question: What do you do as far as strength training?

Middaugh: In the weight room I focus on functional exercises with reps anywhere from 8-20 depending on the exercise and my progression. I also spend at least 6-8 weeks working on power development with plyometric training. I also include a few plyometric exercises in my maintenance routine year-round.

Question: That’s quite an impressive schedule that obviously keeps you in remarkable shape throughout the year. Do you have time to really build an aerobic base?

Middaugh: Yes. I still have a base training phase in the winter but I like to test myself with a few select winter races. Some people do time trials or field test once a month, but I choose to race. The rest of my training is mostly low to moderate intensities and no structured interval training. I train right through all of the winter races so that I don’t lose any endurance.

Question: What else do you have planned for 2008?

Middaugh: At this point, I have about 20 races on the schedule, give or take. During the winter, I cut back on my racing a little bit and have five races planned: Pedal Power Winter Triathlon, North American Snowshoe Championship, Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon, XTERRA Winter World Championship, and the USSSA Snowshoe National Championship.

This spring I will race the Cape-Epic Mountain Bike Race which is a nine-day stage race in South Africa and then come back and compete in the XTERRA Championship Circuit.

Question: Do you offer coaching services?

Middaugh: Yes, I do offer endurance coaching. I have worked as a certified personal trainer for seven years and currently work with clients out of the Dogma Athletica gym in Edwards, Colorado. You can also learn more about me at www.josiahmiddaugh.com

Josiah with two of his biggest fans, sons Sullivan (3-1/2 years old) and Porter (2 years old).

Not included in the photo is the head coach, his wife Ingrid.

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In addition to bodybuilding, she’s an accomplished personal trainer in Idaho Falls, Idaho, mother of four children, and is a regular contributor to the online bodybuilding magazine T-Nation. She’s built such an amazing following of women, and men, who seek her advice on how to reshape their bodies, that I thought she would be able to impart some sound advice to us multisport athletes who are looking to shed a few winter pounds and get leaned out for the racing season. If you think weight training has no value, keep reading to see the remarkable results she got for a couple of local triathletes. Also, if you haven’t read my review of Jen’s audio series, Fat Loss Pros, I would suggest you take a look and consider adding the series to your training library.

Question: If an endurance athlete wanted to lose 15-20 pounds before their race season starts in May, would you advise they cut down on cardio, or stop all together, and focus on weight training and nutrition until the weight is lost? Many of us would go through withdrawals if we could get in any swimming, biking, or running during the winter months. Yet, for most of us, those activities don’t seem to have a significant impact on melting that stubborn body fat.

Heath: The first thing I tend to find with these types of athletes is that they simply are not eating enough to shed unwanted fat. High volumes of cardiovascular exercise don’t hurt one’s mission to lose excess body fat, if food intake is adequate and proper times are selected for exercise and the intake of those foods. This would include cardio and weights. Let me give you an example of a personal triathlete client of mine.

Jane was performing three hours per day on biking, swimming, and/or running. This was 5-6 days per week. She was also weight training two times per week with moderate weights. She is 5’ 7” tall, and at the time weighed 160 pounds with a body fat percentage of about 26 percent. She was eating about 2,000 calories every day, mostly consisting of carbohydrates and a little protein. Basically, she was just in a vicious cycle of starving. It was time for a change.

When I looked at all of this in December, I immediately upped her food consumption. At 160 pounds and approximately three-plus hours of activity per day, she was entitled to roughly 3,500 calories for her body type and metabolism to maintain her weight. Her goal was to increase muscle mass and lose fat.

I increased her weight training to three days a week with specific instructions to lift heavier weights. I decreased her cardio to two hours per day, four days per week, which was, and is, plenty for a seasoned athlete. I allowed her to eat 3,000-plus calories on the days she weight trained. The new macronutrient breakdown still allowed for lots of carbohydrates. Most importantly though, it added in much needed protein and necessary fat calories in order for proper bodily function. The objective was to get her body to process all that food into muscle. In order to keep fat at bay, I had her eat around 2,500 calories on her long cardio days to keep her at a slight deficit, thus enabling some fat loss during the week.

Remember, I started with her in December and she had until June before her big race. Jane’s results were amazing. She added much needed muscle mass and shed lots of unwanted fat. She ended up weighing in at 150 pounds with 15 percent body fat (loss of 19 pounds of fat and a lean mass gain of nearly 11 pounds). The body composition changes were great for her self esteem, but the here’s the real kicker: Her added strength and leaner body enabled her to take first in all of her races. She was stronger, and more powerful. Each stride of her run had just a little more power, each stroke of her arms and kick of her legs just a little more propelling, and each revolution of the pedal just a little more forceful. Her improved body produced improved times. That was the real bottom line.It takes both cardio and weights to build that much needed muscle to produce the force and speed that is necessary to be an explosive and dynamic athlete. Once those activities are in check, the nutrition must be created to compliment that. Starving and endless endurance work never produced a powerful and lean athlete.

Question: When it comes to reshaping an endurance athlete’s physique, which is going to be most effective? Cardio or weights?

Heath: Lifting weights hands down. It is important to raise metabolism in order to reshape the body. If you want to see muscles, you have to grow them and reduce fat. You can’t grow muscles with endless hours of cardio nor lose fat by that same method. Cardio has it’s place, but in excess or all by itself, it will not yield results.

Question: For our athlete wanting to lose that 20 pounds, would you suggest high reps and lighter weights so they can continue to build some form of aerobic endurance?

Heath: The bottom line is this: Bigger muscles are more powerful, both in terms of lifting weights and and general conditioning. That transfers over to when someone competes in a race. The amount of conditioning already performed from the regular biking, swimming, and running is more than enough light or non-weighted activity. Lifting “pink dumbbells” in the gym for a million reps is not going to enhance either body composition or decrease in time during events.

Just like Jane, women all over who compete in these types of events should start lifting heavier and getting more serious about how much food they are consuming and when. I mean, if I told you that you can shave seconds off your race times, add muscle, lose fat, and look more the way you wanted to, wouldn’t you be willing to make those changes? What have you got to lose, right?

Question: As a coach, what is the biggest challenge you have when working with individuals who want to shed those extra pounds?

Heath: For most of my female clients, getting them to eat enough is my biggest issue. If a woman comes to me, chances are she knows from the way I market myself that I only have clients who lift weights, but the nutrition thing can be a challenge. They are only eating 1,200 calories a day and mostly carbs and wonder why they are skinny fat. In most instances, when I address this, the problems are swiftly solved.

Question: So, is there really a difference in the sexes when it comes to losing fat and gaining muscle?

Heath: I am sure that deep down scientifically there is a difference in the sexes when it comes to muscle building. Testosterone and growth hormone levels, age, and other gender-related factors always will have their say in a person’s ability to gain muscle. However, for the most part, I have found that there are both males and females who are “hard gainers.” They tend to be the ectomorphic types, and it does not tend to be gender related. Conversely, I have found that most women, if they are wiling to take a few selected effective supplements, and really be willing to eat enough (most men are and most women aren’t!) then unless they are genetically challenged in the muscle building department women have just as easy a time gaining muscle as men.

Question: Most triathletes spend 7-15 hours per week running, swimming or cycling with little to no strength training movements. Yet, many have a hard time losing those extra pounds (fat). Should they add more hours, more intensity, or do something different altogether?

Heath: One of two things needs to happen: Either their activities (cardiovascular) need to be cut back or they need to eat for their activity level. Either way, weight training must be fit into the mix, or body recomposition will not happen.

I have another friend who competes in triathalons here locally. She came to me at 5’8″, training three hours a day, weighing 125 pounds, and only eating 1,400 calories a day. She was killing her metabolism. I took away five hours of cardio and replaced it with weights and increased her food intake to well over 2,000 calories a day. She gained much needed muscle (yes, added scale weight!), increased her strength, and all of her times improved. She looked better then she ever had and won her division in her races that summer. It just goes to show you…

Question: Chalk another series of victories to paying your dues in the Iron Temple! What role should supplements play when people are trying to redefine their physiques?

Heath: Most supplements are over rated, but I do like peri-workout shakes and things like beta-alanine for recovery methods. Creatine and Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) are also a must for building the body. I always take a multi-vitamin and a fish oil.

Thermogenics are okay, but I prefer people not to take things like ephedrine. Hot-Rox Extreme is ephedrine free and has a good track record for increasing thyroid output and overall energy and performance. There are a few select other supplements, that depending one’s goals, are good. It’s about timing and balance. No one factor will build a body including taking excessive supplements.

I supposed I could go on and on about each individual supplement and what they all do…(laughing)

Question: Just how important is nutrition when it comes to getting “shredded?”

Heath: It’s pretty much everything. When in a caloric deficit, muscle loss is a huge risk. The deficit creates the fat loss, and the macros and the timing of those macros in conjunction with heavy training (in most cases) prevent the muscles from disappearing. As far as supplements go, this is a time where they become much more critical, because a lot of the nutrients from food that build and maintain muscle are at a low, therefore the ne