If some people eat one food not on their plan, their failure to be perfect sets in motion a psychological chain of events that leads to frustration and the inability to get right back on the plan. The all-or-nothing mentality sets in and BAM, they’re back to nothing. But it doesn’t have to be this way. 100% nutritional discipline is never required for optimal progress. The difference, in results, between 90% adherence to your nutrition program and 100% adherence is negligible. So allow yourself the extra 10% wiggle room. This will allow you the freedom to eat a few extra things not on your menu without the guilt and subsequent crash.

This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - my pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.

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Question: I started reading your blog and noticed that you’ve been doing quite a bit of traveling. I’m considering flying to a race later this summer and was wondering what hard-earned travel tips you could share. - Cyler

Fedofsky: Great question!

It’s hard to make a decision to move on from your coach when personal feelings and friendship is involved. In my case, I actually had to step back from the friendship I had with my coach and look at our relationship as athlete and coach. As an athlete, I felt my needs had changed and this prompetd my decision for the change.

It may be useful for you to make a list of 5 - 10 qualities that you would like your coach to possess. Then, look at your list and rank the top 3 important qualities. Now, consider your current coach - do they have these top 3 quailties? If so, then look more closely at the relationship itself and what you feel is not working with it, carefully approach the coach with your concerns and suggest ways the relationship can positively change.

If they do not possess those 3 qualities then you may have just found the reason you are looking for a change. Understand that as athletes we change and our needs change - at one time these qualities may not have been what you were seeking in a coach but perhaps that is what you need now. In that case, it’s ok to tell your coach that you are looking for something different now. Coachig is like any other service business - there will come a time where people are seeking a different type of service or something else to meet their needs. The most professional coaches understand this and accept it as a natural part of their work.

As athletes, we change and grow in body and mind. One coaching approach may be suitable for a certain part of our athletic career or goals but at a certain point you may feel it is time to move on to pursue a different path, to meet your new needs or to simply take the chance - as you say above - of being better with someone else. Be honest with your current coach and do your homework for finding a new coach. The transition will not be easy but one if made for the right decisions you will likely not regret.

Question: If you had $250 to spend for anything related to improving your triathlon performance, what would you purchase? What would you recommend an average age grouper purchase with that money? Shoes? Bike gear? Speed suit? Coffee? — Mark

Fedofsky: What a fun question!

$250 to improve my triathlon performance - easy! I would spend the money getting a detailed/videotaped swim, bike and run analysis from an expert in the sport. Though it would probably cost more that that! There is no toy that will make us fast - although there are lots of fun toys that look fast! We all know how to get fast - not by working harder but by working more efficiently. Triathlon is a sport of efficiency. I would have a swim instructor identify 3 things that I need to improve and teach me the ways to get there. I would have a cycling fit specialist look at my fit and my pedal stroke and help me make adjustments. I would have a run coach assess my form and give drills or strengthening exericses to improve. Now that I’ve thought about it - I just might put the money down and do those things!

As for age groupers - I suggest doing the same thing with $250. Honestly, I think seeking feedback and critique from experienced instructors is critical to improvement and becoming the best (and most efficient) triathlete you can be.

If you have triathlon-related questions for Liz, or just want to know more about the ways she drives her husband nuts, fire ‘em off to us at questions@theoutdoorjourney.com. You can read more about Liz’s adventures on her blog at http://elizabethfedofsky.blogspot.com/

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I recommend more calories than most do. That’s because there’s no such thing as a stagnant metabolic set-point. Instead, metabolism chases intake. So, if you want a bigger metabolism, you need a bigger food intake. And if you’re worried about fat gain with this approach, just use outcome-based decision making and adjust energy (calorie) intake every two weeks based on your results. Not much “damage” can take place in only two weeks. So if you end up boosting your metabolism, you’ll be thanking me eternally. And if it turns out you’re consuming too much, you can just adjust down.

This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - my pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.

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Once such event that reinforced that conditioning was my youngest daughter’s soccer wrap-up party the other weekend. Yes, their spring season had come to an end and her team won’t reconvene until the cooler temps arrive in the fall. Having 8-year-old girls practicing in 98-degree temps with full sun exposure apparently isn’t healthy for children.

When did kids get so fat?

Anyway, we’re at the pool party and my wife and I are having fun watching the kids frolic in the water. Out of the dozen or so girls on the team, 10 were obese. I’m not talking about having a little extra baby fat, I’m talking double-fisted Twinkie-eating-hand-me-another-grape-soda-mom kind of fat. Lest you think me a physique snob, my wife, who is very sensitive about these matters, was the one who pointed out that one girl looked like she was pregnant. Huge abdominal distention.

Ummm…who gave this kid more ice cream?

What makes this even more depressing is that these are active kids. They play soccer for chrissakes. They’re not like the kids that sit on their asses playing video games or watching Nickelodeon all day. These kids run up and down the field during practice and pump their little legs and lungs like crazy.

I wanted to run up to the parents and shake the crap out of them. “Do you see what you’re doing to your kid!”

Of course, if I did that, I’d be kicked out of the party and shunned for all times. But somebody needs to wake these parents up.

What authority figure can do that?

The pediatrician.

While these professionals still have some respect and credibility among their patients, it’s time for them to step up and call it like they see it. “Mrs. Smith, your daughter is suffering from a serious disease.”

Mrs. Smith:”Oh my God! What is it? Cancer? Leukemia?”

Pediatrician:”I’m afraid you’re not so lucky. Those diseases, while painful and often fatal, will end your daughter’s life far quicker. No, you’re daughter suffers from CTT.”

Mrs. Smith:”That sounds horrible! What is it?”

Pediatrician: “Chronic Twinkie Toxicity. Yes, Mrs. Smith. Your daughter is a fat ass.”

Mrs. Smith: “But…but…she’s just big for her age. Can’t you just give her a pill?”

And so it goes….

Throwing Political Correctness out the window

Finally, one physician has the cajones to call a spade a spade. Perhaps more apropos, a lard ass a lard ass. Or, as we used to say in the farmbelt of Ohio: A corn-fed gal a corn-fed gal.

Dr. Jeremy Brown, an ER doc in Baltimore, is doing the right thing: “Obesity is not only about health risks, which include diabetes, joint pain, congestive heart failure, strokes, back pain, sleep apnea, depression, infertility and erectile dysfunction. It is also about the root causes and our society’s denial of the woeful impact obesity is having on Americans’ health. Let me “not fail to see what is visible” is the line I recall from the Prayer for Physicians attributed to the great physician-philosopher of the Middle Ages, Moses Maimonides, a copy of which hangs over my desk. Non-traumatic knee pain in an obese patient is a sign that she needs dietary counseling, not radiographic imaging.”

You can read the full story, Tackling a Taboo, by clicking here.

For those who feel the need to write me about how insensitive I am to the needs of plus-sized people, to you I say, “Piss off.” I will not lose a moment of sleep on whether or not you take care of the amazing hardware system you were given stewardship of when you took your first breath outside the womb. What you do with your body is your business.

However, if you have a child and are letting them destroy their bodies and health, or worse, emulating your destructive habits, then wake the fuck up.

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Simply wicked!

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Doctors seem to be inventing more and more of these unflattering terms as obesity becomes more prevalent in our society. Keep your ears open for Polydipose Dysfunction and BW (beached whale).

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One man lost his life in this crash.

Holy shit.

What can I say?

Jesse Campos, the driver of the automobile pictured here, decided to get liquored up, get behind the wheel of his car and fell asleep. Unfortunately, he did so at the same time a road race was going on and he careened across the center line and wreaked havoc on a bike race in Mexico.

You can read the full story at MSNBC.

I’m not going to turn preachy on drunk drivers and so forth nor start pointing fingers. I share this with you for one reason only: EVERY FRIGGIN’ TIME YOU MOUNT YOUR BIKE, DO NOT COUNT ON THE SAFETY OF THE PELOTON.

While I only have anecdotal data to support this, nearly every cyclist that has been injured in the Las Vegas valley was riding in a group. I recall my first few group rides as experiences in guts, or more likely cocky stupidity, when the peloton would consume most of a traffic lane and behave as if they owned the road, rather than share it. Kind of like what cars are supposed to with us, right?

My thoughts and prayers go out to the slain cyclist and his family.

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I consider fish oil to be an essential supplement for fat loss. Data from the University of Western Ontario shows that fish oil supplementation increases lean body mass (during non-dieting conditions), increases BMR (by up to 400kcal/day), decreases inflammation, and improves the ratio of fat/carb oxidized (sparing carbs, burning fat). Recommended dose: Start with 6-10g per day of total fish oil (assuming 30% EPA and DHA).

This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - my pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.

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This turned out to be a great book./

After interviewing Rachel Cosgrove (click here to read part I and part II) about how she balances her training for two very physiologically diverse sports (powerlifting and triathlon), I became a fan of her methodology, philosophy and overall approach to multisports. She was gracious enough to send me a copy of the book she co-authored with Erika Lilley, “So you want to train for your first triathlon” to review.

Since the only thing I owe anybody in this world is the truth, I’ll confess that I did not have high expectations for Rachel’s book. While she has a solid background as a personal trainer and athlete, she is not a household name in the triathlon community. Plus, there are far too many triathlon books on the market that parrot each other and I’m automatically suspicious of the quality of any self-published e-books. There is a lot of crap floating around in the land of cyberpublishing.

Once I read through Rachel’s book, however, I was very impressed with her writing and the information she provided. If you had a tape recorder running while I was reading the book, you would have heard me mumble several times, “Wow…I wish I would have had this book when I started.”

As the title suggests, the book is geared toward the first-time, or neophyte triathlete. It is chock full of solid concepts and strategies that comprise the foundation of the sport and even seasoned age-groupers would benefit from going back and looking at this material from a fresh perspective.

Title: So you want to train for your first triathlon
Authors: Rachel Cosgrove and Erika Lilley
Pages: 119
Publisher: Results Fitness
Price: $39.99 (book); $29.99 (e-book)
Where to buy: www.rachelcosgrove.com

Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
The authors introduce themselves and how they met each other through the sport of triathlon and later became training partners and coaches. They also provide a very brief section on the history of triathlon and talk a bit about who the book is geared toward.

Chapter 2: Setting goals and getting focused
This is the section that every triathlete needs to learn, and re-learn. Myself included. As someone who has a history of setting lofty goals and regularly getting his ass handed to him, I found this chapter quite insightful. The authors advocate using the S.M.A.R.T. tactic for goal setting: Specific, Measurable, Attainable (note to self: re-read this one!), Realistic, Timetable. They include some exercises and worksheets to help you think through the process to plan for your first race and your first season. After all, triathlon is a complex skills sport and unless you are coming into with a strong competitive background in swimming, running or cycling, you will need to plan on having your first few seasons, if not more, dedicated to spending a lot of time (and money) learning about your body, your abilities, your limits, and your strategies.

Chapter 3: Endurance training philosophies
Various key terms like maximum aerobic power, lactate threshold, exercise economy, and other tidbits of endurance lingo are introduced and put in their proper context. This is all done without trying to intimidate the reader with five-dollar words. Consider this the theory section that does a good job of explaining the overall philosophy of good program design without making your head spin with overly complex terminology. I was particularly thrilled to see the advocation for focusing training around an athlete’s weak spot. If you suck at the swim, guess what you’d better emphasize in training? The swim. Speaking of the swim, they also include a great section “6 for 3 Rules for Swimming” that addresses the one aspect of triathlon that scares more newcomers than anything else. They repeat this advice with “6 for 3 Rules for Cycling” and “6 for 3 Rules for Running.” In short, they boil down concepts into useful, take-away advice rather than go into the painful detail that Joe Friel usually takes a chapter to cover.

Chapter 4: Triathlon training program
Here, the authors get into the meat and potatoes of the book and start you with one of their semi-customized training programs for sprint or Olympic-distance races. They help you identify your training intensities with the help of a heart rate monitor and take you, week-by-week, through a 24-week training program. They provide an outstanding variety of effective, and time-tested workouts for the swim, bike and run. If you are new to the sport and can’t afford a coach, this section alone is worth the price of the book.

Chapter 5: Strength training for endurance athletes
Right out of the gate, Rachel and Erika tackle the aversion most multisport athletes have to picking up a barbell. They then dispel common myths about strength training and demonstrate just how important it is to incorporate the iron game into your training program. The program outlined in the book is excellent. It’s not the standard “do 30 reps with a 2-lb. pink dumbbell in each hand” type of routine. I can guarantee you won’t find any other triathlon book recommending Bulgarian squats, mobility drills, side planks, T push-ups or Romanian deadlifts. This is where the authors’ background with conditioning really shines. In addition, while small, the instructional photos are quite helpful.

Chapter 6: Flexibility for triathletes
Once again, the authors start out by explaining the importance of improving your flexibility as well as introduce several types of flexibility “philosophies.” They then move on to prescribe a flexibility routine with photos to show you the various movements.

Chapter 7: Getting the right gear
The reader is given two lists, “Need to Haves” and “Nice to Haves.” They’ve compiled a great list, with explanations for each item in each of the three sports and have sub-divided it even farther with gear recommendations for training and racing. The section covering wetsuits is particularly helpful if you’re considering making the investment in the second most expensive piece of gear (next to your bike).

Chapter 8: Nutrition and hydration
Nutrition is divided into “basic” and “performance” and covers a fairly broad topic with just the right amount of detail for the aspiring triathlete. This is not a diet book. Nor should it be. They do, however, get into a bit more detail on helping you develop a more specific nutrition strategy in the week leading up to your first race and tactics for nutrition and hydration for each of the three sports on race day.

Chapter 9: Injuries and prevention
If you stick with triathlon long enough, there’s a good chance you will encounter some type of setback due to injury. The authors cover the most common injuries in each of the three sports and provide recommendations on not only how to avoid the injury, but to how to fix it so you can get back in the game.

Chapter 10: Optimal recovery
The opening paragraph says it all: “You don’t get results from your actual training sessions. Your body actually gets broken down during your training and then rebuilds stronger after the workout is over. Your results come from your recovery. This is why recovery is so important to your success as a triathlete.”

Chapter 11: This is my first tri-what can I expect?
This is a great section for the first-time triathlete and is one I’m sure will be read over and over again. Heck, even those with a few seasons under their belt would find some great advice here. The authors cover the race from packet pick-up to post event planning. Who would ever think to plan for what happens after the race is over? Yet, with current trend of race directors turning the race into more of family-friendly festivity, you do have to start thinking about how you’re going to handle your gear, friends and family once your race has concluded.

Chapter 12: Wrap-up
It’s really not fair to even label this a chapter. It’s a one paragraph farewell from the authors.

What I Liked

• No extraneous details. The authors get right to what’s important and why it’s important to your success as a triathlete.
• The design is nice and simple and the photographs are well lit and well-done.
• Everything you need to know for your first triathlon is here. This book has it from A to Z.
• While I think there is plenty of information here, it is not enough to overwhelm the new triathlete. That’s a good thing.
• The strength training program appears to be well thought-out and I would predict an athlete would see some great mobility and strength (which equates to speed) gains if they incorporated it into their training.

What I Didn’t Like

• The pictures showcasing the various exercise and flexibility movements should have been at least twice as big.

Bottom Line
In spite of my initial apprehension about the quality of this book, I liked it. A lot. In fact, I highly recommend it as an addition to any triathlete’s library. I would even go as far as saying it should be mandatory reading (hint: a great gift) for anyone considering entering the sport of triathlon.

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