Triathlon

I make time for meditation every day and do diaphragmatic breathing when stressed. I also spend time with people I love to help me relax.
 
Transcript: "I make time for meditation every day. And I do some diaphragmatic breathing, if I'm super stressed out, or even just to ground myself a couple of times during the day. And I'm intentional about spending time with people that I love and to help me feel relaxed and are really fun to be around."

When it comes to recovery, the three pillars are sleep, periodization, and nutrition. Other tools include compression salts and cold water immersion, both of which have been shown to increase parasympathetic activity and help with recovery.
 
Transcript: "Hey there, good question. Thanks for this one. What recovery tools would you recommend to athletes? So when it comes to recovery, first and foremost, not thinking of tools. I always like to think of the three pillars of recovery. And they are sleep, so making sure you have good quality sleep. And I think there's a number of tools you can use to make sure you have good quality sleep. So some things like a chatty mat, not having blue light late at night, even buying blue light blocking glasses. And get red light around your house, especially if you're in the European summertime term to really help you with your actual sleep. So good sleep routines. You can even buy some quite cool things like magnesium and taurine and things like this that can actually help with sleep as well. So that's one thing. So there's sleep. There's training periodization. So making sure that you have plenty of recovery between your more intense and hard sessions, particularly ones that are above the anaerobic threshold. And then finally nutrition. So making sure that you go for the right fuel right time approach. So restricting carbs when necessary and increasing carbs when needed around high intensity exercise. And sometimes with recovery, when requiring you doing a high intensity session not that long later, but also restricting high refined sugars and more processed foods, which will also dampen recovery as well as alcohol. And they're the three pillars of recovery. But on top of that, I think one of the things that does come out, and a good meta analysis is published on this was compression salts. Compression salts are one tool that actually has been shown to help. And cold water immersion. So cold water immersion being shown to increase your parasympathetic activity and help with recovery. A great publication has just been actually published on that. Well, actually, I was asked to review it. I don't think it's published yet. But it was shown in there. So hopefully that one will be published soon. I hope this helps. And thanks for the question."

Embrace the lifestyle of being a professional triathlete, including the hard work and recovery. Love every aspect of it, like nutrition and sleep.
 
Transcript: "My biggest advice to an aspiring professional triathlete is to embrace the lifestyle. You have to love becoming a triathlete. And it's not just about the hard work. It's also about learning to love the recovery, learning to love every aspect of it like embracing the nutrition, making healthy meals, going to bed early. And if you embrace the full lifestyle, then I find that everything else will fit into place."

As an endurance athlete, it's important to make sure you get enough protein and good oils, as well as antioxidants and phytonutrients from colored fruits and vegetables.
 
Transcript: "There are a few things that I really focus on in my diet. One is making sure that I get enough protein to rebuild the muscle that I break down when I'm training. This is super important as an endurance athlete. You, as an endurance athlete, need more protein on a daily basis than weightlifters. The second thing that I really focus on is getting good oils-- olive oil, avocado, nuts. When you have that, the hormones in your body also stay healthy. And that is super important because when you're pushing your body athletically, especially with endurance, your hormone levels can drop. So you want to make sure that you give them the basic building blocks that they need to be healthy. Also, every cell membrane in your body is made from fat from oils. And so you need to have those on a really good level also. And then the third thing is to really make sure that I get a lot of those good phytonutrients, which are the small things that are in fruits, and in deep green leafy vegetables, colored vegetables. Those really help with antioxidants and a whole bunch of other stuff. So it's pretty simple. It's what I eat also for a healthy lifestyle. But in terms of endurance, you're just eating a little bit more than the average person."

When it hurts, you know you're going well. If it doesn't hurt, you probably have more that you could be giving. So use the pain as a motivator to push yourself and reach a next level.
 
Transcript: "Hey. From Lane, the question is, what are your mental strategies for coping with pain during tough workouts and competitions? Well, I'll tell you what, Lane. What I used as an athlete myself, and what I get my athletes to drill into their brains is that going fast hurts. So when it hurts, you know you're going well. If it doesn't hurt, you probably have more that you could be giving. So I mean, if it's obviously a bad pain like an injury pain, that's not good. But when it's a pain like, hey, this is mentally tough. This is physically tough. I know, if I break through this, I'm going to reach a next level. With that, going fast hurts. So make it hurt."
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I would have a normal breakfast or lunch 2 to 3 hours before an intense workout and then have a cup of coffee an hour prior, and if I was feeling light on calories, I might take a gel 30 minutes before the workout.
 
Transcript: "Hi Benjamin, it's a great question. My routine was to always time the workouts, 2, to 3 hours after breakfast or lunch. So I'd have a normal breakfast or lunch and make sure my intense workouts were a good few hours. After that. I would always have a cup of coffee, maybe an hour before, and if I was feeling a little light on calories, and I needed a Top-Up. I might take a gel 30 minutes before the intense workout. But yeah, I think it's a great question because Fueling your body, particularly for those intense workouts is really important and it's important part of planning our training. I was always a little more tolerant and could have something in my stomach for the, for the bike workouts, but particular with the swimming and the running those really high intensity workouts. I would, I would schedule them a good few hours after my meals. Good luck."