Jared Milam - Page 4

How Does Sodium Intake Relate to Hydration in Triathlon Training?

We all sweat water out of our bodies. However, did you know that key electrolytes—the most predominant of which is sodium—are also lost along with our sweat? Actually, the very definition of sweat by the National Institutes of Health website, Medline Plus, is “the release of a [salty] liquid from the body’s sweat glands.” Most triathletes in training are aware of this nowadays. But a few decades ago nearly everyone attempted to hydrate by simply guzzling down as much water as possible. Case in point: Jan Ripple’s (in)famous crawl at the 1987 Hawaii IRONMAN triathlon. As Torsten Abel describes on his blog, “She was leading until about mile 20 of the run until she collapsed, made the comment that she…

Jared Milam

Why Corrective Exercises Are Important to Triathlon Training

Whether you swim like Michael Phelps, bike like Chris Froome, or run like Meb Keflezighi, one thing is clear: your form is not perfect. Even the greatest of athletes still have room for improvement, and they work on their weaknesses daily. In fact, that’s much of what separates top-tier triathletes from the mid-packers. It’s the attention to detail. While fitness is obviously important, superior technique is the other half of the triathlon training puzzle. What we mean by technique is the ability to move one’s body in a repeatable way with the greatest possible efficiency. Technically speaking, it’s often true that if you’re capable of repeating the process of an exercise in a superior manner to the next person, you…

Triathlon Training

Jared Milam

5 Steps to Your Most Effective Triathlon Taper

My non-athletic roommate in college once claimed quite proudly, “Yeah, I’d go on a run with you, but I’m still tapering. It’s been a 10-year taper so I’m gonna be super-fast once it’s over.” Sadly I don’t think he understood the science nor the art of what tapering really is. Unfortunately, many triathletes are in a similar boat. We’re often guilty of equating tapering simply to the word “rest.” But rest can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. For some, tapering is quitting training altogether before their A race (not smart). For others, it’s training at a consistent volume but going easy for every workout. For others still, it’s perhaps a guess, like skipping every…

Triathlon Training

Jared Milam

Triathlon Training: What’s Really Required When It Comes to Protein?

Protein is a hot topic among triathletes these days. Hearsay and the wrong advice often flood the triathlon marketplace of ideas. Amidst the confusion, several questions regarding this subject demand answers. How much should I consume daily? Should I be consuming protein before my workout? During? After? What’s really required when it comes to protein? Let’s take one step back first. What exactly is protein anyway? Protein is one of the three macronutrients and is essential for building muscle mass. The other two macronutrients are carbohydrates and fat. Carbs provide the energy for our muscles. Fat does the same as a reserve along with protecting our overall body with much needed insulation. What’s been trending for the past decade or…

Nutrition / Triathlon Training

Jared Milam

Does Strength Training Affect Triathlon Running Mechanics?

I’ve been running for over half my life. That means two things. One: I’ve been logging miles for over 16 years. Two: I’m getting old. In my early, naïve days, I did a lot of strength training. It wasn’t the right kind of strength training for running, but it was strength training nonetheless. The question is, did the improved strength affect my running mechanics? The answer is “yes” and “no.” Hold the phone. “Yes” and “no”? How could it be both? Here’s why: My running mechanics at the time were… not great. I wasn’t altogether inefficient, but I wasn’t exactly a Kenyan either. The thing about good running form is that it doesn’t just happen by being stronger. Good running…

Triathlon / Triathlon Training

Jared Milam

How to Avoid Bonking in Your Triathlon Training

If you’re new to triathlon you may have heard the term recently, saw it satirically written on a fellow triathlete’s t-shirt, or even ate a “Bonk Breaker” chew, but do you know what the word actually means? The noun/verb “bonk” is simple. It is a reference to the physiological state your body reaches when all glycogen stores have been depleted and not enough new glycogen has been restored. In other words, you’re out of gas. You’ve hit the wall. Train for triathlon long enough and this will happen to you. We all do it at some point or another. Bonking is almost like an undesired rite of passage that every triathlete in training must go through. But, of course, we…

Triathlon Training

Jared Milam

Triathlon Nutrition – Metabolic Efficiency

In the triathlon world, there are a wealth of opinions and theories as to which nutritional method is best. For years we were taught that a high carb diet was an athlete’s best friend. Now science is putting that idea to the test. Metabolic efficiency, a term coined by sports nutritionist Bob Seebohar, is one such method of controlling our nutrition in and outside of training in order to perform better. Metabolic efficiency simply refers to how well our body uses our stored nutrients for energy. In our body, we have two main stores for energy: fat and carbohydrates. Fat predominates our energy stores considerably more than carbohydrates. The body stores close to 80,000 calories of fat and only 14-18,000…

Nutrition / Triathlon

Jared Milam

Triathlon Nutrition – Metabolic Efficiency

Nutrition / Triathlon Training

Jared Milam

How Triathlon Training Differs for Sprint, Olympic, and Ironman Distances

My lovely friends on the high school swim team often claimed that their sport was the toughest in existence. My cross country friends, however, would retort with something along the lines of, “Last time I checked there are no hills in swimming.” (They’re both wrong. Cycling is the hardest). As a member of both swim and cross country teams, it appeared to me that toughness was something more reflective of your own volition. Long distance running and swimming were only as taxing as you were willing to make them. In the same vein, the differing levels of toughness within the various triathlon distance is largely up to you. Many like to call the full iron distance triathlon the hardest competition…

Triathlon

Jared Milam

How to Build the Most Effective Triathlon Race Schedule

Being free creatures in a world governed by laws, we have the ability to partake in ambitious activities one might only classify as nonsensical. Or to be stated more bluntly—stupid. You might have started triathlon last week and quite possibly decided next month is the time to finish an Ironman. I might also decide next week that I’m going to race a rainbow on my skateboard. These are both things we can certainly attempt, but are they sensible plans of action? A triathlon race schedule, to be effective, must coincide sensibly with the laws of nature. It’s not a matter of what’s possible, but what has the highest probability of being “worth it.” And yet, well, I suppose it is…

Race Strategy / Triathlon

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