Let’s talk PTO US Open Pro Podiums! Welcome to Episode #354 of the 303 Endurance Podcast. You are listening to your weekly connection to coaches, experts, and pro athletes to help you reach your endurance goals. We’re your hosts coach Rich Soares and 303 Chief Editor, Bill Plock. Thanks for joining us for another week of endurance interviews and discussion.

Show Sponsor: UCAN

Keep your fueling fresh with new UCAN Pineapple Edge. UCAN uses SuperStarch instead of simple sugars and stimulants to fuel athletes.  UCAN keeps blood sugar steady compared to the energy spikes and crashes of sugar-based products.  Steady energy equals sustained performance and a faster finish line!

Use UCAN in your training and racing to fuel the healthy way, finish stronger and recover more quickly!  Use the code 303UCAN for 20% off atucan.co/discount/303UCAN/ or ucan.co

In Today’s Show

• Endurance News
• • PTO US Open Pro Results – Collin Chartier and Ashleigh Gentle
  • ‘How fit can I get on a 10-mile commute to work?’
• What’s new in the 303
• • Triathlon Adventure in Trinidad Like No Other and a Bang for a Finish
  • Swim Tip Follow Up and more TriDot Pool Schools
  • Last Call and Oktoberfest
• Video of the Week
• • PTO Pro Recap

Our News is sponsored by Buddy Insurance.

Buddy Insurance gives you peace of mind to enjoy your training and racing to the fullest. Buddy’s mission is simple, to help people fearlessly enjoy an active and outdoor lifestyle. 

Get on-demand accident insurance just in case the unexpected happens. Buddy ensures you have cash for bills fast.  This is accident insurance not health and life insurance.  Go to buddyinsurance.com and create an account.  There’s no commitment or charge to create one.  Once you have an account created, it’s a snap to open your phone and in a couple clicks have coverage for the day.  Check it out!

Endurance News:

PTO US Open 2022 results: Collin Chartier shocks the stars in Dallas

PTO US Open 2022 Results – Pro Men

Sunday September 18, 2022 – 2km / 80km / 18km – Dallas

1. Collin Chartier (USA) – 3:17:17
2. Magnus Ditlev (DEN) – 3:17:59
3. Sam Long (USA) – 3:18:09
4. Sam Laidlow (FRA) – 3:20:29
5. Florian Angert (GER) – 3:21:14
6. Kristian Hogenhaug (DEN) – 3:21:28
7. Aaron Royle (AUS) – 3:21:33
8. Pieter Heemeryck (BEL) – 3:22:27
9. Mike Noodt (GER) – 3:22:36
10. Pablo Dapena Gonzalez (ESP) – 3:22:56

Four weeks ago the USA’s Collin Chartier won IRONMAN Mont-Tremblant in Canada. He may have started Sunday’s PTO US Open ranked #28, but an unexpected victory in the Lone Star State will, by some margin, go down as the greatest day of his triathlon career to date. With a $100,000 first prize, it will certainly be the biggest pay day of his life to date.

With water temperatures reported as circa 27°c, of course, no wetsuits today for the 2km swim in Lake Carolyn. Unlike the swim at the PTO Canadian Open in Edmonton, there was a big line of swimmers at the front of the race. The athletes were perhaps backing off a couple of percentage points having seen the difficulties that some of the elite women got into late in their race on Saturday.

Aaron Royle (AUS) was first to the exit steps in 26:38, but immediately behind were the likes of Sam Laidlow (FRA), Ben Kanute (USA), Daniel Bækkegård (DEN). Vetle Bergsvik Thorn (NOR), Josh Amberger (AUS), Nick Kastelein (AUS), Tom Bishop (GBR) and plenty more… a total of 20 athletes within 22 seconds.

Among the key names a little further back were Frederic Funk (+1:00),

Magnus Ditlev (+1:09), Sebastian Kienle (+2:30), Lionel Sanders (+2:37) and Sam Long (+2:42).

With so many athletes close starting the bike, it was going to take a lap or so of the seven loop circuit to see the shape of the race become clear.

As he did in Edmonton (though minus the injured Alistair Brownlee this time), Sam Laidlow was the first to make a move on the bike. 20km in and he was alone at the front, with Florian Angert nine seconds back, but with a further 30 seconds to the main chase pack. Still outside the top-20, Sam Long and Lionel Sanders were nonetheless the fastest riders on course and, as expected, enjoying the pure power time-trial friendly bike terrain.

Jumping forward another 20km to the midway point (40km) of the ride, and it was still Laidlow leading the way. Angert was still close behind in second (+0:06), but the chasers were now just over a minute down, a group including Mika Noodt (GER), Bækkegård, Bishop, Sam Appleton (AUS), Royle, Kyle Smith (NZL), Chartier (USA), Pablo Dapena Gonzalez (ESP), Ditlev and Long.

Lionel Sanders was still just over 20 seconds back on that group and would be hoping to make the same catch soon that Long already had.

Heading into the final quarter of the ride and Team ERDINGER athlete Angert was now leading the way. Second recently at the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships (over the same 100km distance), he is consistently strong across all disciplines.

The German was 29 seconds clear of early leader Laidlow, but the chasers were now led by bike powerhouses Long and Ditlev, with only Chartier and Bækkegård remaining in that select quartet. Little more than a minute down on Angert, it was still all to play for, especially with the mercury rising.

The attrition continued over the final stages. Bækkegård couldn’t stay with the chasers, Laidlow was caught by Ditlev / Long / Chartier, and as they completed the 80km / seven laps and headed into transition, the leading situation was:

Florian Angert leading solo

Magnus Ditlev and Sam Long in 2nd/3rd (+1:00)

Collin Chartier and Sam Laidlow in 4th/5th (+1:10)

Daniel Bækkegård in 6th (+2:08)

Lionel Sanders, Thor Bendix Madsen, Kristian Hogenhaug in 7th/8th/9th (+2:31)

No stopping the Chartier express

Long absolutely blitzed through T2 with by far the quickest transition amongst the leaders. He wanted to drop Ditlev immediately, and set off in pursuit of Angert.

37th out of the swim, could Yo Yo Yo take the $100k prize cheque and the biggest win of his career to date? The heat was on – and Long looked as though he was trying to drink everything in sight during the first kilometre.

With five laps to complete, the athletes would soon be very used to the US Open run course. It’s almost pan flat, but after that fast paced bike ride and temperatures approaching 100°F, not too many would be wishing for more hills.

Long took the lead shortly before the end of lap one and at this early stage, was looking strong in doing it too.

Two laps in and Long was leading Ditlev by 16 seconds, both athletes running at exactly the same pace, separated only by that fast transition from the U.S. athlete. Chartier was also having a stellar day, and had moved past Angert into third, 33 seconds behind Long, with just under 11km of running remaining.

Further back, the news wasn’t so good for Sanders who was now in eighth, having been overtaken by Aaron Royle and Kristian Hogenhaug. Mika Noodt was closing fast too, meaning No Limits would need to turn things around pretty sharpish even to retain a top ten position.

PTO US Open 2022 results: Gently does it for Ashleigh

PTO US Open 2022 Results – Pro Women

Saturday September 17, 2022 – 2km / 80km / 18km – Dallas

1. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS), 3:37:18
2. Taylor Knibb (USA), 3:38:33
3. Lucy Charles Barclay (GBR), 3:40:32
4. Holly Lawrence (GBR), 3:43:38
5. Lisa Norden (SWE), 3:44:50
6. Flora Duffy (BER), 3:45:18
7. Jocelyn McCauley (USA), 345:35
8. Rebecca Clarke (NZL), 3:47:01
9. Kat Matthews (GBR), 3:48:34
10. Paula Findlay (CAN), 3:49:09

Ashleigh Gentle was eighth into T2 but moved her way through the field on the run to make up nearly seven minutes and pick up the $100,000 winners cheque at the inaugural PTO US Open.

This was another big win for the Australian, after also winning the PTO Canadian Open. In her first race since May, Taylor Knibb finished second after leading for the vast majority of the day, and Lucy Charles-Barclay was third on her continued injury return.

It was no real surprise to see Charles-Barclay dive into an immediate swim lead at the start of the two-lap, non wetsuit swim. Taylor Knibb managed to jump onto her feet and stubbornly stay there throughout the whole 2km. Charles-Barclay exited after 27:02 with Knibb just two seconds behind.

Rebecca Clarke was third out of the water and Flora Duffy exited just behind in fourth place – uncharacteristically, the Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion was over a minute down on Charles-Barclay.

Knibb lost time in transition compared to the Brit as she had to remove her swim skin, but took off at speed on the bike. Knibb more than made up for lost time on the bike. She passed Charles-Barclay within the first two kilometres of the 80km ride and never relinquished her lead.

Charles-Barclay saw a nutrition bottle fly off the back of her bike after just 20km and also slowed to a stop to adjust her problematic gears. Her next bottle also stubbornly refused to go into the rear mounted cage and ended up being stuffed down the front of her trisuit, until it too ended up on the floor. With the mercury rising, not a day for such problems.

Knibb started well but was suffering in the heat and reduced to a walk at times by half way around the 18km course. Charles-Barclay found a rhythm, but looked somewhat laboured. That was likely a combination of the conditions, her hydration problems on the bike plus of course the continued rebuilding from her injury.

By contrast, Ashleigh Gentle was running through the field at pace, passing Duffy, Norden, Findlay and Lawrence on the way. She took the lead from Knibb on the final run lap of five.

Ask a cycling coach: ‘How fit can I get on a 10-mile commute to work?’

Here’s how to best go about mixing up your commute for maximum fitness gains

A lot of cyclists ride to work. However, rather than simply being a mode of getting from home to your desk, the daily commute can form an important part of your training. My experience with athletes is that the daily commute is an undervalued and underutilised chunk of training time. So, to change that and to maximise on the many benefits of commuting by bike, let’s explore some ways in which you can make the most of this time on the bike and explore how it can tell us a little about the training process at the same time.

Sports scientist and coach James Spragg is one of the experts who will be answering your questions in Cycling Weekly’s ASK A CYCLING COACH series which comes out every Wednesday. Working both in research and applied settings, he currently runs Intercept Performance Consultancy.

One fundamental component of training is called progressive overload. This is the notion that to continue improving, you need to keep challenging your body with new, increasingly greater stimuli. If you don’t do this, you will get stuck in a training rut and simply plateau at a given level of fitness. There are three main ways through which training load can be increased:

1) Increase the overall training time – or ‘volume’, as it is often referred to

2) Increase the training frequency – the amount of sessions you do per day or week

3) Increase the training intensity – how hard you ride in each ride

Your daily commute is, most likely, a fixed distance, and happens twice a day; therefore, points one and two (volume and frequency) cannot be altered. This leaves point three – intensity.

The great thing about intensity is that you can increase the stimulus without simultaneously increasing the training time. This makes it the perfect way to induce progressive overload in a ride with a fixed distance, duration and frequency.

When it comes to intensity in short rides, I am a big fan of adding sprints. Sprints are a great tool for three reasons. Firstly, they are easy to include in rides, I would be very surprised if there weren’t at least a couple of sections on most commutes where it is safe and convenient to get in a few sprints.

Secondly, they don’t take much time to complete, so a minor detour can always be taken to get them done. And three, they are a very flexible method of training that can be tailored to bring about ‘aerobic’ or ‘anaerobic’ gains; the key is to adjust the recovery.

The great thing about sprinting is that because you are always producing a maximal effort, as you get stronger and fitter, you produce more and more power and the training stimulus progresses naturally.

What’s New in the 303:

Triathlon Adventure in Trinidad Like No Other and a Bang for a Finish

By Bill Plock

Many triathlons end with a “bang”, but not many, maybe none end with a bang when an athlete shoots a shotgun at clay targets as a fourth discipline—after running, paddling and riding.

On September 10th near Raton New Mexico about 80 athletes trail ran, paddled kayaks and rode a treacherous 16 mile dirt road crossing the New Mexico/Colorado border ending in Trinidad Colorado.  Their “triathlon”, really a quadrathon finished by shooting clay targets. The Purgatory 4 Adventure Relay (aka Purg4) is named after the Purgatorie river, the main river running through Trinidad.

Btw, about 80 miles downstream, after a 6 mile hike, one way, you can see North America’s largest dinosaur track area along this river—look up Picketwire Canyon

It’s not large (yet) but the Purg4 attracts adventurous athletes from all over. Relay teams are popular making up more than half of the participants. Some teams are multigenerational with one athlete offering a skill like shooting or paddling while the other family members run or cycle.

Others are long time friends spread throughout the mid-west by life who reunite for some fun like Neal, Jake, Sunny and Eric. Friends since their college days in eastern Nebraska they came together; Neal still residing in Nebraska and the others from Amarillo, Texas. Each a “specialist” attracted to what they collectively called “something different”.

Neal happily made the nine hour trip not only to see friends and try something different but as a veteran marathon and half marathon runner, “I knew I needed some motivation to get me back into racing after being fairly dormant during Covid. This just seemed cool and a great way to see some friends and try something different, I loved it! It is motivating me to sign up for other races”.

The Purg4 starts in Lake Maloya located mostly in New Mexico in Sugarite Canyon State Park. The lake itself crosses the Colorado border. It’s nestled in a thickly treed valley sitting at 7,500 feet above sea level.  Athletes run across the dam and onto trails wrapping around Little Horse Mesa gaining a few hundred feet of elevation before returning to transition. They then paddle about a mile around the lake before riding to Colorado and shooting. It’s a challenging 16 mile ride over San Fransisco pass topping out at 8,500 feet and finishing at Trinidad State’s Prator Gun Range for some clay target shooting. (Trinidad State has a world renown gunsmithing program by the way)

“To try something different” seemed to resonate with most contestants. But it’s more than that according to race director Jared Chatterley, director of Outdoor Recreation for Trinidad, “I love the camaraderie the event creates. Between participants, between volunteers, sponsors and hosting organizations; it is awesome to how the event brings people together.”

Trinidad, a town that has seen its share of booms and busts over the last 150 years, is trying hard to utilize vast outdoor recreation assets practically within town limits. Two state parks border town. The fairly new Fisher State Park towering over town, beams with miles of trails for biking and hiking. Just to the west is Trinidad Lake State park with a huge reservoir with endless roads and trails to explore.

When asked why this race is so important to Trinidad, Jared says, “One of the goals of the city of Trinidad and the Trinidad Office of Outdoor Recreation is to make Trinidad an outdoor recreation destination. Besides developing and promoting outdoor recreation assets and programs we want to host and promote outdoor recreation signature events.  The Purgatory 4 Adventure Relay was designed to attract adventure racers to the area but also showcase the outdoor recreation opportunities Trinidad and the region have to offer.”

In recent years gravel riding has exploded in this area and on October 8th the Rad Dirt by Lifetime Fitness will kick off its second year of racing in the Spanish Peaks area with a start and stop in downtown Trinidad. Here is a good article by Becky Furuta about her experience at the Rad Dirt last year:

Here is a link to a great resource that offers many gravel routes to come explore on your own. https://visittrinidadcolorado.com/gravel-adventure/.

There is so many recreation opportunities around this area and with the lake in Trinidad State Park it seems ripe for a more traditional triathlon. When asked, Jared said, “ Currently the TOOR (Trinidad Office of Outdoor Recreation) doesn’t plan to sponsor any further triathlons or adventure races but we would be very supportive of any individual or organization that would.  A triathlon that would incorporate the Trinidad Lake would be a great idea.”

With the triathlon season winding down, there are a couple of notable, somewhat different triathlons still open in the mountains of Colorado. The Black Canyon Triathlon in Montrose takes place October 1st and the Splashland Triathlon in Alamosa, finishing with a hot springs swim is October 15th.

Here is an article about the Alamosa triathlon: https://303cycling.com/a-lot-more-than-meets-the-eye-at-tri-in-alamosa-cool-tie-to-amelia-earhart-and-farm-that-built-pool/

Swim Tips Continued

Last week I gave a half tip on the question we discussed last week regarding the reach, glide and catch.

New Pool Schools – Dashboard (tridotpoolschool.com)

Upcoming Multisport Events in Colorado (runningintheusa.com)

Upcoming Classic Runs in Colorado (runningintheusa.com)

Video of the week:

Race Highlights | 2022 PTO US Open | Women’s & Men’s Races 📽

Closing:

Thanks again for listening in this week.  Please be sure to follow us @303endurance and of course go to iTunes and give us a rating and a comment.  We’d really appreciate it!

Stay tuned, train informed, and enjoy the endurance journey!