I interview Jan Van Smirren, who used to train for Ironmans and swimming the English Channel by recording his heart rate by hand and writing each reading into a spreadsheet! I also cover the news - T100 Singapore, Sea Otter Classic, and more. Then we have a great edition of The Training Log where we cover... - HR with swimming is a game changer! - Green smoothies were causing cavities even though they are super healthy. - Ezekiel bread and cereal is really healthy, just don't read the rest of the scripture about how to cook it and serve it. - Figured out a better way to run with River. - Turning run problems into solutions. #Zen - Making a green smoothie live. Blueberries, kale, banana, and carrots in a Vitamix. With helpful tips! - Using colored zip ties to identify charging cables faster. - Upsides and downsides of Form Swim goggles hardware and software design. - 2025 Landcruiser and 4Runner thoughts about 4wd and how we use it in endurance sports. - Swimming by HR makes you euphoric and confident! - How serotonin works. - The Zen trap of "I've got it all figured out." - Form should make sports glasses and here's how. - How to make scrambled eggs in a coffee mug in the microwave. - You can get an education by listening to podcasts or audiobooks while in Zone 2. - How low cadence actually trains both slow and fast twitch muscles at the same time. - What you need to do is what you need to do most. - Measuring oxygen use to analyze efficiency. - Listen to Fast Talk Podcast about cadence. - Bike ride doing lower cadence. Faster, more relaxed! - Riding more often with white blinky light on the front for safety at sunset. - Feeding the donkey, River's peeing on my bike tires? - Bigger gearing as a training method. - Dunk in the pool. - Make yourself more aero by putting your phone in the center back pocket and it will pull a loose jersey more tighter. - I was really powerful at hill climbing because I used to train on a singlespeed. - I even rode the MS150 on a 1985 single speed Kuwahara road bike. (My brother's from high school) - How standing and pedaling over the tops of hills makes you faster and keeps your crotch from going numb. - Don't do a FTP test uphill or indoors and then try to use those numbers for your FTP in an outdoor race. - Swimming by HR turns major yardage into a calm meditation session. So nice! - Psychological birth control. - 9 mile run in zone 2! - What I did with the MS 150 VIP pass.

Pro cyclist Hannah Shell joins us to talk about doing the Cape Epic stage race in South Africa, getting and keeping sponsors, going from road to gravel, and balancing being a pro with a full time job as a project manager. Then we go into The Training Log to try out HR with Forms swim goggles and pulling Emily behind me on two bike rides with a tow rope!

Deeper details about pro gravel racer Chase Wark's aero setup and gear choices, Lionel Sanders wins Oceanside 70.3, Form swim goggles now have compass bearing, and a good hour of The Training Log and other Zen thoughts to wrap up the show! Show notes: - Interview - What's his breaking point with what he'd do? Time trial helmet? - Aero socks, calf sleeves, tripwire base layer. - No gloves and shaves hands and arms. - Glucose monitoring? Lactate monitoring? - Longest rides, indoor training? - How to build Sweet Spot training into your long rides. - Shrinking Zwift down and riding watching - Gravel seems to be road bike racing, but you can't get team cars there. - How much does road racing tactics happen in gravel at the front? - Lazer helmets, Maurten fuel, Donkey Label clothing, MSP Moves, Xpedo pedals, Adventure Cycle and Ski, HED, Silca. - Wark Cycling Services . com - Which Lifetime Fitness races will he miss? - Camelbak-Gate. - How wanting to get more volume in for Kai's mountain biking led us to gravel. - Training log - Post run dip in pool, IPA, and wind tunnel news. - Running too much? Running better with less volume right now. - How to avoid overheating running in the summer by planning run routes that don't go with the wind for very long. - The benefits of being faster on a bike. - Bottles down the front of your jersey are banned, but what are some smart alternatives. - Stand and pedal on occasion! - The ritual of working out is important when you don't feel like it. - How to swim efficiently and go way faster with less effort. - Why kicking isn't a great idea when trying to swim far. Use your legs to keep you in a more streamlined position instead. - Rolling resistance is the new aerodynamics. - We want to race Gravel Locos! Any sponsors? - Fat pants are too big now! - How running relaxed makes you more efficient and you should use it for Zone 2. - Using low cadence in Zone 2 to fully work your muscles. - Running shorts with BIG POCKETS. - People are wearing light up dog collars to be seen at night! - Getting 2nd workout in by lunch makes rest of day feel relaaaaaaxed. - Willpower is "not even in the equation" of how to lose weight. - You want to be pulled towards the goal instead of having to push yourself.

Join in on a great interview with one of cycling's fastest off road racers, Chase Wark. He's often winning or on the podium at the biggest races, using a lot of science and research from triathlon and other marginal gains we can all use ourselves! I end the first part of the interview by doing some endurance news and taking you with me for 3 days in a row of big swim volume so we can see how that affects the body. Also, we are attempting to update the show name to Zen and the Art of Endurance. So let's see how it unfolds and what fun that holds for us in the future. I have always done and covered all the endurance sports besides just triathlon, so broadening the name helps more listeners learn all that ZenTri has to offer.

Join us for the Valley of Tears 115 mile gravel race, an interview with pro cyclist Justin McQuerry (31 minutes in), and crazy stories of how Kai mingled with the pros during and after the race along with Emily and Kylie. Getting autographs and sharing videos with Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafane included!

A shorter episode covering a ton of different topics: Some racing background. Hour goal vs Kona Qualifying. Swimming volume tips with Form goggles. Patreon with Training Bible! How Zen and ZenTri are “Anti-Fragile”. New shoes - Hokas. The easy way to always know how old your running shoes are. Knee pain cures. Why you want to set your Zwift resistance to 50%. Stop calling aluminum “alloy”!!! Matcha Tea for healthy caffeine. TPU inner tubes trials BEGIN.

Lucy Charles is skipping World Championships in Nice, Chinese man runs a 3:33 Marathon while chain smoking, Ironman gets a new CEO, and Kai got picked for a pro team! Then we go into the details of how we completed the Pine Burden 320 so you can learn from our experiences and try something like it yourself!

Review of my successful completion of the the 78 mile long 2024 Excruciation Exam Marathon MTB Race. Gear, fueling, aero tricks and more! I finished top half in AG and Kai finished 5th in Pro division

We interview one of Instagram's most dynamic endurance cyclists about how she completed Paris-Brest-Paris and get tips on how we should do our own bike packing sufferfest, the PineBurden320. Lisa Charlebois (@hustleandahalf) is a phenomenon on Insta, with great information and motivation. She tells us how she qualified for and completed the oldest, 745 mi. original uber-bike event in France. She then gives us tips and support for when we try our first - 3 days of 320 miles around the pine forests of East Texas in the December cold. I follow up with a review of how we executed our latest Marathon Mountain Bike race, the 42 mile Hugelland Holiday Marathon in Fredericksburg, Tx. It's a great show, so listen in and enjoy!

Old school HUGE episode! Four hours of everything, from interviews to gear reviews to training tips. And get coached by emailing me at texafornia at gmail.com Show Notes: Monday swim: You don’t have to swim hard. Can use it for leg therapy. Asgdf As Telling coworkers you need 10oz of water with that gel. Taping rim holes with gorilla tape. New Coastal Highway Route in Zwift: How to use it for 3 perfect 1 hour workouts. Hamstring pull? How to work through it. Walking your run when you’ve overdone it. How to make cheap fuel for ultra stuff. Swim parkas? Puffy jacket. Triathlon NEWS -Tri Bike Transport failure My own broken bike story with TBT. Sebastian Kenlie retiring —— Mystery segment Why people who learning on 26” wheel mountain bikes suck (like me). Why I put electronic shifting on my mountain bike and why it’s not really worth it. Ironman fitness vs. Cyclist fitness Why I upgraded to full suspension even though it’s slower. Fueling and hydration for the upcoming MTB Marathon race (42 miles) Buy camelbaks with hot-swappable hoses. How to do high sugar fuel and not get cavities… SOLVED and PROVEN —— Gear review - Fillmore high flow tire valves. They ROCK! The history of the presta and Schrader valves Squirrel moment about modern smart cruise control. You can put sealant into your tires straight through the valves! Long run with River: How to start of runs warm and where to put layers. Attacked by dogs. :) NEWS - Ultraman Arizona has relay openings! NEWS - GCN+ is being canceled. Dude on horseback riding down the road. How to catch up fueling if you get behind and how to tell. Oh crap, I have to ride day 2 of double 5 hour days while trying to keep up with Kai. Smart and fast way to remove factory grease from chain so you can wax it. How triathletes point their skewers back (correct) while roadies point them up (wrong). Running a half marathon the day after epic double 5 hour rides, faster than before! Tips on how to recover for tomorrow. Is ice cream the secret? Story of how I interviewed the guy who WON the overall AG at Kona running with a camelbak full of electrolyte water. Where is he now? Did he start trying too hard to go pro? Review of tricks I used to keep up with Kai for 87 brutal gravel miles. Feeling great with level of fitness!

Enjoy the wonderful journey and work it took for Kai Blankner to become one of the fastest mountain bikers in Texas, from riding a push-bike at age 3 to finishing 1st in the 29 and under age group in multiple Marathon Mountain Bike races (42 miles or more). It's a formula you could replicate for yourself or your own kids, whatever you/they are in to. Also, we talk in detail about the brutal 60 mile Austin Rattler that he just finished. It's a Leadville 100 qualifier and the competition was FIERCE. We give the inside tips on how you could get a lucky spot, so listen in!