Hello, what is going on, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the podcast today.
We are doing an Ironman prep update. We are officially into week seven. of Ironman prep about 90 days out from Ironman, Arizona.
November 16th, 2025. And to be honest, I don't know how we are already on week seven.
We're almost... We are, actually, a third of the way... into this prep, into this series.
It has gone so fast. I feel like we literally just started this prep a week ago.
These weeks are flying by. And I think a big part of that is because there is so much training involved and Also, simultaneously, we're documenting the entire process and I'll get into that, but it's more than just... physically preparing for an Ironman triathlon.
We are creating an entire series out of it.
We are uploading a full... 45 minute to one hour YouTube video every Monday.
At 9 a.m. Central Standard Time, there's a lot of filming going on through the week.
The guys are... are working just about seven days a week on filming, editing, producing, publishing. it's a big endeavor, not just on my behalf, but the entire team's behalf.
90 days out. That's crazy. It's flying by.
What I want to do before we dive into anything is review my training program for this week.
Because in... In the beginning of the prep, I went over what my first two weeks of training was going to look like.
And I may not have been clear enough in the way that I described that.
The first two weeks of my prep, week one, week two, I consider that and looked at it as a reintroduction into triathlon training.
Volume wasn't crazy high. I started training about 16 hours a week.
I wasn't doing super long runs, super long. bike rides, I wasn't spending a lot of time on the saddle, no brick workouts.
It was just reintroduction back to... this first two weeks.
And some of the response was this volume is too low.
It's not enough. I heard you, we heard you, but there was an intent behind that.
So to give you kind of an updated... realistic overview of what my training looks like now into week seven of this prep might make a little bit more sense.
Okay, so week seven, Monday. One hour, easy run in the morning.
It's about eight miles. And then right after that easy run, I do 20 minutes of core work in the garage at my house.
Then the afternoon, I have a 90-minute endurance bike and a one-hour swim.
That's a pretty easy day for me. Tuesday, this is a brick workout.
So it's a four-hour bike workout. into a one-hour run.
So this will be done in the BPN HQ gym. It'll be on the trainer.
It'll be a structured workout that I, I customly build into Zwift.
And then it syncs to my smart trainer and, And for that four hours, it'll walk me through different percentages of my FTP and to stimulate a, um, certain threshold and power and overall stimulus on my body.
So four hour bike into a one hour run. That one-hour run will be done on the treadmill.
Wednesday, I have an easy run in the morning, nine miles.
And then 20 minutes of core strength work in the garage after that. one-hour swim in the afternoon.
This is an easier day coming off of a big day, the prior day, because the prior day is a five-hour training day.
To put it in context, I'll probably hop on the bike at 9 a.m. on Tuesday and So that is 9, 10, 11, 12.
10, 11, 12, one. So nine to one, I'll be on the bike.
One to two, I'll be running. So I'll be training from 9 to 2 p.m., 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Thursday, this is my speed workout day. So I have one mile repeats.
10 miles of total volume. So I'll be doing this probably on the track.
And then in the afternoon, I have 20 minutes of strength and core work. and a two-hour endurance bike.
Friday, nine-mile easy run in the morning.
One hour endurance recovery bike, one hour swim.
Saturday, 18-mile run. This is a structured run.
So there are some tempo intervals built into this run.
It's not just go run 18 miles. It's a very... structured run with paces and rest and recovery built in.
And then Sunday, this is my recovery day.
It's 20 minutes of strength and core work. and a one-hour recovery bike.
So that is week seven of Ironman Prep Overview.
And I wanted to share that to show the contrast between week one and week two and week seven.
Like I said, week one and two started around 16 hours of training a week.
And now I'm at about 20 to 21 hours of training a week.
This prep feels different. I'll be honest.
This prep feels very different than any of my previous fitness preps the last couple of years.
And honestly, it's because we're having a lot of fun with it.
And I say we... Because I view this, I truly view this as a team effort It's more than just training for a race, training for an Ironman, We document this entire thing.
And we share the journey on YouTube, on social.
So much of my week is, Even though I'm the one training solo by myself, I'm with Trevor, I'm with Yoli, and I'm with Landry.
The four of us are... bouncing around, going to the lake, going to the pool.
They're hanging out at the back of the truck filming a bike or a run. in the hill country of Central Texas.
They're in the gym with me as I'm on the trainer or the treadmill.
I spend a lot of time with these guys. We have a lot of deep conversations, a lot of great, like great conversations.
And, You know, I was listening to this podcast months ago And it was talking about creators, online creators who burn out.
Because to be very honest and frank... I've been documenting my life, been sharing the journey.
I've been creating content since... Leased consistently since 2014.
So that is 11 years. 11 years of picking up a camera, being on camera, filming, sharing everything.
And over those 11 years, there's times and moments where you're really, creatively inspired and there's times and moments where you're not creatively inspired at all. and picking up a camera and, and filming a YouTube video, uh, is challenging.
It's hard. It's just part of the process.
When you're doing something that long, it...
It's expected to come with the journey. And I was listening to this podcast a few months ago, and it was talking all about creator burnout.
And the host of this podcast was explaining, if you are burning out as a creator, you have two options. you can either change your systems your operations, your approach to creating that content or You can change the environment and that can be where you're creating and who you're creating with.
Right now, filming and creating with three other, I would consider good friends.
It's a lot of fun. Like creatively, I'm so inspired right now.
And it should be fun. going into a prep like this and, and putting in a massive effort and a lot of work and...
Watching fitness build and... Dedicating 20 plus hours a week to...
This process and getting to the race days you can throw down with your best performance possible should be fun.
In the past, I've put a lot of pressure on myself when I go into these fitness preps.
And I know people here in the business have felt that pressure before.
I know my family, Steph, has felt that pressure before. not directly, but can feel the pressure that I'm giving off. the stress that I'm giving off.
I think as a leader, whether you're leading a business, team, organization, your family, One thing that I've learned over time is as a leader, You have a responsibility to manage your stress.
Because if you allow your stress and pressure to bleed out on you, to your family or your team or your organization, that is... unhealthy emotional leadership.
I've done that before. I've been there before.
And I witness daily, frequently, Unhealthy emotional leadership.
Not necessarily here at BPN, but... and different businesses and organizations.
I think one of the worst things you can do as a leader is to create an unhealthy emotional environment.
And we're having so much fun with this prep right now.
There's different mindset going into it.
There's less pressure. I went into this prep with the intentions of we are going to enjoy this.
It's going to be fun. And part of that is, you know, BPN is larger now.
The team is bigger. I have the ability to delegate more responsibility now than I ever have before.
So one of the things that makes this Ironman prep different from the one that I did in 2020, 2021 is Back in 2020, 2021, the business was smaller.
The team was smaller. We didn't have as much experienced talent on the team.
And I could not delegate as much. So I was still very heavily involved in all of the day-to-day.
From marketing to operations to fulfillment to... website, build, design, maintenance, everything.
And now that the team is larger, Like I said, I can delegate more responsibility so that I can focus on the things that one, I want to focus on, but two, that actually move the needle in the business.
This is where I can contribute a lot of value to the business.
So it makes sense that I spend my time creating content and working on the series with the team and being heavily involved in the creative direction and and brand process, this prep just, it feels different.
There's a lot of joy and purpose around this prep.
We're busy. We are busy. And I'll get into that.
But one thing I've learned is that there's a difference between being busy and being rushed and hurried.
My goal in life is to have a busy life. schedule, a busy calendar full of productive moments in time and experiences and memories.
But what I don't want is to be hurried and rushed.
I don't want to be playing catch up. I don't want to put half effort into anything.
And that is the result of being hurried and rushed.
There's a difference. Busy versus hurried and rushed.
There's actually a good book by John Mark Comer called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. that I highly recommend.
That was a great book that opened my eyes up to uh, the negative side environment that comes with being rushed and hurried now on the heels of that I will say that the hardest part of this Ironman prep which I expected, but did not anticipate it to be at this level, time management.
Time management with everything. right now in my life is challenging me the most.
I'm getting it done. There's no doubt that I'm making it happen and I'm going to continue to make it happen until November 16th.
Training sessions get completed to standard.
I am showing up for my team, the business, my family.
One of the things that I said in the beginning of this prep, and this is one of the reasons I wanted to do an Ironman, is to show... and be an example of how you can commit to honoring your commitments. you can still be ruthlessly ambitious to chase down and accomplish whatever goal it is you want to accomplish.
And in the process, not sacrifice your personal responsibilities and obligations.
So I'm getting it done, but it's much harder than I anticipated.
And as I previously mentioned, it's not just a training that is that is tough to fit around the daily schedule of life, but it is, you know, filming these sessions. and working with Landry, Trevor, and Yoli to bring the creative direction to life. and work on these videos with these guys.
I mean, they take... They take lead on all of that.
I don't want to act like I... and heavily involved in the creative process. or anything post-production, editing, publishing. creating all of those things.
I'm involved in the creative process with them because we work so closely every single day, but They take lead on it.
They own it and they crush it. They're crushing it.
These guys, we knew it going into a series like this.
The creatives that work on a project of this size and magnitude It ends up being a seven day a week job for the 18 week prep.
We knew that going into it. And they're showing up and they're getting it done.
And in the process, we're having a whole lot of fun.
But that is the biggest challenge with this prep for me so far is time management.
Like I've mentioned, I was not willing and am not willing to sacrifice time with my family for an Ironman prep.
And I'm going to make sure I honor my commitments to the business and the team throughout.
That's why every morning I wake up at 4.15 a.m. to be done with my run, no matter how long the distance before my kids wake up And to be with my family so that after I run in the morning, Steph can train in the garage and Our day is started and set on a solid foundation for the remainder of the day.
And all my training sessions are done by 4, 4.30 PM at the max. so that I can be home for family time at night and help put my kids down to bed and You know, on the weekends, Saturday runs, they are done before the kids wake up.
I was not willing to do an Ironman prep and sacrifice time with my family.
I wanted to make sure that I was honoring my commitments to the business.
And also, honoring God and showing up and committing to spending time in the world reading scripture, studying the Bible. continuing to build my relationship with Jesus Christ.
And every night as I'm laying in bed with the Norma Tech compression boots, Steph and I lay in bed at night and we read.
I'm reading my Bible for... 45 minutes to an hour as those compression boots just cook on my legs and bring them back to life.
And that's also something that I wasn't willing to sacrifice.
It's really important to me. And I'm proud of myself so far with how I'm managing all of it.
But it's tough. It's hard. No one said it's going to be easy.
It's not supposed to be easy. That's one of the reasons I wanted to do it.
I wanted to put myself in a position of discomfort knowing that I would grow through the process and learn a whole lot about myself.
And within these first six weeks, now being in week seven of prep, I can honestly say it's been transformational.
This prep has been transformational. So you know what's interesting is training for an Ironman during the summer in Texas.
It's tough right now. If you ever spent a summer in Texas, we got heat everywhere.
And we have humidity. I think a lot of people who haven't, spent significant time in Texas before, think that we have dry heat.
It is not dry heat. It is hot and humid.
And that plays a huge role in training. Now, me personally...
I love training in the heat. To a certain extent.
When it gets out of control... I mean, it really wears on your body... energy levels, central nervous system specifically.
But it's actually been shown that there are similar effects on the body when it comes to heat as does altitude. not the exact same mechanisms, but similar in terms of the way that the body has to spare and utilize oxygen delivery.
So there are similar effects on the body when it comes to training in severe heat as it does to training at altitude.
And there's a saying, And it couldn't be any more true that summer miles bring fall smiles.
We as Texas athletes. Texas fitness individuals, we know that all the work we put in in the summer is going to have a massive return on investment come October, November, December.
I skipped September because September is just as hot as August and even October sometimes.
But right now, like middle of August, I'm feeling the heat on these sessions that I'm training outdoors.
I mean, this morning is a good example. This morning was 90% humidity.
And I believe it was like a temperature of... felt like 83 degrees Fahrenheit.
And that was at 5 a.m., And that humidity just wraps around you.
And... I sweat a lot. I'm a heavy sweater.
I'm a salty sweater. which I have to consider when it comes to just pounding water throughout the day and sodium consumption.
And I can easily lose eight to 10 pounds during some of these runs. you know, nine, 10 plus mile run.
I will weigh myself before and I'll weigh myself after.
And I can be anywhere from eight to 10 plus pounds lighter.
Now that is not fat. That is primarily water and glycogen.
So your body stores carbohydrates in the muscle and in the liver, There's stored carbohydrates in the form of glycogen in your body. your body will tap in and utilize these energy stores during training sessions, especially longer training sessions.
And, when you go for these training sessions, these runs, especially when you're sweating a lot, You're expending a lot of energy.
Your body is utilizing oxygen to cool itself down. you can easily sweat out and utilize glycogen at a rate where you're losing significant weight.
I'm experiencing that. Now, by the end of the day, I end up putting all that weight back on I rehydrate, I get water, salt, carbs back in me, and it comes back, but...
That is just the effect that some of these training sessions have on the body.
One of the things that you should look into considering at least that I look into considering during training seasons where it's, hot and humid is I look at the temperature I'll look at the humidity and I'll look at the dew point.
And I'll consider all three of these things to kind of gauge what the effort level is going to be for that run.
I mean, if you go run and it's hot and it's humid and there's a high dew point, that effort is going to feel and be much harder than if it was...
Cool around. Like a few weeks ago, we were in Northern California for a weekend.
And I ran with Joe Greer 14 miles. It was probably 55 degrees, maybe 50 degrees when we started.
And there was like no humidity. We barely sweat on that entire run.
And all 14 miles felt effortless. Then we held like a seven, 11 minute per mile pace. like very little impact to the body or central nervous system.
I wasn't taxed or fatigued at all after that run.
Last week, or I guess two weeks ago... I had a 17 mile run here in Central Texas.
And we started around 6.30 AM. Didn't get done until...
8. 45 a.m. maybe, a little over a two-hour run, 17 miles.
And the first hour of that run felt great.
And then that sun started coming up and it was hot.
It was humid. I got wrecked on that run.
This is the first time this has happened to me in years.
The last time something like this actually happened to me was probably last Ironman prep.
I remember this one day in our Ironman prep back in 2020. where I was running outside midday, And the heat and humidity kind of just wraps around you.
It feels like a hot blanket, hot, wet blanket.
And you almost feel like you're suffocating.
You can't breathe. You can't cool down. And I remember we had the truck with us and we had this cool cooler in the back that was filled with ice and I just opened this cooler up and put my head in that ice. trying to cool down as fast as possible. because I was heating up and I could not control my heart rate.
I could not control my body temperature.
It starts getting dangerous. Oh, that's what happened two weeks ago in the 17 mile run.
10, 11, 12 miles in felt perfect. Easy breezy.
Felt like nothing. And out of nowhere, I started noticing that my heart rate started increasing and I couldn't bring it back down.
And my body temperature started increasing.
I couldn't bring it back down. I couldn't control the effort.
And it went from zero to 100 real quick where I had to actually pull off the side of the road and sit down.
I thought I was going to throw up. I thought I was going to pass out.
But that heat just overtakes your body. And if you're not heat acclimated, It can be pretty dangerous.
So we took about 10 minutes, sat on the side of the road.
Trevor put a bag of ice behind my neck and head.
And just trying to cool the body down a little bit so I could finish the run because there's no way I wasn't finishing.
That 17 mile training run. No matter how long I had to rest, I was going to finish that training run that day.
I wasn't pulling out of that one. And that's why I'm doing a lot of my training indoors right now.
The training that I can do You know, like running other than these brick workouts, I'm always running in the morning early.
And then I'm doing a lot of my training on the bike, on the trainer in the gym.
I just find that the trainer is safer. You can control a lot of the variables.
You can get a really efficient and effective workout.
You can hold specific powers. You're not worried about hitting enemies. red lights and stop signs and other cars and all of those things.
I believe you still have to get out on the road and we are still getting out on the road and riding the bike, but...
I think the indoor trainer for the bike is... one of the greatest inventions ever made when it comes to the sport of triathlon or cycling.
I can get such a good workout in a few hours. and really maximize the efficiency of the stimulus I'm trying to get out of that workout.
So that's one of the reasons I'm using the Indoor Trainer. but also just keeping me out of the sun later than day.
It's not just that the sun makes these workouts harder and potentially dangerous.
But it affects your recovery. I made the mistake last week of... of doing a bike workout in my home garage.
And I looked at my calendar for the day, my schedule, And it was a one hour easy endurance bike.
And I did that bike workout in our home garage early in the morning.
I decided intentionally not to bring the bike fan From the VPN HQ to my house to ride.
Because I didn't think it was going to be that hot.
It was an easier ride. It was a one-hour ride.
I haven't sweated that much on the bike.
This entire prep. I can't tell you the last time I sweated that much in an hour.
Ever. It was like a faucet coming off me.
I instantly regretted not having my bike fan. having a bike fan is like, if you have an indoor trainer, you almost have to have a bike fan or at least some sort of fan on you while you're riding.
I didn't have my bike fan. The garage was probably sitting about 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
It was very still. Still heat. There wasn't any airflow coming in.
And That workout wrecked me. And the reason I share that is because I was mad at myself after that. because I knew that that workout, which was supposed to be more low stimulus, facilitate some recovery, that workout actually tanked me and had negative effects on my swim later in the day. but also I could feel that for the next couple of days.
I dug myself a hole. So a lot of training when it comes to this much volume and varied intensities is that you're trying to build.
And there are times when you dig deep. and you bury yourself and you really push the limits, But if you do that when you didn't want to do that, it will affect... your recovery.
It'll affect the next workout. It affects the next couple of days of workouts.
And it's actually pretty difficult to then dig out of that hole that you just dug yourself.
So a lot of what this training is here, especially for an Ironman in the middle of Texas, in summer. is that you are trying to control the variables that you can control. to build fitness and facilitate this, this stimulus to build in throughout the prep without making dumb decisions like I have done. and bury yourself to reduce your ability to recover and hurt your progress.
There's a time and place to go hard and to push. but there's many more times in places and circumstances to facilitate the environment to get better. to get better, to improve.
So you know, when you go into... a new prep or a training program, there is a couple week period acclimation period where your body is trying to adjust to the new stimulus. the new volumes, the intensities, maybe the style of training.
Like I haven't consistently been on a bike for a long time.
Up until seven weeks ago, I haven't swam in a pool, like actually swam for... like five years.
So the beginning of a prep like this, it is reintroduction and acclimation.
And you're not going to expect or I don't expect to see... results instantaneously or even within the first two, three, maybe even four weeks.
But now, seven weeks in, I can feel fitness building.
This past week, I had a staple workout of mine, which is...
10 mile workout, two and a half mile warmup, 10, 800 meter repeats, with 60 seconds of rest in between and then a 2.5 mile cool down.
Now I want to clarify, I get this question a lot.
What does that rest look like? It is me just standing there.
60 seconds of standing, waiting for the next rep.
It's not a walk. It's not a slight jog. I rest.
I stop. in between each one of those 800 meter repeats.
That's a staple workout of mine. It's called Yasso 800s.
And I was holding about between a 535 and a 545 minute per mile pace on those 800s.
That workout is the first workout, track workout, where...
I could feel that everything was coming together.
I felt fast. I felt smooth. My gait felt strong.
My leg turnover felt efficient. That was a big confidence booster.
I was like, oh man, like... Yeah, we're seven weeks in and now I'm building that fitness again.
It's back, baby. The legs are back. The...
The speed is back. The efficiency is there.
It takes time. It takes weeks, sometimes months, to feel like things are starting to click.
But when you program appropriately... And you control volume and intensity and you build into it and you incorporate progressive overload into, things start to come together and just like the snap of your fingers and The way Jeff Cunningham explained it, it's like plate tectonics.
It just all comes together and fits in perfectly.
So as I mentioned, when I started this prep 18 weeks out, I was at 16 hours of training per week.
Now I'm at about 20 to 21 hours of training per week.
That will still increase. slightly by a few hours over these next couple of weeks as we get deeper into the prep.
I like to incorporate progressive overload.
And that can be an increased volume of mileage. or time, or intensity, or time within certain zones, But it needs to be this stair stepper where you're not going from zero to 100 overnight.
Over weeks... You're slowly building up to the peak and pinnacle of that build. and you slowly start to decrease training volume and your taper into race week.
Progressive overload, if done correctly. the right way with the right stimuluses and you're training within the right zones fitness builds and it all comes together and then it starts to click.
There's no better feeling when things just click.
Like when I hit that first, second, third, 800 meter repeat, In this past workout, I was like, oh yeah.
This is what it feels like for... for things to just fall into place as they are supposed to.
That's a good feeling. I love that feeling.
That's why I love the process of a build.
That's why I love the reason it's called a build.
You build into it. Something I've been thinking about on these long runs too, for me at least, Now, everyone might be different, but for me at least, I have found that these long runs and these long bike rides are critical. for an Ironman prep, or even a marathon.
And if you look at like a training week right now, I'm running between...
60 and 65 miles per week. And what I'm being told by other triathletes is that's too much running, but I'll be honest.
I like a lot of running. I love running.
And I'm programming my Ironman prep. based off the way that I love and enjoy training.
And that's probably why I'm loving this prep so much is because For one, I'm creating my own training program based off of what I know I need to work on and what I love doing.
So it's like the best of both worlds. So I'm running about 60 to 65 miles a week right now.
And my Saturdays are my long runs, typically.
And I'll kind of teeter-totter between every other week being a base week and then a build week.
So for example, A base week will be 14 mile long run.
And then I'm going to go 14 miles next week, 15 miles next week, 14 miles.
Next week, 16 miles. Next week, 14 miles. next week 17 miles, next week 14 miles, next week 18 miles, next week 14 miles, Next week, 20 miles.
That's the approach I like to take for the long run.
And then same thing for long bike rides, slowly increasing the... the duration of these long bike rides.
So my first long bike ride a few weeks ago is three hours.
Then I went to three and a half hours and now I'm going to be four hours and I'll go four and a half hours and I'll go five hours.
So as you can see, there's these trends where I'm slowly increasing all the aspects of training.
And that's one to just build fitness, but also mitigate risk of injury.
And I shared this in a recent YouTube video.
But if you look at a training week of 65 miles, if there were two options, one, option one, you spread those 65 miles out over the course of six days evenly off the top of my head.
I guess that's like, what, 11 miles? Roughly 11 miles a day.
That's option one. Option two... is that you reduce the running mileage to say, eight or nine, five days a week, then you have a long run on the weekend.
For me personally, I have found that option two works better.
And that I get better results and I build better fitness and...
I have stronger endurance when I have a big training session once a week.
I don't think that I can replicate the same conditions by spreading that volume out over the course of a week. as I can from getting one big run or one big bike ride each week.
The time on your feet, the volume, the amount of time you're sitting on the bike, pedaling and spinning and just in the saddle, I don't think can be replicated or replaced by, at least for me personally, from what i found spreading that training volume out over the course of six seven days So I'm a big believer in the weekly long run and the weekly big bike ride for Ironman prep.
Now, one thing I do want to throw in there when it comes to running is And running shoes specifically.
So I'm not affiliated with any shoe company. but the running shoes that I personally enjoy, My daily trainers are Saucony Endorphin Speed 5s.
I loved the threes. I loved the twos. I loved the twos.
I loved the threes. I really did not like the fours.
I skipped out on the fours. I bought the threes as long as I could.
And then Saucony released the fives and I like the fives.
That's my daily trainer. The Saucony Endorphin Speed 5s now.
And what I do is I buy two pairs at a time and I wear one pair every other day.
And they're two different colors, so I know, you know...
Which pair is which? I have a yellow pair and I have a white pair.
So Monday I'll wear, for example, the yellow pair.
Tuesday, the white pair. Wednesday, yellow pair.
Thursday, white pair. so on and so forth.
I rotate my shoes so that they last longer.
And you give them some time to just like... decompress you know that foam gets pretty compressed daily so just allow them to like decompress within 48 hours.
And for speed workouts, I'm wearing a carbon, uh, pleated shoe, that is the socketing endorphin elites.
That is the shoe that I ran my last marathon in 2023, California International Marathon.
I love that carbon plated shoe. So that's like my go-to speed workout shoe right now that I'll wear for tempo runs. and track workouts.
But I wanted to share that little tip of just buying two pairs of shoes. at one time, in rotating every other day, I have found that to be very helpful.
Now, I want to talk about nutrition. fueling all the things because Man, when it comes to an Ironman prep, you're training 20 plus hours a week.
Training is part of it, obviously. Time management is part of it, obviously.
Recovery is part of it. Nutrition and fueling might trump all of that.
Side note, to talk recovery real quick. I have found in this prep, maybe it's because I'm getting older.
I just recently turned 35. I'm having to do a lot of active recovery that I didn't have to do five years ago.
Five years ago, maybe being younger, maybe getting more sleep because we didn't have kids yet.
I felt like I could get away with not doing a lot of active recovery work.
Now, I have to. So every Tuesday we bring Dr. Jordan Tittle from Helix Sports Performance Medicine into BPNHQ and he works on The entire team.
So I grab an hour in that day. He does... cupping, dry needling, scraping, chiropractic, soft tissue massage.
Game changer. I do that once a week with Dr. Jordan Tittle with Helix.
He is the man. And he brings me back to life.
So that's one of the things that I'm doing for recovery once a week.
I would love to do it twice a week, but... just can't find the time and he can't come to VPN twice a week.
I'm doing sauna and cold plunge just about every day.
So I'll do a 15 minute, 15 to 20 minute sauna session. anywhere from 195 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
And then I get in a cold plunge for three minutes.
Now for the longest time, I mean years, I hated the cold plunge.
As much as I wanted to love the cold plunge, I hated the cold plunge. we have three cold tubs here at BPHQ.
I have one of my house, uh, And yeah, I started forcing myself to, uh, to do it.
Our cold plunges are from cold creek tubs.
They make incredible cold plunges, cold creek tubs.
We have three here at BPN. Like I said, one of my house.
And when I got into this prep, I was like, I'm going to use the cold plunge.
And those first couple of sessions were painful.
I hated every part of it. And everyone always told me, just be consistent with it and it gets easier.
And you know what? You guys were right. I now can get in the cold tub with no problem.
Three minutes, no problem. Last night, Before going to bed, I did this sauna late at night, right into the cold plunge for three minutes.
I was kind of afraid that it would wake me up and keep me up because when I do it in the middle of the day, It's like a jolt of energy.
But no, it didn't do that. I fell asleep so fast, so hard.
But the sauna and cold plunge every single day I use...
The Hyperice or Theragun massage guns on my calves, hamstrings, and calves.
And then every night as I'm laying in bed or reading my Bible, I'm I do the Normatec compression boots.
30 minutes to an hour session. And that's been like my recovery protocol and like, During the day, I just live in my cane recovery shoes.
Just allows my toes to kind of like expand.
I found that If I'm just wearing lifestyle, running, tennis shoes... during the day and my feet are crammed into a shoe, And my toes are compacted.
My feet can't spread out and it actually limits my recovery.
So, So I'll either just walk around barefoot or I'll wear my cane recovery shoes.
Like I'm wearing my cane recovery shoes right now. and just allowing my toes to expand and feet move and grab the ground. has actually made a big difference in lower body recovery.
So those are just some of the things that I'm doing for recovery right now.
That was a side tangent. I want to get back to nutrition.
So the first thing I want to address is that As we talk about progressive overload when it comes to training, We have to apply progressive overload in the same way when it comes to fueling.
So if you have never fueled during training, in this case, let's talk about the bike.
If you've never fueled on the bike during training, going from no fueling to say 8,500 grams of carbs per hour right away. you may experience some sort of GI gastrointestinal distress. or stomach issues.
You have to train your gut in the same way you train your body.
Just like you wouldn't go from zero miles to 65 miles a week.
Week 1. You want to slowly build into that.
So for the first six weeks of prep while I was on the bike, I was fueling with 65 grams of carbohydrates and 800 milligrams of sodium per hour. now I've increased that.
My body is like, very efficient at managing 65 grams of carbohydrates, 800 milligrams of sodium per hour.
No issues at all. Now I've increased that on the bike to 85 grams of carbohydrates. and 1,000 milligrams of sodium per hour on the bike.
So what does that look like? Uh, when I was doing 65 grams of carbs per hour.
I was doing two scoops of G1M Sport and one GoJell. per hour, every hour on the bike.
Now, I'll be doing three scoops of G&M Sport and one GoJell.
Or I'll do two scoops of GOM Sport and two GoGels. per hour on the bike.
And it gets me roughly two. 85 grams of carbohydrates, give or take 1,000 milligrams of sodium, give or take per hour.
I am pretty much living off of G1M Sport, G1M Sport Plus, Go bars, electrolytes, go gels, and whey protein. on top of all the other food that I'm consuming right now.
On like big training days, Not my big, big training days, but on a big training day, I'm having anywhere from six to eight scoops of G1M Sport.
Some of those scoops being G1M Sport Plus.
On those same days, I'm having... Four, go gels.
Two, go bars. A few scoops of electrolytes, depending on how much I sweat.
And then to get some liquid calories in, whey protein and protein for recovery.
But I wanted to share that in terms of progressive overload for nutrition, in the same way that is applied to training, Because just like your body and your central nervous system, You have to train your gut in the same way and capacity.
So that's fueling around training, the products that I'm using. the supplements, the BPN supplements that I'm using.
I still every morning look forward to my go bar.
If you guys haven't tried the BPN go bar yet, You're missing out.
I wake up, my alarm goes off at 4.15 a.m., The first thing I do, I jump out of bed and I go to the pantry and I eat a Go Bar.
If it's a big training day, I will spread honey on the go bar.
And that takes it to a whole nother level.
And not just any honey. I go to the farmer's market in Austin, Texas, and we found this honey spot that makes churned honey.
Churned honey, from what I've been told, is like fermented honey where it gets... thick and like creamy.
You can get just regular, but they also have cinnamon.
I will buy the churned cinnamon honey at the farmer's market.
I spread that on a go bar. That at 4.15, maybe 4.17 a.m., Oh my.
Oh my, I look forward to that every single morning.
This morning, for example... Nico woke up at 3 a.m. and he was hungry.
So I went out in the kitchen. I made him a bottle. and put him back to bed.
As I was making him a bottle, I could feel my stomach rumbling a little bit.
So I ate a go bar with churned honey on it at 3 a.m. this morning.
Cause it sounded so good. That is a product plug, yes, but I'm telling you, once you try the Go Bar, it's...
It's life-changing. It's so good. I look forward to it before every run.
Before every run, I do one go bar, sometimes with honey on it, like I said.
One scoop of G1M Sport, one scoop of G1M Sport Plus.
That's my pre-run fuel. Now, outside of supplements and fueling, let's talk overall nutrition.
Weight is falling off me faster than I'd like it to right now.
So I'm actually having to increase my calories.
And I feel like I'm eating a lot right now.
And what's really interesting about prep is because you're training multiple times throughout the day.
So you have to get creative, especially when you're eating a lot of these calories from I say like whole clean food sources.
You have to get creative in the way that you get calories in, you prepare your foods. because you're planning for fueling upcoming workouts, but also optimizing for digestion.
So a meal isn't sitting in your stomach.
And then consuming those meals and foods around training and spacing it out so you're not having to eat you know, three, 4,000 calories a night before going to bed.
So I always have... going into a new day, I know when I'm training and there's room for flexibility, but I typically know when and what I'm training. what I'm eating, when I'm eating it, what I'm fueling with, and how many calories I'm going to roughly consume by the end of the day.
You have to have a game plan for that because if you don't and you fall behind, that will significantly impact recovery and performance.
Calories are ultimately king. So that's the way I think of it.
Calories, number one, we got to get the calories in to support training.
Then it's carbohydrates. Right now I'm consuming anywhere from 700 to 800 grams of carbohydrates.
Most days. And I'm not complaining about that because I love my carbs.
A bowl or two of cereal at night before going to bed, That's my jam right now.
But food choices, for me at least, matter.
I feel better. recovery-wise, performance-wise, when Most of my foods are coming from these whole natural food sources and and supplements.
I'd rather... Foods that digest easily as opposed to just calorically dense foods.
Again, I can go get 3000 easy calories from a burger and fries, but that's going to sit in my stomach forever.
I'm not going to feel really good the next morning or the next day.
I'd rather consume more volume of food as inconvenient as that can be sometimes.
But from... better options because I know how that makes me feel.
So when you're trying to consume most of your foods from... these, I quote this like clean sources of, it does become more challenging because typically these sources are less calorically dense, usually. but I feel better when the food choices that I'm making are in quotes, cleaner.
Technically, there's not clean foods, but you know what I'm saying here, right? more natural whole ingredients. but I am losing weight faster than I'd like to.
So I'm having to increase my calories to make sure that I'm fueling my workouts I'm recovering appropriately, but also I don't want to lose weight too fast.
I don't really want to lose weight at all.
I want to stay at the weight that I'm at. but it becomes challenging to get as many calories as you need and also train and recover and do all the other things.
It becomes a game of Tetris. And a lot of times I'll resort to liquid calories, orange juice or smoothies.
I can get so many calories in with a smoothie.
I'll do a smoothie with... milk, oats, honey, dates, peanut butter, protein powder Yeah, you can load some... frozen fruit in there, you can load a smoothie. with a thousand plus calories easily.
And it digests very quickly. And you can jump into training an hour after that.
So I've been doing a lot of smoothies. At night, like I mentioned, I do my bowl or two of cereal.
And what's funny is a few months ago, we moved into our new house.
We had this crew come out and They helped us to organize our pantry and our fridge and everything. just like all the organizational spaces in our house.
And they asked, are we a cereal family? And at the time, we said, no, we're not cereal people.
We don't eat cereal. I haven't eaten cereal since I was in high school.
And yeah, Me and Steph were just joking last week because now if you walk in our pantry, we have...
10 boxes of cereal at any time. I personally like the Cascadian Farms cereal.
It's an organic cereal. And they're all pretty good.
But the one that I like is the cinnamon oat clusters.
It's so crunchy. It's sweet. It's cinnamony.
After we put the kids down to sleep at night, I'll make a big bowl of that.
And I'll go sit on our front porch. And I'll eat that bowl.
And it's just... It's good. We're serial people now.
Being in this prep, trying to get calories in, carbs in.
Oh yeah, we're cereal people. Steph even joins me.
She's on the serial train too. Not every night with me, but most nights.
Two weeks ago, we went for sushi. One of our favorite sushi spots in Austin is called Neighborhood Sushi.
And me and Steph love it. And we took Steph's mom for the first time ever.
And we always get a bunch of nigiri. Nigiri and hand rolls and...
We eat a lot. Like when we order... I go down the list and I just watch the waiter or waitress's reaction as we're just ordering all of it and we always consume it all.
And we went for sushi recently and I ate so much nigiri and hand rolls.
But it's so clean. It digests so fast. I mean, nigiri is just... rice and fish, raw fish.
And I dip it in some ponzu. And I got home after that meal and I was still starving and I had a massive bowl of cereal.
Those carbs, baby. Those carbs will fuel you.
Nutrition is the name of the game when it comes to Ironman prep.
So that's what I wanted to update you guys on.
Some training stuff, some nutrition stuff.
How this prep's going so far, we're a third of the way through and I'm loving it, I'm enjoying it.
It's been fun. so much fun hope you guys are enjoying the series on youtube like i said new episode drops every Monday, 9 a.m.
Central Standard Time. Appreciate the love and support.
And we'll see you guys in the next episode.
