Ahhh Race Week.

It's a different kind of beast. High energy, edgy nerves, lots of Hype, stress and confusion. But it doesn't have to be. Race week is a time for calm, composure and organisation. It's the best time of year, because you get to relax. Of the years we have learnt and witnessed a lot mistakes, so here are some Do's and Don't's of Race Week and Race Day (you might want to take notes).

What We Cover in This Episode:

• Get Organised early!
• Beating the Taper Blues.
• All things nutrition and hydration.
• Shutting out the noise.
• How to be patient.
• Setting up your race plan.
• Understanding your goals.
• Flexing the Mental Muscle.
• Staying focused.
• Being ready to work hard for what you want.
• STOP stressing about the weather. Seriously. Just STOP.
• Planning; the devil is in the detail.

Race Week doesn't need to be Stress Week. Follow this simple, common sense rules, and learn to enjoy your race!

Show Sponsors:

TriTravel

Smith Optics

Vespa

Recently Pete and I got to speak with Gus and Jamie from the team at STRYD. 

Who and what is STRYD? Well stride is a small company out of Boulder, CO that has been developing a cool little device that captures power in real time while you're running. Pete originally put me onto them and then I saw there hugely successful Kickstarter campaign. I got in touch to do an interview to find out more and of course we became a backer. As coaches we believe in creating efficient athletes. While I always advise athletes not get caught up in the minutiae of data there are benefits of data when used appropriately. What I like about STYRD is that it is going to give an objective measurement 'Power' that we can use to improve our running training and in real time. 

Now you'll be able to see the direct correlation between improving a stride rate and seeing your power number lower (more efficient use of energy for same speed) or how your posture impacts the number coming back at you. Pete and I think this is an exciting time in running and are excited to be involved.

In Today’s Episode We Cover:

• What STRYD is and how it works
• The new evolution in running metrics
• Accuracy
• Improving efficiency 
• Power Zones
• Running on different surfaces
• Run form feedback
• Real time feedback
• The STYRD app
• What watches it will work with
• and more

Show Links:

STRYD.com

Kickstarter campaign (be quick as they are cutting off numbers around the 1000 mark)

Show Sponsors:

TriTravel

Smith Optics

Vespa

Last night Pete and got to interview Donal Oniell from Cereal Killers movie fame. We loved both movies and CK2 'Run on Fat' makes it pretty damn clear what we have not only been talking about but living it for so long now. "The science is coming" but the athletes that are open and willing will be the ones reaping the rewards. I'm stoked we got to record this interview and help push this message out to the world for athletes and non athletes alike. Performance is important ... but not as important as your health. Why not attain both?

In Today’s Episode We Cover:

• Overweight Endurance athletes.
• The Science is Coming.
• Ketones.
• Breaking records.
• The NEED for this mineral.
• Health and Performance can it be achieved or are just bad bed fellows.
• You cannot out train a shitty diet.
• The rise of the Pemmican.
• Donals daily diet and his favourite dish.
• What's next for Donal Oniell.
• And oh so much more.

Show Links:

Cereal Killers 2 - Run on Fat

Cereal Killers 1

Run on Fat The Movie

Run on Fat Blog Post - 5 Trends for 2015

5 Reason to Run on Fat

Cereal Killers 1

Cereal Killers Social Media

Facebook

Twitter

Show Sponsors:

TriTravel

Smith Optics

Vespa

It may be lucky that I slept on my thoughts before Pete and I recorded this podcasts. If I'm honest, I guess I was pretty ropable the night before and definitely toned it down for this podcast. However I have a post in the works thats needs to be posted - stay tuned.

The mistakes keep coming and they are simple to avoid and even rectify if we just use those two things on the sides of our heads. They're called ears in case you're wondering ;) 

In Today’s Episode We Cover:

• No carbs.
• Sodium - this has been painted in the same light as Fat and as an endurance athlete you NEED way more then you may think. Fat adapted or not.
• Habits - how to create news ones that stick.
• Some K Rants... as I say above you get off pretty lightly ;) but maybe I should just let loose?
• Rote learning and why it's important.
• What ONE thing you NEED to do to get success in any goal. And how much depends on the difficulty of the goal. 
• The art of looking where you WANT to go and where not to look when you're suffering.

Show Links:

“Willpower. Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength”, Roy F. Baumeister & John Tierney

“The Power of Habit”, Charles Duhigg

http://jamesclear.com/habit-triggers

http://www.zoeharcombe.com/the-knowledge/

Show Sponsors:

TriTravel

Smith Optics

Vespa

A few weeks back I got to speak at an event in Squamish, Canada with a couple other experts in their respective fields. One of them was Sylvia Rayner who was absolutely captivating in the way she spoke about the mind and how much potential we have locked up inside our heads. I knew within a couple of minutes that we needed to have Sylvia on a Fat Black podcast.

In Today's Episode We Cover:

• What clinical hypnosis is and how it can help us in our sports and life
• How you get behavioural change
• Why you must stop playing the victim
• The key to success
• Why repetition is important
• Self Hypnosis
• Sylvia even takes us through a mini session and I tell you it's crazy how it works
• And much more. 

Show Links:

http://www.sylviarayner.com/

Recommended Books:

Trances People Live

Hypnosis for Running

Show Sponsors:

TriTravel

Smith Optics

Vespa

Earlier this week we listened to a great podcast from the guys at Spartan who interview Scratch Lab inventor - Dr. Allen Lim.

For years Allen Lim worked with Tour de France teams and has learned a lot about working in high pressure situations and how to develop performance. In a sport that focuses so intently on marginal gains, Lim argues that athletes should be focusing less on the 1% and more on removing bottlenecks from our lives. This gives way to a much better focus and performance.

So today we are discussing the bottlenecks that we see in the sport and how to solve them.

In Today's Episode We Cover:

• Understanding marginal gains.
• Underestimate the value of making better decisions on a daily basis.
• The "Never Miss Twice" rule.
• Understanding your Rate Limiting Factors.
• Seeking to create better habits.
• The bottlenecks we see in triathlon (and life).
• Becoming a solution creator.
• Learning to have fun.
• We also discuss some important and very relevant aspects of the movie "Fed Up" (you need to watch this film!)

Show Links:

Spartan Podcast with Dr Allen Lim - this podcast goes into many more important aspects for all athletes and we took loads of notes. Required listening I must say! 

Marginal Gains by James Clear and Jame's Habits Book (free download)

FED UP - The Movie

Show Sponsors:

TriTravel

Smith Optics

Vespa

Last week we got a whole bunch of questions from a fellow Aussie Ian who is living in the US of A and we love answering questions on the Fat Black because that way it helps our community as a whole! So if you have any just hit us up in the comments on the blog or via our emails or various social media outlets. Today we also dive into a little bit of a review of Cereal Killers 2 the movie "Run on Fat" 

In todays Episode we Cover:

• Strategic Carb use VS strategic Fat use in training and racing.
• Chocolate Milk for recovery - why it won't work.
• Fuelling for long swim events.
• Cereals Killers 2 - Run on Fat review

Show Links:

Cereal Killers 2 pre order & The Run on Fat Movie Blog

Steph Lowes "The Real Food Real" Podcast

Show Sponsors:

TriTravel

Smith Optics

Vespa 

Pete and I were searching for an angle for todays podcast. Some things keep popping up being an endurance athlete and working in the day to day with endurance athletes and that was robustness. When we're robust good things happen. When we lose that robustness we can feel stuck in a not so fun place. So today we wanted to cover just a few of the overriding topics that lead to robustness or maintaing it and of course how you can destroy it ... so you know what not to do. 

In Today's Episode We Cover:

• Why feedback is important.
• The questions you should be asking yourself each day.
• Self assessment = self awareness.
• Learning to be honest with yourself.
• Why going molecular on the Fat Adaptation process is a waste of your time.
• Learning to make FA/OFM simple and stress-free.
• Seriously. Just stop stressing about food.
• Why your words matter.
• How verbally beating yourself up ruins performance.

Show Sponsors:

TriTravel

Smith Optics

Vespa

Today we are again joined by Peter Defty to help share some insights into a topic that is extremely important to us as coaches, and valuable to all female athletes (and males) looking to become Fat Adapted.

Peter spends a great deal of time researching and understanding the various considerations required to achieve Fat Adaptation but one message remains clear: you have to keep it simple. We see A LOT of athletes overthinking this process - which becomes a huge distraction and destroy confidence.

So sit back, grab a cup and have a listen.

In this Episode we cover:

• A quick understanding into the different requirements between male and female athletes (not as obvious ays may think).
• Why it is more difficult (but NOT impossible) for female athletes to achieve a Zen state of Fat Adaptation.
• Some important things for females athletes to consider during their FA journey.
• The How, Why and When of strategic carb use & training loads for women during monthly cycles (this is SUPER important!).
• Some common mistakes that (all) athletes make during the Fat Adaptation process.
• Why counting macronutrients is a waste of time.
• We also discuss some key nutritional areas that are important to Vegan and Vegetarian athletes.
• Why Vitamin D is essential to ALL athletes.
• How and when to measure Ketones (if you decide you want to).

Show Sponsors:

TriTravel.com.au

Smith Optics

Vespa Power

Well it's 2015 and we have an awesome year of Fat Black Episodes planned for you guys, with some amazing guests planned, and some super important topics to be addressed! So today's Episode is all about starting the year with a plan. A plan to ensure that you start the year on the right foot, with great habits and standards that will ensure you kick some ass this year and be more awesome. We also discuss some important strategies to implement if you have had a break, or are returning from injury and illness. You DO NOT want to miss these as they are crucial to your long-term success!

In Today's Awesome Episode We Discuss:

• Re-learning your intuition.
• Learning to have fun.
• Enjoying the process.
• Listening to the body.
• Critical strategies for reorienting from illness.
• Easy methods to start the year well.

2015 is going to be a massive year for TriSpecific and the Fat Black series! If you have suggestions on topics, or a guest speaker you want to hear from then let us know!

Show sponsors: 

TriTravel.com.au

Smithoptics.com