As triathletes, one of the things we have to wrap our minds around is that triathlon must be treated as one sport and not three separate sports thrown together on one day.   Obviously, there are three disciplines – swimming, biking, and running; but each discipline is approached much differently in a triathlon than as individual sports.

In this blog, we are focusing specifically on the bike portion of the triathlon, because that’s where many athletes destroy their race.  In most triathlons, the bike portion of the race is the longest portion, both in distance and in time.  Athlete’s rationalize that since it’s the highest percentage of the race day, then that’s the leg that has to be the best and the fastest.

When a triathlete tells us they had a great bike split, but fell apart on the run, we have to hold our tongues.  We want to say, “No you didn’t.”  There are a plethora of reasons for the run to fall...

Congratulations to Brent Millay who completed his first marathon in Louisville at the Derby Festival Marathon. Although he struggled with an injury late in his preparation, he found ways to work through the injury to get to the starting line and to the finish line. Patience, Perseverance, and Prayer were keys to his success.

Here's what Brent had to save after the race.

"Completed my first marathon in Louisville!! I want to thank God for helping get to the starting line and the finish line today! I also want to thank my awesome family for all their love and support, you’re the best!! My wonderful wife, Stephanie, did an awesome job with the sherpa duties today! I couldn’t have done it without her! Also, many thanks to my 5 am running buddies, Lisa, Michelle, Alicia, Lisa, and David, who keep me motivated and laughing! If you’re looking for some help to reach your active goals, consider RYR Endurance Team, you rock!"

Great job Brent!

Coach Paula and her running buddy/teammate Kelly Powers ran the Carmel Marathon on April 3rd. The marathon is such a tough event. They ran the first half of the race together. In the second half, they both encountered tough patches but pressed on to the finish. Paula finished in 3:53:20 and Kelly in 4:02:10. They were both all smiles at the finish line. This was Paula's personal best on a non-downhill course. This was Kelly's 20th marathon.

Bethanie Roberts ran her first 10K in Carmel Indiana on April 3rd.  She's all smiles nearing the one mile mark on this rather chilly morning.  It was a tough race but she reached her goal of breaking 50 minutes.  Her finish time was 49:34.

Jacob Roberts had a great half marathon in Carmel Indiana on April 3rd.  It was a cold morning but Jacob braved the weather in shorts and a t-shirt.  In this photo, he had just shed his gloves.  He maintained a great pace, overcame some fatigue late in the race, and finished...

Kenny Rogers' song “Know When to Fold ‘Em,” has nothing to do with endurance sports training, however, when it comes to training and racing, it’s important for athletes to know when to hold and when to fold.

Recently, one of our athletes was in a training block preparing for an event that was only about three weeks away.  Her knee began bothering her.  As athletes, we hate when our training is interrupted by injury.  We are constantly talking with each other about this or that ache or pain and deciding whether to push through or halt training.  It’s hard for us to halt our training, but we’ve learned the hard way, that if precautions aren’t taken at the onset of pain, what may have been a sideline from training for a few days, becomes weeks or months of recovery.

I (Paula) am the poster child for why pain should not be ignored.  In 2013, I did my first intense marathon training cycle with a time goal in mind.  I...

As endurance athletes, we invest a lot in our hobby.  Not only financially -  on shoes, bikes, subscriptions, health club memberships, coaching, entry fees, physical therapy, and more.  But, we also invest a lot of time.  Endurance sports imply exercising for a long duration.  In addition to the actual workouts, we also do conditioning, stretching, icing, foam rolling and more to prevent injuries or prepare our bodies to increase either speed, distance, or both. 

 To say the least, endurance sports takes a commitment of time.

 How do you balance endurance sports with all of your other life commitments?

 Paula and I have found ways throughout our marriage to balance training and racing with our careers and family.

Early in our marriage, Paula and I worked hard to start our careers and start raising a family.  During those early years, our exercise was limited and squeezed in when possible.  I would wake up before the kids and...

Many of our readers know that I (Paula) consider myself an "adult starter" when it comes to playing the violin.  I took violin lessons when I was nine years old for about nine months.  As the fourth of five children, you can only imagine the ribbing I received from my siblings as I tried to squeak through the pieces in Suzuki Book One.  I didn't stick with it long, but at age thirteen, my dad brought home my very own violin. I messed around on it some, and then stowed it away.  The violin remained in its case until my daughter, Bethanie, began playing in the school orchestra in the 5th grade. 

This past year (February of 2020), I decide I wanted to learn to play.  At first, I found tutorials in YouTube, and while I was learning some, there seemed to be no logical progression in my learning.  I decide to hire a violin teacher, and it's made all the difference.  I am finally getting better!

The past few weeks I've been frustrated that I have...

When I first started cycling, I was told to pump my tires to 100 psi.  That is a nice round number and easy to remember.  For years that is what I did.  As I was training to Kona qualify, I looked for every opportunity to finish faster.

The bike portion of an Ironman offers the greatest opportunity for time savings because of the duration and the vast array of gear options to gain speed.  I started asking questions about tires, tire pressure, and tubes. 

There are a lot of choices in tires for a lot of good reasons.  Finding the right tire for your race could make a significant difference in your finish time.  The three main factors for deciding on tires include: goals, road conditions, and weather.

If your goal is to finish or to have the most comfortable ride possible, you are not really concerned with speed.  But if your goal is to "shock the world", you are looking for the fastest tires for the road and expected weather.

What makes one...

All endurance sports are exciting to watch - marathons, triathlons, cycling, swimming, cross country skiing, etc.  Hopefully this year, the Tokyo Olympics occur and we will have hours of exciting competition to watch.

One of my favorite competitions to watch each year is the Tour de France.  The cycling season is set to kick off in Australia in a few weeks.  And the Tour will start on June 26th, one week earlier than normal to not interfere with the Olympics.  If it is as exciting as last year, I can't wait.

For those unfamiliar with pro cycling or the Tour, here's a brief tutorial that will hopefully allow you to enjoy and appreciate the sport.

The Tour de France is the world’s largest annual sporting event. It consists of 22 teams of 9 riders totaling 198 cyclists.  Riders cover roughly 2200 miles over 21 stages in the span of 23 days.  The race creates excitement around the world.  Estimates are that 3.5 billon television viewers and over...

Swimming is a great way to exercise with little risk of injury.  Anyone can learn to swim once they get over the fear of the water.  For many triathletes, swimming is the most challenging of the three sports.  But swimming doesn’t have to frighten or be frustrating.  Investing time, practicing fundamentals, and having patience can make you a competent swimmer.

At RyR Endurance Team, we work with our athletes to help them reach their swimming goals.  Following are some of the basics to become a fan of swimming.

Gear

• A tight-fitting swimsuit to reduce drag. This is common for ladies.  For men, choose a jammer or Speedo suit.  A baggy bathing suit catches a lot of water and hampers your ability to swim laps.

• A pool buoy to squeeze between your legs will help with balance and shift focus away from kicking.

• A swim snorkel will allow for easy breathing while you are working on other aspects of technique such as this one by FINIS
• A...

Bethanie Roberts completed a triathlon training block and competed in the Evansville YMCA Indoor Triathlon. It consisted of a 30 minute swim, 30 minute bike, and a 30 minute run. She worked really hard on the swim and covered more distance than any other female. On the bike, she stayed relaxed and saved up for the run. On the run, she followed her plan of increasing the treadmill speed gradually every few minutes. Her plan worked well because she was completely spent when time ran out.

She finished 2nd among the females. And more importantly, she had a great experience training and competing with her friends Jessica Deckard and Mitzi Howe.

Mitzi finished 3rd overall and Jessica finished 5th overall.

Great job ladies!