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Are you completing your training plan but struggling to recover, execute quality workouts, or make consistent progress? The problem may not be your effort. It may be how your training is structured.

Most endurance training plans follow a seven-day week. But is that structure actually optimal for every athlete? In Episode 133, Coach Justin and Coach Katie challenge the traditional training week and explore whether longer training cycles could provide a better way to manage volume, intensity, recovery, and life outside of training.

Drawing from Justin's ongoing 10-day training experiment and Katie's marathon training experiences, they examine what happens when you stop forcing your training into the calendar and start building around what your body can realistically handle.

What You'll Learn

• 7 days vs. 10 days: Why the traditional training week may be limiting your workout quality and recovery.
• Volume, frequency, and intensity: How changing your training cycle creates different options for organizing your workload.
• Recovery and performance: Why completing every scheduled workout doesn't necessarily mean you're getting the intended training benefit.
• Training that fits your life: How alternative training cycles could help athletes manage demanding schedules without abandoning their goals.

Timestamps

00:00 – Why reconsider the traditional 7-day training week?
08:37 – What led Justin to experiment with 10-day training cycles
15:30 – Spacing intensity and improving recovery between workouts
24:46 – When accumulated fatigue compromises workout quality
28:34 – Planning longer training builds around 10-day blocks
36:34 – Increasing training frequency without longer workouts
43:06 – Rethinking weekly mileage and training volume
46:18 – Breaking free from the 7-day training mindset
52:55 – Is 10 days optimal, or should training cycles be individualized?
55:20 – Building training around recovery, work, and life demands
1:02:11 – Applying different approaches and what comes next

The Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast — Hosted by Coach Justin of Tabula Rasa Racing and Coach Katie of Fuel2Run.

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

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With just two weeks until my first HYROX race in Denver, I’m putting together a plan for one of the biggest challenges: pacing.

In Episode 5 of Highway to HYROX, I recap my latest training and share what a recent half-distance HYROX simulation taught me about managing effort, running on tired legs, and knowing where to hold back. From controlling the opening run and SkiErg to tackling burpee broad jumps and saving enough for the final wall balls, I walk through how I’m approaching each part of the race.

In this episode, I discuss:

• Balancing running, strength training, and HYROX workouts as race day approaches.
• What my simulation revealed about my strengths, weaknesses, and potential finish time.
• Managing race-day adrenaline and resisting the urge to follow someone else’s pace.
• Using heart rate and perceived effort to guide pacing.
• Building back into running pace after demanding stations.
• Planning breaks for burpee broad jumps, sled work, and wall balls.
• My taper plans and fueling strategy for an afternoon start.

As a sports dietitian, running coach, and first-time HYROX competitor, I’m sharing the reasoning behind my plan—and the questions I won’t be able to answer until race day.

I talk about my training the past two weeks during the first 25 minutes so feel free to skip that first part if you want to jump ahead to my thoughts on pace, fueling, and tapering for the race.

Have you raced HYROX? I’d love to hear your pacing lessons and first-race advice. Next up: the race recap!

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

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Elite athletes are using sodium bicarbonate—ordinary baking soda—to improve performance. Research suggests it can provide an advantage during certain high-intensity efforts. But does that benefit translate to everyday endurance athletes, and what are you giving up to get it?

In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie examine the science behind sodium bicarbonate supplementation, its potential benefits for runners, cyclists, and triathletes, and the costs and side effects that rarely make it into promotional videos. They also challenge a bigger question: When does chasing marginal gains distract from the training and nutrition fundamentals that actually drive performance?

What You'll Learn

• Where sodium bicarbonate may improve performance—and why the evidence is less convincing for longer endurance events.
• The real tradeoffs of supplementation, including gastrointestinal distress, high sodium intake, and expensive products.
• Why copying elite athletes can be misleading, especially when your racing demands and performance limitations are different.
• How to decide whether a marginal gain is worth pursuing before investing money, time, and effort.

Timestamps

• 00:19 – Why are athletes consuming baking soda?
• 03:02 – How sodium bicarbonate works during exercise
• 05:51 – Which types of efforts benefit most?
• 14:28 – Why bicarbonate can't prevent every type of fatigue
• 20:41 – Should recreational athletes follow the professionals?
• 23:06 – Gastrointestinal side effects and race-day risks
• 29:23 – Research, dosing protocols, and practical challenges
• 38:12 – Maurten and other bicarbonate products: convenience versus cost
• 46:39 – What does a potential 1–3% performance improvement really mean?
• 55:24 – Why training, fueling, and recovery still matter more
• 59:24 – Sodium intake and other health considerations
• 01:05:33 – Is chasing marginal gains taking the joy out of racing?

The Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast explores the training, nutrition, racing, and decision-making that shape endurance performance.

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

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What happens when you still remember exactly what kind of athlete you used to be—but your current body isn’t ready to perform at that level yet?

Returning to endurance sport after injury, surgery, or significant time away creates a challenge beginners don’t face: you bring experience, expectations, old paces, old power numbers, and a clear memory of what capable used to feel like. The danger is letting that past version of yourself determine what you expect from the athlete you are today.

In this solo episode, Coach Justin breaks down how he rebuilt after years away from racing, what returning to the pool taught him about readiness and patience, and why confidence has to be earned through current evidence—not borrowed from past performance.

What You’ll Learn

• Why your past performance can show you what’s possible without telling you what you’re ready for today
• How experience can help a comeback—or create unrealistic expectations that rush the process
• Why confidence is built through preparation, repeated evidence, and trust in what your body can currently handle
• How Complete → Perform → Compete can help experienced athletes set the right expectations during different stages of a return

Timestamps

00:00 The athlete you remember vs. the athlete you are today
03:00 Why experienced athletes can struggle with patience
08:00 Returning athletes aren’t beginners
15:00 When an “easy” 1,500-yard swim isn’t easy anymore
22:00 What your past can—and cannot—tell you
24:00 Confidence comes from evidence
32:00 Adjusting the training instead of forcing the old standard
37:00 The Florida swim that changed the conversation
39:00 From comeback athlete to performance mindset
42:00 When “performing” starts becoming “competing”
45:00 Why proving you can finish doesn’t mean you should rush the next step
47:00 FOMO, Ironman, and knowing when you’re not ready yet

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

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Are your best racing days behind you, or are you limiting what you believe is still possible? As endurance athletes get older, personal records become harder to chase, recovery changes, and the way we measure success can begin to shift. But does getting older mean you have to stop being competitive?

In this fourth installment of our Aging as an Endurance Athlete series, Coach Justin and Coach Katie explore the mental side of aging in endurance sports. Drawing from their experiences as coaches and masters athletes, they examine how expectations influence performance, why a faster finishing time doesn't always mean a better race, and how to continue pursuing your athletic potential without being defined by past results.

What You'll Learn

• Are you limiting your own potential? How assumptions about aging can influence training decisions and competitive ambitions.
• Does a slower time mean a worse performance? Why race execution, pacing, and nutrition matter beyond the finishing clock.
• What does it mean to reach your athletic potential? Why your capabilities today shouldn't be measured exclusively against your younger self.
• How do you stay competitive as you age? Rethinking goals, prioritizing consistency, and finding meaningful ways to keep improving.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction: The mental side of aging as an endurance athlete

09:22 – Facing the emotional challenges of getting older

11:55 – Katie's perspective: When your fastest days may be behind you

17:24 – Justin's perspective: Finding new potential as an aging athlete

19:31 – Redefining competition, performance, and race success

22:50 – Is athletic potential fixed, or does it change with age?

28:09 – Age-group competition, age grading, and new challenges

33:29 – Why faster doesn't always mean better race execution

37:36 – Process versus outcome: The importance of training consistency

43:44 – How expectations influence competitiveness and potential

47:00 – Are athletes mentally limiting themselves as they age?

59:14 – Accepting realistic limitations without giving up on improvement

The Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast — Real conversations about endurance training, racing, and the pursuit of athletic improvement at every stage of the journey.

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

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How do you balance getting stronger with maintaining your running fitness for HYROX?

In episode 4 of Highway to HYROX, I’m sharing the latest two weeks of training for my first HYROX race—including threshold runs, station workouts, fueling practice, and fitting it all around work and family life. There have been strong sessions, challenging days, and plenty of adjustments along the way.

Then, I dive into strength training: why it matters for HYROX, how foundational strength differs from muscular endurance, and why practicing the stations is an essential part of preparation.

I also share why I’m following Sorinex’s Squatober workouts, how I’m modifying the schedule to fit my training, and why enjoying the process matters.

In this episode:

• How strength can support the stations and running portions of HYROX.
• How strength can also support running form and economy, which is important for maintaining your pace throughout all 8 run portions of HYROX
• The importance of upper-body strength, grip, and lower-body strength.
• Why heavy lifting and high-repetition circuits serve different purposes.
• What two dedicated strength sessions might include.
• How I’m managing fatigue across running, lifting, and HYROX workouts.
• Why recovery days and rest between lifting sets deserve attention.

This is an honest look at what I’m trying, what I’m learning, and how I’m adapting as an experienced endurance athlete preparing for something new.

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

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What are you actually training for?

Every endurance athlete is trying to answer a question—but the training, expectations, and race-day decisions don’t always match it. Are you trying to prove you can complete the challenge, improve how well you perform, or pursue the highest realistic outcome available on race day?

In this episode, Coach Justin breaks down the Complete → Perform → Compete framework and explains how each mindset changes the way you should train, execute, and define success.

What You’ll Learn

• Why reliability should come before optimization
• How performance depends on execution, not fitness alone
• Why competing requires tactical decisions, calculated risk, and comfort with uncertainty
• How to tell when your goals, readiness, and training are out of alignment

Timestamps

00:00 — Complete, Perform, Compete: the three questions
04:00 — Returning to racing and asking, “Can I do this?”
08:00 — The shift from completing to performing
10:00 — When a good performance still isn’t competition
14:00 — Complete: building reliable capability
25:00 — Perform: adding specificity and execution
31:00 — Why fitness alone doesn’t guarantee performance
35:00 — Compete: pursuing the highest realistic outcome
41:00 — Training athletes to make decisions under pressure
46:00 — Realistic potential vs. theoretical potential
58:00 — Aspiration, readiness, and the role of the coach
1:03:00 — What are you actually training for?

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

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You've been told to spend most of your endurance training in Zone 2. But does the science actually support Zone 2 as the best way to improve aerobic fitness, burn fat, and build endurance?

Zone 2 training works. But effective doesn't always mean optimal. And for athletes with limited training time, following a popular training method without understanding its limitations could mean missing opportunities to improve.

In this final installment of our three-part Zone 2 series, Coach Justin and Coach Katie examine three major scientific claims about Zone 2 training and explain what the research means for runners, cyclists, triathletes, and developing endurance athletes.

What You'll Learn

• Is Zone 2 really superior? What the research reveals about mitochondrial adaptations, fat oxidation, and VO2 max.
• Are you spending your training time effectively? Why workout duration, intensity, and recovery must be considered together.
• Why copying elite athletes can backfire. How training volume, experience, and available time change what works.
• Durability before optimization. Why consistency and progressive training matter more than chasing the perfect training zone.

Timestamps

00:00 – Training updates and managing competing goals
08:28 – The three scientific claims behind Zone 2 training
13:32 – Mitochondrial adaptations and aerobic development
17:58 – How much Zone 2 training is enough?
23:38 – Balancing intensity, recovery, and workout sequencing
28:29 – Is Zone 2 optimal for mitochondrial development?
32:36 – Why beginners should prioritize durability over training zones
38:22 – Fat oxidation, fuel utilization, and fat loss
50:49 – Effective vs. optimal: Why the distinction matters
53:14 – Zone 2, VO2 max, and diminishing returns
01:00:46 – What the research doesn't establish and how to apply it

Continue the Zone 2 Series:
Episode 122 – Understanding Zone 2 Training
Episode 124 – Zone 2 Isn't Enough: The Other Zones Matter

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com