The Triathlete Beat: A Beginner Triathlon Podcast Jeremy Tri

On this episode, we’re joined by my long-time friend, Christine Garrido! Christine is a certified swim instructor and has taught swimming for over 10 years. She recently founded @breatheandsplash swim school, which serves swimmers of all levels throughout Miami Dade and Broward County.

Christine has been swimming since she was seven years old; she was a competitive swimmer throughout her childhood all the way to college, and even swam for the Peruvian National Team!

She’s also provided sports mental performance coaching and consulting services to many high schools and private swim teams. When Christine’s not coaching swimmers, she spends her time with her son, Joaquim, who is 16 months old and already loving the water. Christine also continues to swim herself and regularly competes in open water swims and triathlons. I’ve raced with her before, and she’s very fast!

Christine shares with us her journey of how she got into swimming as a kid and how she fueled her passion for the sport to eventually start her own swim school. She explains why kids should learn how to swim, gives tips on how we can train our mind to get out of a “rut”, and even gets into how she kept health and fitness as a top priority throughout her pregnancy.

I had a great time chatting and catching up with Christine - you can feel how passionate she is about swimming and helping others be the best they can be, both mentally and physically.

This episode was originally recorded on June 9, 2020. The 3 three month delay is totally my fault - it’s been a pretty busy past few months! Since this recording, Christine’s swim school has grown so much that they now have a team of instructors. Way to go, Breathe and Splash Swim School!

I hope you all enjoy this episode!

Dan Eisenhardt is the CEO of FORM, the company behind the world’s first smart swim goggles. Dan is no stranger to swimming and emerging technology - before starting FORM, Dan swam competitively for 14 years and founded Recon Instruments, which introduced the world’s first smart eyewear for sports (skiing, cycling, running) in 2010.

Dan and I discussed his journey to creating FORM, all of the goggle’s features (metrics, build quality, open water functionality, etc.), their rigorous development and testing lifecycle, and other fun topics like Dan’s experience filming their promo commercial and his vision on the future of triathlon tech.

You might be wondering, what makes these goggles so special and…smart? Why should I ditch my Speed Vanquishers or Swedish goggles? Well at a minimum, the goggles are created with the highest quality of materials, giving you a swim companion that’s comfortable, durable, and built to last. In addition, the goggles can display all the swimming metrics that you’ll ever need, right in front of your eye as you swim, such as: split time, pace per 100, distance, interval time, rest time, total time, stroke rate, stroke count, distance per stroke, length count, calories burned, and even heart rate (with a Polar OH1). All those metrics you have while running and cycling? We have them now for swimming. That’s pretty cool!

It’s also 2020, which means YES, the goggles sync with Strava and TrainingPeaks and YES, the goggles come with its own app for both iOS and Android. The app breaks down all your metrics into easy-to-read tables and charts for you (and even your coach) to learn and improve upon for your next workout.

You can also follow other athletes with the goggles as well. I don’t remember seeing a “Share to Instagram Story” feature yet, but I’m sure that’s in the pipeline ;)

I’ve tested the goggles out in both the pool and open water, and I think they’re pretty amazing. They really do what they say they’re going to do, and work pretty damn well.

I had a great time with Dan, and it was a pleasure to have him on the podcast today! I really felt his passion and excitement for the goggles…and I hope that you do too.

Enjoy the chat!

Today we dive into sweat and hydration - two essential but often overlooked aspects to any athlete’s training - with Andy Blow, the Co-Founder and CEO of Precision Hydration.

Andy is a Sports Scientist with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Bath, UK. He’s an expert in sweat (swexpert?), dehydration, and cramping, and previously worked as the Team Sports Scientist for the Benetton and Renault Formula 1 teams. In his younger days, he was an elite level triathlete and finished in the Top 10 of Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races. He even won an XTERRA Triathlon World Title!

We discussed a variety of topics including salty sweaters, hydration for endurance training sessions and races, dehydration and hyponatremia (over hydrating), the effects of having a beer before/after a race, and so much more.

This was a really fascinating and fun chat with Andy. You’ll definitely learn a few things about hydration, and his tips will hopefully help you on your next swim, bike, run, walk, hike, workout, etc.

I found it pretty cool that in addition to endurance athletes, Precision Hydration has also worked with the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL. Being an NBA fan myself (#ballislife), I couldn’t miss this opportunity to ask Andy about hydration for NBA players!

Precision Hydration offers electrolyte supplements that match how you sweat, and have a variety of products that will benefit all levels of sweaters. I’ve tried their stuff during my training sessions in the 90F & 90% humidity conditions of South Florida…and they definitely WORK.

Their team was a delight to work with, and they were awesome enough to offer 15% off any of my listeners’ entire first order off their site, precisionhydration.com. Just use the code TRIATHLETEBEAT at checkout. So cool - I have my very own coupon code! Go order something…you won’t regret it!

I hope you enjoy the podcast!

On today’s podcast we have my very good friend, Jan Matt. Jan Matt is currently a Real Estate Finance Associate and loves running, cycling, and lifting weights. We’ve been close friends since meeting at our alma mater, the University of Florida, and while we don’t play basketball, eat froyo, and drink boba together like we did during college, we do try to go running and drink craft beer whenever we link up nowadays.

In this episode we discuss a bunch of topics, including how Jan Matt got into running and cycling, his first triathlon, his first 10k, and running with his puppy, Zuko. He’s also completed some very interesting and inspiring self challenges that include running 30 miles in 30 days, and running 13 miles in 13 hours. I thought these were really fun goals that anyone can set and achieve for themselves and do with friends, at any time of the year - especially during these times when pretty much all races are cancelled due to COVID-19.

Jan Matt is a great example of someone who follows his passions and interests, especially when it comes to physical fitness, and isn’t afraid to “taste something new”. He’s always stepping out of his comfort zone, keeping things fresh, and through this, always challenging and bettering himself as a person.

This episode was filled with a lot of laughs, a lot of stories, and it was really just a great time catching up. I hope that you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

On today’s podcast, we have a very special guest - my long-time friend Kim Urmaza. Kim is the Head Athletic Trainer at a high school down here in South Florida, and is pursuing a Master's degree in Kinesiology with a double concentration in sports performance and orthopedic rehabilitation. She’s a certified personal trainer, a member of the USA National Duathlon Team, and a blackbelt in Nisei Goju Ryu Karate. 

In this episode, Kim shares with us how in just one year, she ran her first 5k, bought her first bike, completed her first multisport event, and then went on to qualify for the Duathlon World Championships. Oh yeah, AND she ran her very first marathon. She’s had an absolutely tremendous year in multisport, and is a shining example that hard work, consistency, and dedication really pays off.

Kim gives plenty of key tips and insights into her training and racing for duathlon, and also imparts the mindset needed to endure some of the toughest moments when you’re out there, exhausted, in pain, and ready to give up, during a race.

Kim is an incredible athlete, one of the nicest and most driven people that I know, and is super passionate about the pursuit of seeking challenges that are greater than herself. You don’t want to miss this conversation, and I hope you enjoy it!

On this episode, we are joined by competitive cyclist Simone Berger! Simone trains and competes throughout the year in both mountain bike and road bike races, all while working a full time job as the Marketing Content Specialist for Modernizing Medicine in Boca Raton, FL.

Simone and I met up after both of our work days and discussed a variety of topics, including how Simone got into cycling via Salsa lessons, the difference between mountain bike races and road bike races, and practical tips on how beginners can get into the wonderful sport of cycling.

When Simone isn’t shooting photos or videos or tearing it up on the bike trails, you can find her doing yoga and dancing salsa. Shoutout to ModMed for letting us use the “green screen room” to record this podcast! Simone is such a great person and is truly passionate about cycling...I think it really shines through in this chat.

*Note: This podcast was originally recorded on May 2, 2019.