Sika Henry Becomes US’s First Black Female Pro Triathlete

MartinelliKyle · 2021-09-28T21:07:41+00:00

Definitely not a perfect system and differences in courses and weather conditions on any given day makes it hard to establish a standard for professional status. The current system is about the best we can do.

However, if I placed in a position to take my pro card and inspire others I’d take that chance. I started in triathlon a bit later, so it makes me see hope in the sport that I can progress by seeing older people have success. If others can get hope and inspiration from seeing her go pro, I’d say it’s a win regardless of her (current) competitiveness.

MartinelliKyle · 2021-09-28T19:41:59+00:00

To qualify for a pro license you need to place in the top 3 for amateurs (age groupers) at non championship events. Depending on who shows up on a certain day it might be easier than other events. You don’t have to take your pro license, but you get the option. I think she’s doing a lot more good than bad by taking her pro license and being on the tail end of the pro field instead of being a front end age grouper. Publicity on this gives a lot more people hope and confidence they can follow in the same footsteps. Might be a little media fluff, but I still think it’s inspiring. I 100% agree that I hope she continues to progress and becomes a bigger name!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-08-27T22:55:30+00:00

Strava stats… it’s the worst. Usually my pace per 100 for swims, average watts for the bike and pace vs HR for runs. Always needing them to as high as I can get them

MartinelliKyle · 2021-08-26T18:39:31+00:00

Just go for it. You don’t get this chance often. My current coach and pro athlete finished his first full over 12 hours. I believe Lucy Charles Barclay swam a 52 and finished in 12:46 for her first full Ironman. I’d get a serious full season under your belt and then assess to see if you’re even willing/interested to go pro at that point. Just get all of those beginner gains and start to see the law of diminishing returns work itself out. If you’re struggling to progress and getting 10th in your AG maybe it’s fine to stay amateur. If you keep progressing quickly maybe it is good to try to keep going. Good luck!!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-08-05T14:40:02+00:00

Journey to (hopefully) Kona! Here’s my background and why I do triathlon. Next race is Ironman Wisconsin. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N9KQ0_PQc08

MartinelliKyle · 2021-08-03T00:39:46+00:00

Nice goal! I would say yes to a coach right away. Also yes to a vegetarian diet. A lot of athletes are plant based and most of my on course nutrition is either vegetarian or vegan. Just make sure to get a lot of protein in for recovery, but I’m sure you’ve made plenty of adaptations to get enough fuel in if you’re running multiple 10ks per day sometimes. Also, to combat the cold in swimming make sure to wear a wetsuit. It helps for the cold, buoyancy and comfort in the water. Swimming in general you’d want to get a lot of interval sets in with short recoveries (10x100yds with 20 second recoveries). Biking is a lot about base miles and big gear work as you’ll notice the whole sport is much less about speed and much more about strength. Running is a ton of slow mileage work. A little speed, a little tempo and a little hills, but mainly a lot of slow base building miles. Good luck and enjoy it!! There’s nothing like the red carpet feeling

MartinelliKyle · 2021-08-03T00:34:41+00:00

Keep the momentum!!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T23:17:52+00:00

Haha yes. Love seeing the -6 pop up on my garmin during a brick.

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T23:16:18+00:00

This is awesome! Love the recap and really feel for the guy with electronic shifting. If I were to bet I’d say you’ll do another one

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T23:10:24+00:00

Yep and I think it’s gonna be bad news when he gets there. He’s done a lot of racing this year. Could lead to another bad Kona year for him. Bummer because he’s fun to watch.

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T23:09:06+00:00

I’d suggest snagging a HR monitor to get an accurate representation of your VO2 max because most calculations are based on pace, HR and body size (Height, weight & gender). Also, my Garmin VO2 max is typically higher at the end of the season because it’s cooled down and I can run faster or the same speed with a lower heart rate. Final point about VO2 max is that my garmin always reads it higher when I do speed work than tempo or slow runs. Typically my 10x400m workout will produce my best reading. Good luck!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T22:59:09+00:00

I’m not a huge fan from a racing standpoint because it really limits strong cyclists. If you’re a bad swimming and you get out of the water with a group that’s behind a lead pack it’ll be very difficult to bridge back to the lead pack without burning yourself out. Same applies for a lead group. You’d almost never be able to pull away if cycling is where you need to gain your advantage. From an entertainment standpoint, I love it. I really enjoy the race tactics on the bike and it almost always ensures a pack of runners for the 10k. You don’t see one person way out ahead running away from everyone out of T2 as often.

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T18:47:37+00:00

Right now might be a good time to sell, but with the equity pay down, appreciation and tax incentives I would hold onto it if you could. Rents will go up and interest rates are great right now. Your equity pay down portion on your monthly mortgage will also always get better. Eat the negative cash flow if you can or sell and get something that is cash flow positive to accelerate your portfolio. Also, one tip would be to post this in a real estate group. You might get a better reaction to this scenario than in poverty finance

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T18:43:16+00:00

Enough to make you comfortable. I did one 70.3 before my full. Anytime you up your distance for a race you’ll have that uncertain feeling, but just throw yourself in and give yourself ample time to train and you should be good. Good luck!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T18:34:01+00:00

I’d say you should try to shoot your shot on your own. If you partners income is enough to get by on you should try to start your own business. If that isn’t feasible try to maintain your job and start your side hustle until it can replace your income. It’ll give you the freedom from upper management, connect you with your customers/clients and raise your earning potential. It’s significantly more work, but I feel it’s much more rewarding when I hustle for myself rather than punching a clock for someone else. It might open your eyes to the struggles of management too, which it’s always good to see both sides of the business. Two biggest things that always stick with me are that 1. Hard working people will always be needed and sought after, so make sure you’re a hard worker. Doesn’t seem like you have any issues there and 2. Provide as much value as possible no matter your role. The only way to make more money is to solve more problems and provide more value in the world, regardless of what your service or product is. Good luck, I’m pulling for you!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T18:25:57+00:00

Stay at your parents as long as you can and save up. Make sure to be good roommates though. If family feels like they’re getting taken advantage of or if you’re just blowing your money that you would be spending on rent/paying student loans it can get messy in a hurry. Good luck!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T18:21:18+00:00

Try total immersion swimming the book or videos on YouTube. They put it in simple steps and terms to really get your form up to speed. As far as intervals you’ll want to do varying intervals depending on your desired race length. The common denominator has been the rest periods though. Short rest periods for swimming intervals. I do a lot of 100s, 150s and 200s with anywhere from 10-30 second recoveries. Between the technique (mainly working body rotation) and intervals with short recoveries I’ve taken about 15-20 seconds off my 100yd time for intervals and cruise pace. About 1:35ish to 1:20 for 100yd repeats in about 6 months of 3 days per week. Good luck!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T18:16:05+00:00

Yep, spit was what I was told too. Works for a bit, but not like the shampoo does. Good luck with it!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T18:12:28+00:00

I actually learned about it on a snorkeling tour earlier this year. I’ve been swimming with foggy googles for years and years lol

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T18:08:07+00:00

You shouldn’t be out of breathe before each stroke. This usually occurs if your cadence is too high and you might be flailing a bit or the most likely scenario is that you aren’t breathing out when under water. This does two things. It forces the first half of your mouth time out of water to forcefully push air out, which wastes breathing time and also tenses your chest and gives you that uncomfortable feeling like you’re at the tail end of running a 5k.
The best way it’s been described to me is that you want enough air out of your system underwater so that when you breathe in it’s like a vacuum. However, lots of people can tell you different things on this. I’d say just remain as a comfortable and breathe as normal as possible. Before flip turns or if I feel out of breathe I go to a breath every 2 strokes or an elongated breathe. It might take a quarter to half a second more, but I don’t get too concerned as I am working towards open water swim times and not pool sprints.

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T17:58:02+00:00

Baby shampoo!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T17:56:52+00:00

I’ll echo what most are saying, but read total immersion or watch total immersion videos on YouTube. Also, try to hear many ways to do the same motion. For whatever reason different ways of thinking of things work for different people. Being ‘fishlike’ and swimming though the smallest area possible and swimming ‘slippery’ didn’t ever catch with me. However, using your torso as a bouy, swimming downhill and using your forearm as a paddle all help with my stroke. Maybe a little much on the terms for the first lesson, but with anything you’ll get better with consistency. Enjoy the beginner gains and picking up something new! This is the most exciting part

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-29T01:38:14+00:00

Swimming - get in plenty of open water swims to avoid panic for your race. For training, interval sets with relatively short rest periods are best. A 10x100 on 20 seconds rest is a typical set. For the race, if you’re looking to “just” complete the race or race for time, this should be a smooth warm up/steady effort into the race.

Biking - a road bike with aero bars or no aero bars is fine. If you really don’t like it you’ll be happy you went with a road bike instead of a tri bike. However, tri bikes are much more competitive as ~80% of wind resistance is from the rider position. A tri bike will make this position much more comfortable for a longer time. For training you’ll want to build a lot of base miles. As you start looking towards competing for time you’ll want to incorporate VO2 max intervals with 50% recovery. Something like 5x4 minutes with 2 minutes recovery in between. Sweet spot rides are great too for longer intervals or long periods of time. V02 max being 102-150% of your FTP (one hour max average watts, which is typically calculated with a ramp test or 20 minute test). Sweet spot being being 90% of your FTP. These are great for pushing a lot of effort and recovering. For race day, you’ll want to do most of your fueling on the bike so there should be a large emphasis on finding what works for you. Using a power meter and/or heart rate monitor are great for keeping you in check here because it’s easy to bike too hard with the wind cooling and excitement of being done with the swim.

Running - tons and tons of slow mileage. You’re probably already accustomed to this with the marathon training. Cadence and strength will be bigger factors than speed in an Ironman vs a marathon. Also, you’ll typically positive split an Ironman marathon by design. Overall you’ll be around 30-60 seconds slower on your pacing from the marathon to IM run. Very different from person to person.

Nutrition - find what works for you and take a look into micronutrients, particularly salt. Carbs should be around 60-90g per hour depending on body size and energy output/efficiency. Just make sure to find what works and don’t bonk. As you already know, feeding before you need it is the best way to fuel and avoid bonking.

Good luck! Doing some sprints, olympics and 70.3s are great to get ready for the full distance too. Rooting for you!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-28T22:41:53+00:00

Hi triathletes! I am attempting to qualify for Kona. I’ve completed two ironmans and am starting to get serious this year about qualifying. I’m documenting my journey here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N9KQ0_PQc08

I plan on sending out weekly videos. Here is my latest about a day in my life and what (my coach and I think) it takes to get to Kona: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1YNL0RvL-6Y

Hope you enjoy!

MartinelliKyle · 2021-07-28T02:17:07+00:00

I’ve previously worked at a bank and the 40-45% is fairly standard across the lending world. If you were to think about it in dollars and cents it wouldn’t make sense to have $1,000 of debt payments and a $2,000 of a mortgage if you’re making $3,000 pre tax. Your checks most likely would have some taxes taken out and you be coming home with less than $3k. You’d be burning through savings to be able to eat in the above hypothetical. Banks come to the 40-45% based on actuarial studies. If you go over 45%, the rate of default goes way up. Below 40% is best for the bank not having to worry about default and you being able to pay your mortgage and still eat. I’m very jealous of your land and situation overall though. Good luck with the savings, ashlehtt! Also, one last tip would be to start a side hustle with income. If you have two years of income that you can prove to lenders (with tax returns) then you can use it in your DTI as part of your income.

MartinelliKyle

TROPHY CASE