While the swim portion of the ironman may only represent 10 percent of the race, it does play a significant role in the outcome. The time taken to exit the water is just a fraction of the whole picture of performance— the state in which we exit the water and how much energy is expended during the swim is critical to the overall performance at the end of the day.

Swimmers like to count, and as triathletes, we too are swimmers. We count yards and meters. We count seconds (and even tenths of seconds!). We count laps. And we also count strokes.

Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate,

Trevor and Heather Wurtele are rising stars in the long course triathlon world. While it’s not that unusual for two professional triathletes to be married, Trevor and Heather do live a unique life.

The EMT and VO2max test use similar equipment and test protocols, but the focus of the EMT is caloric utilization and specific physiological data points, rather than peak aerobic capacity. In fact, during an EMT, a test subject is only taken to approximately 85% of peak aerobic capacity, since higher exercise intensities do not yield much useful information acquired for the endurance athlete. But prior to the 85% intensity mark, several important variables are collected during the EMT, including: