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PODCAST

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes

Campfire Endurance Coaching

Welcome to The Infirmary! We"re sorry you"re not feeling great. Our goal on The Infirmary is to solve the problems you are having in your endurance sport. Whether you are getting ready for your first triathlon, or you are a seasoned endurance athlete, we are here to help. Featuring discussions with coaches, athletes, and other business owners, we are confident we"ll be able to help. Welcome to The Infirmary! We hope you"ll be feeling better soon.

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All Episodes

31:04

Episode 31: Why Your Zone 2 Training Feels Painfully...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/11/03

“Zone 2” training has become incredibly popular in endurance sports, but most athletes misunderstand what it actually does and why it feels so frustratingly slow. In this episode, we debunk the misconceptions to explain how this training intensity establishes your aerobic infrastructure, why comparing yourself to professional athletes derails your progress, and how to embrace slow work now so you can do harder and more effective training later. You'll learn about the physiological adaptations that

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00:53:35

Episode 30: The Complete Guide to Your First 70.3...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/10/20

Endurance journalist and author Brittany Vermeer joins me to discuss her book, The Complete Guide to Your First 70.3 Triathlon. Brittany has been in endurance media for 17 years, writing for Ironman, Triathlete, and Outside Magazin. Brittany shares the most common mistakes athletes make when tackling their first middle distance race, from nutrition mishaps to pacing errors, and we go beyond training plans to explore the mental game necessary for 70.3 triathlon success, the difference between racing

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00:57:41

Episode 29: REPOST | The Norwegian Method with Author...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/10/14

Over the past six weeks, Norwegian athletes have take four of the six podium spots at the Ironman World Championships in Nice, France, and Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. We sat down earlier this year to talk with Brad Culp, author of The Norwegian Method: The Culture, Science, and Humans Behind the Groundbreaking Approach to Elite Endurance Performance. Brad points out both in his book and in this interview that many Norwegians actually bristle when they hear their manner of training described as “The

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1:07:55

Episode 28: Training Durability | What Sticks Around...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/09/22

One of the athletes I work with, Robin Cummings, asked a deceptively simple question about heat training that opened up a much larger conversation: which training adaptations actually last, and which ones disappear the moment you stop training them? The answer reveals your body's efficient "last hired, first fired" approach to fitness —and changes how you should think about periodization.In this coach-to-coach conversation, Robin, an elite cyclist and coach, and Chris break down the durability

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00:56:06

Episode 27: F-ing Fast Past Forty: Pro Josh Monda...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/09/08

Josh Monda raced as an age grouper for 17 years before turning professional at 40—displaying a patience you don’t often find in endurance sports. Josh’s story includes a five-year hiatus from the sport, personal struggles with addiction, and a long-term approach that eventually unlocked elite-level performance. Now racing for the On Your Left Professional Triathlon Team, Josh shares the training, mental, and tactical insights that enabled his late-career breakthrough.Josh's story shows that athletic

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35:15

Episode 26: How to Choose the Triathlon Coach that...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/08/25

Choosing an endurance coach might be one of the most important decisions you'll make as an athlete, yet most people approach it completely backwards. This episode of The Infirmary breaks down how to choose and endurance coach who matches your goals, communication style, and budget, because not everyone needs the same thing in a coaching relationship. We start with the biggest but oft-ignored question: do you even need a coach in the first place? Some athletes thrive in community-focused training

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01:06:17

Episode 25: Elite Swimmer to Pro Triathlete, Lauren...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/08/11

Chris sits down with retired professional triathlete Lauren Brandon. An elite swimmer to triathlete success story, Lauren shares how her NCAA All-American swimming background and 2008 Olympic Trials qualification shaped her approach to professional triathlon training and racing. Lauren talks about swimming misconceptions, focusing on the critical catch and pull mechanics that most age-group athletes struggle with. The conversation explores the emotional and practical aspects of professional

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40:46

Episode 24: How to Heat Train Effectively for...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/07/28

Heat training is one of those topics that is a) poorly understood and b) deployed by coaches and athletes everywhere, which is…not a great combination. In this episode of The Infirmary, Chris walks you through the adaptations we are after when we heat train, the possible mechanism by which those adaptations occur, and then practical suggestions to apply these principles to your own training.Most athletes think that they can simply go to their destination race and “acclimate if I get there 7-10 days

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01:00:51

Episode 23: How Mental Skills Transform Athletic...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/07/14

This interview with sports psychologist Brian Baxter reveals how mental training techniques can transform athletic performance at every level. Baxter, who has worked with athletes for over 20 years, breaks down the essential mental skills that separate good athletes from great ones, showing why anxiety management and confidence on the playing field or race course are just as crucial as physical preparation.Baxter explains the well-known "control the controllables" philosophy that helps athletes

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26:00

Episode 22: Ironman Unveils New World Championship...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/07/10

The triathlon world erupted when Ironman announced their new age-graded qualification system for Kona. But after analyzing the actual numbers from recent races, the changes aren't nearly as earth-shattering as the internet forums suggest. Chris breaks down the math, examines real race data, and explains what aspiring qualifiers actually need to know.If you want to read this podcast in article form, head on over to Chris’ breakdown here.Want to talk to Chris about your training? You can book a free

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00:41:27

Episode 21: What Holds Swimmers Back from Improving

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/06/30

This comprehensive swim technique presentation reveals what really holds swimmers back and why swimming improvement is so different from cycling or running progress. As a Swim Smooth certified coach, Chris breaks down the five major swimming technique faults that prevent triathletes from swimming faster, demonstrating why swimming drills for adults require a completely different approach than other endurance sports. Learn about the six Swim Smooth swim types and discover which category fits your

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0:55

Episode 20: Self-Coached vs. Coached: Finding Balance...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/05/20

In this candid conversation with former Campfire athlete Annie Solonika, we dive into what really matters in the coach-athlete relationship from both perspectives. Annie shares how a strong coach-athlete relationship requires clear communication and expectations from the start. As both a successful triathlete and business owner of Full Circle Stretching, Annie offers unique insights on balancing triathlon training with work and family life, showing how proper coaching can help busy athletes maintain

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1:02:25

Episode 19: Professional Triathlete Ben Hoffman, or...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/05/05

Chris sits down with professional triathlete Ben Hoffman, who has won eight Ironmans, seven 70.3 races, and landed on the podium an unreal 28 times, one of which was the 2014 Ironman World Championships in Kona, where he finished 2nd.The biggest takeaway from this episode, I believe, is a concept that Ben returns to several times: you simply let your body express what it has been trained to do on race day, with a slight aim for "a higher level" because you are rested.You can follow Ben on instagram

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00:30:25

Episode 18: How Neglecting Your Swim Hurts Your...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/04/07

I have heard it a million times: a triathlete tells me “I swam and swam but it never changed my time, so I just stopped swimming.” I really feel for this athlete, since they are clearly frustrated, but there’s a better way to train for triathlon. In this show we walk through:What goes into effective endurance training in the first placeHow neglecting your swim hurts your overall triathlon performanceHow you should actually train to improve your swim performancesSwim Smooth Coaches Directory for

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24:21

Episode 17: How to Pace a Hilly Race or Run

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/03/27

One of the hardest skills for any endurance athlete to master is pacing, and when you’re running a hilly event or participating in a bike race with a lot of elevation changes, pacing gets more difficult.In this episode, Chris walks through the pitfalls athletes often fall into, the biggest of which is the “fly and die” approach where the athlete hopes to “bank” time by running harder or faster early in the race, hoping that when they inevitably slow down (because they went harder than they trained

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8:32

Episode 16: What is Progressive Overload and How Can...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/03/13

“Progressive Overload” is a topic that gets tossed around a lot in endurance circles, but, just as with other topics like “FTP” or “core strength” or “recovery,” progressive overload is more nuanced and complex than it first appears.At it’s most basic application, progressive overload is “the steady and systematic increase in training load in order to continually force an athlete’s body to adapt and develop in the ways we want it to develop,” but how we apply that concept can get hairy pretty

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56:59

Episode 15: The Norwegian Method with Author Brad Culp

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/02/24

Chris sits down with Brad Culp, author of the 2024 Book The Norwegian Method: The Culture, Science, and Humans Behind the Groundbreaking Approach to Elite Endurance Performance. After some book-nerd talk about the structure Brad and his publisher chose for the book (the first few chapters provide a brisk but necessary and engrossing history of Scandinavia’s Viking culture and boatbuilding technology), Culp explains what he sees as encompassing “The Norwegian Method.” He talks about Kristian

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00:42:28

Episode 14: Basic Training | How Noob Gains Happen...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/02/10

Remember what it was like when you had just set out upon your endurance journey? At first everything felt incredibly hard, but after a short amount of consistent training things started to feel easier. Those, our friends, were your “Noob Gains,” or the improvements that happened in the first months (or years) of this new habit.Today on The Infirmary we explain how and why Noob Gains happen and offer some guidance for those who are in this very fun and satisfying period of training. We also talk

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1:40:00

Episode 13: How To Approach Getting Faster, Part One,...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/01/27

Chris sits down with Phil Batterson, Ph.D., host of the CriticalO2 podcast and physiologist for Moxy Monitor. They have a discussion about the oft-discussed “Art and Science of Coaching,” focusing on what coaches can learn from physiologists and vice versa. It’s a fascinating conversation that ranges from debunking long-observed tenets of the coaching world (FTP = 95% of 20-minute power, for one, and why 2mmol/l and 4mmol/l aren’t gospel) to best practices for improving your ability to make

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00:45:00

Episode 12: How to Build an Annual Training Plan that...

The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes ·

2025/01/13

In this episode we talk about the importance of annual training plans for athletes and coaches, focusing on the need for clear goals and structured training blocks. We break down the types of goals you should use in your annual plans—outcome, performance, and process—and explain how to effectively build and manage a plan based on those goals. We give you three different examples of annual plans and offer hints and tips about how to use them to best effect: your performance and your happiness.We also

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31 results

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