Matt Hoover wants more. He wants to be more than a winner of the Biggest Loser TV show, where he met his wife who also placed third. Last Saturday Matt crossed the finish line of the Ironman in Hawaii in a time of 17hrs and 3 minutes, but he admits that by not finishing within the required 17hrs, ”I’m not an official Ironman, but I crossed the finish line. I want that little medal that says you’re an official Ironman. I have to do another Ironman.”

TrainingPeaks caught up with Matt while he was relaxing with his family in Hawaii a few days after the Ironman. Listen to his inspiring journey from not being able to swim one length of a swimming pool, to surviving a 2.4mile swim in the open ocean.  A 112-mile bike was next, and finally listen to how Matt struggled through the run and only allowed himself to stop once to tie his shoes!

This audio interview on www.clickcaster.com/trainingpeaks will provide an amazing insight into Matt’s journey to complete the world’s toughest one-day event. You’ll also hear in his own words some of the secrets of his success and how to apply them to your own life experiences.

Matt was teased and tortured throughout his 17hr Ironman where at times he was flying along effortlessly, and at other times nearly forced to abandon, but he always kept moving. “We don’t know what our best is because we quit before we get there. Keep pushing and keep fighting. Your body is capable of doing so much for you, and you owe it to your body to take care of it. I’m going to treat my body the way it needs to be treated.”

No matter how hard the race became Matt remained focused knowing he was well prepared by his coach, Jim Vance of TrainingBible Coaching.

“I was 100% confident in that day. When I started that race there wasn’t even a question that I wasn’t going to finish. If I hadn’t of had Jim Vance, TrainingBible Coaching and TrainingPeaks I wouldn’t have even gotten out of the water. I did what he had asked of me and it was time to perform,” Matt explained.

Matt met his wife, Suzy, on the Biggest Loser season two. Now Suzy is also planning to participate in triathlons. Matt was proud to say “My wife is going to be doing an Irongirl. This wasn’t a one-time thing for us. We’re going to be doing this the rest of our lives as far as we’re concerned.”

Matt expressed his appreciation for having TrainingPeaks to use throughout his training, “Thanks for the tools. I know I wouldn’t even have been able to get as closed as I did to finishing on-time had I not had your web site (TrainingPeaks.com).”

Read more about Matt’s coach Jim Vance and TrainingBible Coaching here.

Read more about Matt Hoover here. And check out and purchase Matt’s book “Matt Hoover’s Guide to Life, Love and Losing weight” at Amazon.com.

TrainingPeaks member Matt Hoover won the grand prize in season 2 of the Biggest Loser by losing 157 pounds, but this past Sunday Matt was transformed into an Ironman when he crossed the finish line in Kona, Hawaii in a time of 17:03:35.

Those familiar with Ironman-distance racing know that official race finishers must complete the 2.4 miles of swimming, 112-miles of cycling and a marathon in under 17 hours. So, sadly Matt won’t be listed as official finisher, but his focus and determination should be an inspiration for millions of people struggling with weight loss.

Matt’s coach, Jim Vance of TrainingBible Coaching, not only coached Matt to improve physically, but also mentally on how to think like an endurance athlete. Jim was also there on race day (and night) nearly every step of the way.

TrainingPeaks interviewed Jim about Matt’s training program and how the two of them made incredible improvements in a relatively short about of time.

TP – How long have you been coaching Matt?
Jim – I started coaching Matt in April, well before we ever got offered a slot at Ironman Kona. We just planned on doing an Ironman this year possibly, if training went well. We were definitely going to do a half though. When the offer came to do Kona, we decided to try it.

TP – What did you primarily focus on when you trained Matt for the Ironman?
Jim – The main focus was just building aerobic fitness. When we first started I knew I needed to get Matt to the start line healthy, and able to make the swim cut-off in order to stand a chance. He picked up swimming so quick, (he swam 1:38 in Kona), that the focus turned quickly to aerobic fitness.

TP – What kind of improvements did you see from Matt?
Jim – We saw some impressive improvements from Matt. We estimated his functional threshold power (FTP*) at the beginning to be around 235 watts, and by the time raceday came, he was at an estimated 310 watts FTP. He also improved his 5K test on the track by nearly 10 minutes.

TP – Are there any lessons you may have learned from Matt that could benefit other athletes who battle to control their weight?
Jim – Matt’s biggest battle with the change to endurance sports was that he was trying to be like a wrestler still, or like someone concerned about losing weight, that he did not want to eat. It affected his ability to recover from workouts effectively, and thus his consistency and improvements. He under-fueled so often, he wasn’t able to lose as much weight as he had hoped. It was tough, because as a coach I was trying to change his mentality and perceptions, not just his fitness.

TP – What role did TrainingPeaks play in your work with Matt?
Jim – TrainingPeaks software was the major communication tool for Matt and I, and WKO+ was the major analysis tool I used in tracking his fitness and even helping me plan his workouts, recognizing his weaknesses.

Watch this blog for an interview with Matt himself tomorrow.

For an entire race report about Matt’s Ironman experience click here.

Click here to read more about Matt Hoover.

Learn more about Functional Threshold Power here.

Answer: If your goal is to maximize your body’s ability to burn fat as a fuel, then I would give you a couple of suggestions. Zone 2 is definitely the fat burning zone in which your body relies most heavily on fat as its primary source of energy. That being said, it doesn’t necessary mean that by spending more time in Zone 2 you will increase that ability. I am not sure exactly why you want to increase your ability to burn more fat, but I can think of two major reasons and for each reason there is a different solution to the problem.

Situation#1: If you are trying to lose weight and burn off excess fat, then you actually need to train more in zone 4 and 5 in order to stimulate your fat burning metabolism.  There is a myth out there that staying in the fat burning zone helps you to lose weight.  Actually, it just makes sure that you don’t burn carbohydrates as fuel and the intensity stays low.  If you want to lose excess body fat, then you have to ’stoke’ the fire so to speak and that means exercising very intensely.  By exercising in Zone 4 and 5, then you burn off all your carbohydrates and then in the 4 hours after your workout, you burn a ton of fat as fuel. That’s the key to really losing some excess weight.

Situation #2: If you want to burn fat in order to extend your endurance range in a racing situation, then I would offer a few different suggestions.  Many pros that I coach always want to improve their ability to burn fat in races and therefore spare essential glycogen reserves for later in the race when they need them most. This means teaching your body to use fat first and foremost in every workout.  One of the ways to do this is to start off every ride early in the morning before breakfast and ride for at least 2 hours before starting to feed.  Ride at Zone 2 and 3 for those 2 hours and then your body is forced to burn fat.  At the end of 2 hours, start eating some carbs and protein and then finish your ride with intensity and intervals. This will help to teach your body to burn fat at a higher level of exercise intensity, thereby sparing your carbohydrate stores for later.

Hope this helps!

Hunter Allen, co-author of Training and Racing with a Power Meter with Andrew Coggan

Answer: Great question. While your body “crying for calories” is often a sign that you *should* be increasing overall food intake, you need to be careful with the type of things you may be consuming along with your “healthy” snack foods.

Take your banana chips, for example. Just two large handfuls of banana chips can guarantee that you’ve just eaten 2 entire bananas that have been dipped and drenched in 100+ calories of oil, and often powdered with fructose sugar. Of course, if you purchase your banana chips raw and unseasoned, or make them yourselves in a fruit drier, that is an options, albeit more expensive or logistically challenging.

And those packaged cracker mixes or trail mixes? Typically a similar story – lots of added vegetable oils to make them taste good and preservatives to make them last long on the shelf.

Ultimately, the problem is that most of the pre-packaged crunchy treats on the market are drenched in some type of substance that makes them “taste good” (typically an oil or salt derivative). So what is the healthy athlete to do? Here are my top 5 good substitutes for crunchy cravings:

-Seasoned raw almonds (I personally prefer a few dashes of chili pepper and sea salt ­ just shake everything together in a tupperware or ziplock back and consume as your own healthy snack mix.)

-Jikama strips (large round crunchy vegetable in produce aisle) or mini-carrots, lightly salted and dipped into salsa, hummus or guacamole

-Gum (yes believe it or not, gum, although chewy, often satisfies crunch cravings)

-Cucumbers with a high quality sea salt, like fleur de sel

-Crunchy gluten-free crackers. There are many brands out there. Here’s the ingredient label of one: Organic Golden Flaxseed, Organic Hemp Meal, Organic Agave Syrup, Nutritional Yeast, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Rosemary, Celtic Sea Salt. This particular brand is “Foods Alive Hemp Organic Flax Gluten-Free Crackers”. Just be careful, as there are 150 calories in 5 crackers, whereas you could crunch on jikama practically all day long…

Hopefully this helps. I just put the finishing touches on a book called “Holistic Nutrition for Ironman Triathletes”. It’s a comprehensive guide to fueling with the thousands of calories necessary for endurance sports, *without* destroying your body. You can find the book over at http://www.mindsettriathlon.com.

To Your Health,
Ben Greenfield

Many qualified experts on training and nutrition use TrainingPeaks to help manage their business. Now, a select few are offering professional training and nutrition advice on our blog. The views expressed here are the opinions of the experts and as such do not represent the official position of TrainingPeaks. Read on to learn more about the expert, and submit a question of your own below!

About the expert:

Ben Greenfield is recognized as one of the top fitness, triathlon, nutrition and metabolism experts in the nation. In 2008, he was voted as the Personal Trainer of the Year by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, an internationally recognized and respected certifying agency. Ben is Director of Sports Performance and oversees the physiology and biomechanics laboratory at Champions Sports Medicine in Spokane, WA, which offers metabolic-based weight loss, bicycle fitting, running gait analysis, swim stroke analysis, VO2 max testing, blood lactate testing, resting metabolic rate analysis, and other cutting-edge procedures for weight loss and performance.

Ben hosts the highly popular fitness, nutrition and wellness website at www.bengreenfieldfitness.com, which features blogs, podcasts, and product reviews from Ben. In addition to coaching and training for weight loss and sports performance at http://www.pacificfit.net, Ben serves as a business and marketing consultant to fitness professionals, and is the host of a weekly syndicated fitness business blog and podcast at http://www.trainfortopdollar.com. E-mail: ben@bengreenfieldfitness.com

Ask a question of your own! If you have a question for the experts, submit it here either by emailing asktheexperts@peaksware.com or by posting it on our message boards. Your question could be featured in our next blog!

Fat is the victim of an unfortunate name. It is all too easy to believe that eating fat makes a person fat. Indeed, for many years most diet experts believed that it did, and many do even today despite compelling evidence that eating a fairly high-fat diet is no more likely to cause overweight than eating a high-carbohydrate or high-protein diet. For example, in a 2002 review, entitled “The Influence of Dietary Composition on Energy Intake and Body Weight,” Roberts et al. noted that 1) fat calories as a percentage of total calories in the American diet had fallen over the preceding 20 years while overweight and obesity rates had increased drastically; 2) studies designed to determine whether people eat more calories when they eat more fat have generally concluded that they do so only when the energy-density of foods in not controlled, suggesting that energy-dense foods rather than fat per se are the cause of weight gain; and 3) studies investigating the effects of reduced fat intake on weight loss have shown that reduced fat intake results in very little weight loss when calories are not controlled, suggesting that it is an excess of calories in general rather than of fat in particular that causes weight gain.

The anti-fat doctrine that prevailed for so long in society at large also prevailed in sports. Generations of endurance athletes, in particular, were schooled to aim for a 60-percent carbohydrate, 20-percent protein, 20-percent fat macronutrient breakdown in their diet. That’s a low-fat diet for sure, since the average American gets 34 percent of his or her calories from fat. While the carbohydrate piece of this formula stood on reasonably sure scientific footing (although it has been modified recently into a recommendation that carbohydrate calories as a fraction of total calories should vary with training volume), the fat piece never had any scientific support. In fact, much of the relevant science indicated that more fat was better.

For example, a study from the University of Buffalo found that female runners who got 30 percent of their calories from fat were significantly less likely to get injured than those who ate less fat. It is not likely that the extra fat itself protected the less-often-injured runners, however. Rather, those who ate the least fat probably did not get enough total calories to meet their bodies’ needs.

Read more about fat and the endurance athlete in the full article.