top of page


Triathlon Age Graded Performance Calculator: Your Finish Time Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means
The Age Graded Performance Calculator does this for running, swimming, and full triathlon splits, using World Masters Athletics 2023 standards for running, FINA Masters records with an open-water correction for swimming, and UCI Masters plus Ironman/70.3 age-group world records for the bike leg — because no official masters standard exists for cycling.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 269 min read


Gellish Max Heart Rate Formula: Age, BMI, and Sex Combined
The Gellish Max Heart Rate Formula - HRmax = 207 − (0.7 × Age) − (0.1 × BMI) + (4 × Sex)
Three variables instead of one. That's the entire pitch behind the Gellish formula, and it's worth unpacking each term before trusting the output.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 234 min read


Nes et al. Max Heart Rate Formula: Sex-Specific MHR Estimates
Two people, same age, different max heart rates. That's the premise behind the Nes et al. formula, and it's a departure from almost every other age-based equation in this space.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 224 min read


Nikolaidis Max Heart Rate Formula: What Four Numbers Can Tell You
Most max heart rate formulas ask for one thing: age. The Nikolaidis max heart rate formula asks for four. Age, body weight, VO2 max, and resting heart rate all factor into the estimate, which raises an obvious question — does more input data actually produce a better number, or just a more complicated one?

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 214 min read


Tanaka Max Heart Rate Formula: A Better Age-Based MHR Estimate
Dr. Hirofumi Tanaka set out to correct that with a meta-analysis pulling together data from thousands of individuals across a wide age range. The result was a formula with a smaller average error and a track record that holds up better across different ages and fitness levels.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 204 min read


Sweat Rate Calculator: Two Numbers on a Bathroom Scale Will Tell You More Than Any Hydration App
Why this Sweat Rate Calculator and Two Numbers on a Bathroom Scale Will Tell You More Than Any Hydration App will. Most triathletes hydrate by feel, or by whatever a bottle-per-hour rule of thumb they picked up years ago. Feel is a bad instrument for this. Thirst lags actual fluid deficit, and by the time it shows up, the workout is already compromised. The fix isn't a smarter app or a fancier bottle — it's two weigh-ins and a little arithmetic.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 175 min read


Triathlon Training Time ROI Calculator: Where Your Next Hour of Training Actually Pays Off
Every triathlete has the same limited resource: hours in the week. What varies enormously is where those hours go — and whether they're going somewhere that actually moves the needle

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 155 min read


Triathlon Taper Calculator: How Much to Cut Swim, Bike and Run Before Race Day
Many triathletes taper by feel. They reach the final two weeks and start guessing—a shorter ride here, a skipped run there and perhaps an extra rest day because it “feels right.”

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 134 min read


Training Load & Injury Risk (ACWR) Calculator: Is Your Ramp Rate Safe?
Are you getting fitter—or getting closer to an injury? Two triathletes each train nine hours this week. One finishes the block stronger, faster, and ready for the next progression. The other develops shin pain that becomes a stress fracture six weeks later. On paper, their training logs look identical. In reality, they couldn't be more different. The difference isn't how long they trained—it's how much stress those nine hours placed on their body compared to what they were pr

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 115 min read


LATIC THRESHOLD CALCULATOR TRAINING ZONES EXPLAINED: How to Train by Heart Rate That Actually Means Something.
Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) fixes this. It's not estimated — it's tested. And because it's tested, the zones built off it actually mean something.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 94 min read


Critical Swim Speed Calculator: Two Time Trials Will Tell You More About Your Swimming Than a Month In The Pool
Critical Swim Speed Calculator: Two Time Trials Will Tell You More About Your Swimming Than a Month In The Pool

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 74 min read


FTP Calculator for Triathletes: Find Your Bike Power Zones
What FTP Actually Measures
Functional Threshold Power is the highest average power, in watts, that a cyclist can hold for roughly an hour. It marks the line between work that's primarily aerobic and work that starts pulling heavily on anaerobic systems.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 55 min read


Caffeine in Triathlon & Endurance Sports: How Much, When, and Does It Actually Improve Performance?
One thing worth tracking: total intake. Caffeine adds up across more sources than people realize — coffee before the race, a gel on the bike, another on the run, maybe an energy drink on the drive to the venue. It all counts. The FDA's general guidance is up to about 400 mg a day for most healthy adults, but that's a public health number, not a performance target. More isn't automatically better.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 25 min read


FTP RUNNING CALCULATOR: TEST YOUR THRESHOLD, STOP TRAINING USING MEMORY AS EFFORT
HE PROBLEM IN ONE LINE
Run the same threshold workout enough times and the effort becomes automatic. Fitness improves, but the pace you associate with "hard" doesn't automatically update — so you keep training a feeling instead of your actual physiology.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Aug 13 min read


VDOT RUNNING CALCULATOR: 5 PACES, 1 RACE RESULT, 60 SECONDS
Easy runs drift faster because a faster pace feels productive. Hard runs drift slower because holding true threshold effort is uncomfortable. Give it a few months and both zones blur into one gray, medium-hard pace that trains nothing particularly well.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Jul 303 min read


IRONMAN TRIATHLON CUTOFF TIME CHECKER: LET'S RUN ONE ATHLETE'S ACTUAL NUMBERS THROUGH IT
Once a triathlon checkpoint is missed, the tool doesn't calculate anything past it. Her day would already be over under official rules at that point, so there's no fabricated finish-line number to display beyond a line the race itself would have already enforced — even though her adjusted run pace of 13:26 per mile would have been perfectly fine if she'd actually gotten the chance to run it.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Jul 284 min read


How to Find the Best Triathlon Training Plan | Andiamo²®
The best triathlon training plan is whichever one starts where you actually are and builds at a pace your body and your schedule can absorb. Getting there means working through five questions, in this order: current fitness, experience level, weekly training capacity, race distance and goal, and only then, weeks remaining.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Jul 278 min read


TRIATHLON COURSE AND WEATHER ADJUSTMENT CALCULATOR: YOUR FLAT-COURSE TIME MEETS THE ACTUAL COURSE
Picture two numbers side by side. One is your predicted finish time on a flat course in perfect weather. The other is what that same fitness actually produces on the course you're racing — 1,500 feet of climbing, 88 degrees by early afternoon.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Jul 264 min read


TRIATHLON RACE PACE STRATEGY CALCULATOR: WHY GOING OUT TOO HARD ON THE BIKE WRECKS YOUR RUN
The single most common way triathlon races go sideways. Is not a lack of training. A pacing decision made an hour or two before it actually mattered, when the legs still felt fresh and the effort still felt sustainable.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Jul 244 min read


Does Your Goal Triathlon Actually Fit Your Life? Try the Time Budget Planner
Athletes pick a distance based on what sounds like the right next challenge, then discover partway through the build that their actual week never had room for it. The hours were never the problem. Nobody had counted them honestly against what the distance actually requires.

Paul M Johnson - CNC,CSNC,PES
Jul 225 min read
bottom of page