In this super special episode, we asked the amazing members of our community what they are most afraid of when it comes to endurance training and racing. They delivered with thoughtful, insightful responses that helped us come up with a ton of content for our longest episode yet! Topics include: fears related to training and conditioning; mental or psychological fears like falling short of goals or expectations; hesitations about technique and skills (including, yes, open water swimming); concerns about nutrition, health, and body composition; and fears about equipment and gear mishaps on the race course. We share our thoughts and experiences navigating these fears and helpful strategies that have helped us overcome them as athletes and coaches. Check it out!
Coaching and training insights:
Katie:
Thoughts on training at altitude
HR - up, perceived effort - up, sleep - disturbed
Return to sea level - feel great!
Reset days in practice -- Pay attention to Oura ring data from the last couple of weeks on physiological stress during the day
How it measures stress during the day: HR, HRV, motion, body temp. Important guide but not data alone doesn’t reflect your holistic well being.
Saying no to more things (if it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no)
You don’t have to be productive all of the time
2 insights from strength training:
Hill running - great for strength and speed work.
AA strength training story with weighted step ups - don’t forget to breathe when strength training.
Jim:
Concussion: Importance of wiping workouts off the training plan no matter how much you want to bump your fitness and focus on serious recovery. Niggles / slight injuries can often be healed or prevented from being bigger issues if you just clear your plate for 2 - 3 days.
Started to experiment with a new run cues / technique program from the Innerrunner - Lawrence van Lingen. I signed up for the free 10 RUNNING CUES TO TRANSFORM YOUR RUNNING Especially enjoy the shift forward from the hips, not lean forward from the ankles cue. Also incorporating backward walking into my warmup and the “awesomizer” hip opening exercises.
Check out: 4 Drills to Improve Your Running Form, with Lawrence van Lingen
Ironman (or any long distance) racing and training fear topics:
Today we have a special episode thanks to our listeners. We reached out to you for questions on fears in training and racing. And you responded with important and thoughtful questions. Every one of these questions and comments is something that we have all felt at one time or another in our athletic journey.
The questions were varied across all aspects of our endurance activities. To help us categorize the questions, it might be helpful to summarize the five major areas of concentration for training and racing. These are:
1) Training / Conditioning - the actual workouts themselves, getting you aerobically and metabolically fit, durable and race ready.
2) Mental Training - training and racing mental skills, cultivating a mastery mindset, balancing passion vs obsession, confidence, persistence, grit, patience. Facing fears and seeing them as opportunities for growth.
3) Technique / Skills - this can range from swimming technique to run drills to bike handling to race skills. As triathletes we have many skills to acquire across all sports and racing.
4) Nutrition / Health - covering everything from health and proper day to day nutrition and hydration to training and racing fueling.
5) Equipment / Gear - we love our gear! And we also need to know how to use and maintain our gear (more thoughts on that later).
We think of these above as interlocking circles like the Olympic rings, each one related and connected to each other. And they all collate up into one big ring which is endurance racing.
Or think of them as all ingredients in a soup that are combined into one pot which is racing. Some soups will be just right, others may need ingredient enhancements in order to balance the flavor and palatability.
Each question tends to hit multiple rings but we have categorized each question in their primary category.
1) Training / Conditioning:
Catastrophic injury: Two types of injuries -- acute/traumatic and overuse. Overuse injuries usually give you warning signs, refer to our injury prevention episode and be in tune with your body and in communication with your coach to avoid these.
Acute/traumatic are scarier - think bike crash, etc.
Jim: April 2019 IM LP mattress moving story. Popped a disc. Super hard not to feel like all the training and effort was wasted but it wasn’t. I eventually recovered and was super fit going into the remainder of the summer. A setback but not a fatality.
Katie: how we manage this fear: life is dangerous. Driving your car is dangerous, walking down the street, etc. All we can really do is (1) take a bunch of precautions for safety and (2) do your best to make sure that your sport is not the only thing in your life that matters. When healthy it can help to ask yourself, what would I do if tomorrow I couldn’t do my sport? If you can’t come up with any answers, then you may want to make a change and re-evaluate.
Balance / trade offs between training and other aspects of life such as social, family; related is being thought of as selfish. Relates back to Season Planning and getting your family / support crew on board with your goals.
Recommend The Passion Paradox by Brad Stulberg & Steve Magness.
A few key takeaways:
Harmonious passion (internal drive, love for what you're doing) is associated with improved health, performance, and life satisfaction.
Obsessive passion (external validation, love of results) is associated with burnout, anxiety, and depression.
Balance is overrated. There are times to go all in. But then you need to be self-aware to not turn passion into obsession. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Katie -- “balance is bullshit’’ / life as a pendulum
After your race is over, reflect on the mastery mindset and practices that helped you achieve your goal. You can use that same drive and process toward other goals and projects.
Not knowing where I should be fitness wise at various stages of training. Am I falling behind to reach my race goals. How to tell progression?
We often do a fitness test - 2 x 10 run test and FTP test right before starting the Specific Prep phase so we have an accurate picture of where Base training has delivered you. And/or sign up for a local race as this provides great organic fitness testing.
From these tests, we develop run pace charts and proper % of FTP intervals for your Spec Prep phase workouts.
Race Simulations give us three chances to test out these paces and percentages along with nutrition / hydration tactics/strategies.
If in doubt where you are at, talk to your coach. We have a very good sense of where you are at based on your training, history and race goals.
How to maximize training while traveling
Jim: Usually I move the opposite direction with most of my athletes and use travel as a time to recover or do the minimum effective dose. Travel, whether business or personal, is stressful and busy. With that said, I have some road warrior athletes who make it work regardless of what city they are in. They are mentally strong to do their workout on a hotel spin bike!
Katie: map routes and search for pools/gyms etc. beforehand to eliminate the stressor of figuring it all out
2) Technique / Skills:
Drowning / open water swimming / things biting me in the water (equally a technique/skills and mental training topic)
Open water is unique in triathlon as it hits on four of the above rings or buckets:
Physical - Training enough to swim the full race distance.
Mental - With any swimming, it’s a battle between your amygdala and your prefrontal cortex. One part of your brain is screaming it's not natural to have your head in the water and the other part of your brain is saying it’s safe, logical and a necessary part of your sport. Add deep, dark water to the equation and it’s a real brain challenge.
Skills - being able to naturally sight every 7 - 10 strokes and read the water, light conditions and navigation while avoiding dozens to hundreds of my fellow participants.
Gear - purchasing the correct wetsuit and goggles that allow you to express your fitness and skills.
No wonder this is one tough nut to crack!
Ideally, during the Specific Prep phase we get into the open water at least 3 - 5 times before your race. Familiarity will breed comfort. We can also practice a lot with your wetsuit in the pool so that it opens up / becomes more comfortable. During the last 12 weeks before your A race, you should practice open water sighting in the pool at least once a week.
Non-wetsuit legal swims
Ironman has a high desire to run every race as a wetsuit race. They don’t want 1,500 people swimming without the safety and protection of a wetsuit
We will practice a lot of non-wetsuit race like simulations in the pool, mostly distance sets and open water sighting
If you know your race will be non-wetsuit, practice in the open water without one (always with a swim safety buoy). Even better get some of your friends to join to practice a group start and drafting.
Transitions: Not knowing what to do or feeling lost race day
Yes, transition areas can be confusing at first. Ideally you will take 5 minutes before your race to walk through transition to notice the swim in / bike out & bike in / run out flow. I like to physically walk through the various entrances and exits, visualizing the flow of the transition. They are actually very logical and the flow will make sense to you once you are there. (Transition maps are really hard to read and understand!)
And we practice transitions before each race so you are familiar with helmet/bike shoes on, running with your bike out of transition and mounting at the start line. And then reverse that: dismount at line, run in with bike, take off helmet, bike shoes and put on run shoes and race belt (along with any other gear you want to bring on the run).
Riding too hard up Hills in a race, training with poor form/habits (especially when you are training alone 90% of the time)
We encourage our athletes to learn race skills by racing. For example if you are an IM or HIM racer, ideally you will have done 2 - 3 shorter races before your “A” event. Racing will teach you racing, there is no substitute. Even a local 5K will teach you something about racing. It is a rich learning environment.
As coaches we are looking at your interval splits so important on some key workouts to hit your lap button. If you find that you are not pacing well or overcooking your first few intervals and then fading hard, talk to your coach.
Swimming poorly during a race is very common. This is why we emphasize a lot of open water sighting practice in the pool in the Specific Prep phase and even using your wetsuit in the pool for part of your workout.
3) Nutrition / Health:
Proper race fueling and potential catastrophic GI issues
Importance of testing all nutrition / hydration during training
Have Plan A & B for nutrition on race day. Very common for the product and/or flavor you always train with to not be very palatable on race day. Have a backup flavor and/or products.
If IM, use your bike and run special needs bags to have multiple nutrition options.
Changing body / less control of physique when optimizing for performance instead of aesthetics
Thinking about fitness as a feeling
4) Psychology / Mental Training:
In our Life Stress Score (LSS) episode, we touched on developing a meditation or a mindfulness practice. Developing our mental skills isn’t a marginal gain, it’s a maximal gain and its importance is equal to physical training.
Mindfulness is paying attention, in a particular way, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.
Mindfulness helps us manage training and racing challenges such as performance anxiety, racing emotions, enhance focus and concentration, and summon the willingness to endure during difficult moments.
But the key is you have to treat mindfulness just as you treat physical training. Day in, day out, dedicated practice. Like physical training, consistent mental training builds mental fitness over time, drip by drip.
The longer your event, the more important mental skills training seems to play a role. Ironically the longer your event, often this is the first practice to get dropped as who has time?! Your mind is a muscle and it needs time to practice.
Jasmin Paris, the first women finisher of the Barkley Marathons credits self belief as a major component to her recent accomplishment.
As we work through the following questions, we’ll add our insights as coaches and athletes and encourage you to supplement our experience and advice with a regular, mental training practice. As a reminder we are not sport psychologists, we just play one on podcasts! We encourage everyone to reach out to a professional for a deeper understanding.
Not performing to potential / falling short (sub topics: A/B/C goals; setting realistic goals; “secret goals”)
Related: Feeling like I’ve put a ton of energy into getting better at something and then not getting better.
Endurance training is often very slight, subtle changes until it’s not. You could go months without feeling much faster / fitter and then one day it just pops through to the next level. Unfortunately we never know when that day will arrive. That’s part of the allure and part of the frustration.
Endurance athletes need to be optimistic by nature.
Endurance athletes need to view big events as challenges not as threats. You can write out your negative thoughts and then replace them with positive ones.
Not having enough gas at the end and not able to get through the finish line! // Crapping out on course
Pacing is such a critical skill. Once you nail it, you’ll really be able to express your fitness.
Doubt is a very natural feeling. But think back on all the hard work and commitment.
Not finishing; in races / long training sessions, I've had my bad inner monologue tease me with the idea of not finishing. "No need to go up the hill, just turn around and call it." "Here's where the marathon and half marathon fork; just do the half-marathon, that's enough."
Start working on your inner dialogue in training nearly every day and particularly during the last 12 weeks before your A race.
Develop some breathwork/visualization/affirmations or other such empowering tools.
Humans tend to be bad at predicting the future. When many athletes drop from a race they tend to regret it a few minutes later. It’s natural to be discouraged in the moment and feel like it’s just too hard. But just by being aware of that emotion, you can take a more objective perspective on race day decisions. You aren’t your negative thoughts and emotions. You are a committed, well-trained athlete who can go the distance!
I’ve started to use the mantra: “It’s a privilege to suffer” or “this is what I came here for, this is where I’m supposed to be”
Additional Resources:
A great pre-race or pre-training guided meditation by Dr Justin Ross: https://insighttimer.com/justinross/guided-meditations/race-day-guided-meditation
There are hundreds of books on sports mental training. I recommend Running Within by Jerry Lynch & Warren Scott as a starter.
(5) Equipment / Gear:
Bike mechanical
Get curious about your bike. Start with wiping it down after every ride. Every good carpenter knows their tools. This is your craft, know your tools well.
Lube your chain before every (or after) every ride
Watch YouTube videos on bike maintenance
Learn how to change a tire - this will be a game changer psychologically
Have a Plan A & B if something like a power meter is not working.
The reality is that very few things go wrong on the bike. The most common occurrence is a flat tire (which you will know how to change because you are prepared!)
Listener Questions:
What should we think about when moving workouts?
Don’t do hard things back to back, except a Sunday long run on tired legs is OK / encouraged
Avoid heavy lifting the day before hard sessions
Give yourself an easier day before a weekend brick workout
If you are moving something due to travel, consider taking an extra Day Off that week. Organic recovery.
Why do we taper / how do we think about designing the perfect taper?
Endurance athletes are experts at ignoring chronic fatigue! We are almost always up for more.
Taper: shed chronic fatigue, heal niggles, heal up your aerobic system (about 10 days) in order to go deep.
Principle: Rather be 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained
It takes courage to taper. Ignore all the FB race pages, most are littered with people doing their biggest workouts a week before the race.
Challenge of the week:
Katie: Say no to one thing that isn’t a hell yes
Jim: Compliment or thank a service worker
Gear pick of the week:
Katie: Polar Verity sense HRM
Jim: Nathan Zipster Max