No Fear In Racing

If you've prepared well, there should be no fear on the start line. Only excitement and curiosity!

Transcript

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Hi, and welcome to the Lonely Tri Athlete. My name is Todd, and I am the Lonely Tri-Ahlete coming to you live from Victoria, British Columbia on this Sunday, December 21st, first day of winter here in the North Hemisphere. And it was uh it's been a cold and rainy and windy time, let me tell you. But that's part for the course for where I live. And wherever you live, I'm wishing you the best of training conditions. If it's terrible, guess what? You've got inside. If it's wonderful, well, congratulations, it's wonderful. You know, as I've been thinking over the past week of what to talk about this week, I've been ruminating on a topic which is quite often raised by triathletes of all ages, which is this notion of being nervous or fearful on race day. And how do you overcome your nerves to race your best? Well, I have been on this journey for a couple of decades. So let me tell you what I have figured out. And I'm doing this whole podcast, by the way, with no notes. Normally I write things out so I know what my next point is, but I don't feel like it, not feeling like writing stuff out tonight. So I'm just gonna go off the top of my noggin. And let's start with this whole notion of being fearful on race day. The fear on race day is comes from one of two sources. Well, the source is your own brain, obviously, but the main sort of uh theme is either I'm not sure how to race my best, and or I'm not sure if I'm going to race my best. And I get it, you've spent six, seven, eight, nine, ten, a year, twelve months training for this event that you're in, and you want it to go well, and you don't know if it will go well, you don't know what how to ensure that it goes as well as it can. I went through this when I did Iron Man for the first time back in 2008. I I had like a multi-year lead up to that race, and it started from doing my first marathon to my first half Iron Man to my first Iron Man. And on the day of the Iron Man, first of all, it cost an arm and a leg, even back in 2008. And I had invested so many years in the sport with this dream of having a great Iron Man. It was like the pinnacle of my experience thus far, and I really wanted it to go well. So, how do you combat? Maybe I'm not the right word, how do you deal with this idea, this fear on the day of, which is rooted in the uh not being exactly sure how to perform at your best, and or having the doubt or fear that you're not going to do your best. Well, it comes down to this. Uh as far as my experience has taught me, there is one recipe for doing your best in a triathlon. It depends on the distance, obviously. So I'm gonna focus on Olympic distance uh events, but it it pretty much translates to other distances, adjust intensities as you see fit. But focusing on an Olympic distance event, your swim should feel like a seven out of ten. And again, these are broad recommendations. It's not for everyone, but it's for most everyone. So your swim should feel so a six or slower feels relaxing, feels easy. It might burn a bit in your shoulders or your back as the distance progresses, but the intensity feels like you're not in any kind of trouble, you're not concerned. An eight on the other on the other hand, feels like this hurts. I'm really on, I'm approaching the edge. If I go any faster, I'm not sure I can continue. So the ideal sweet spot is a seven. It's where it doesn't feel like you're relaxed, but it feels like you're, hmm, how do I put it? You're putting in a solid effort. That's how I would characterize it. You're putting in a solid effort. You're not worried that you can't sustain the pace, but you know that you're that you're going faster than relaxing. That's what I would consider a seven. That should be your swim pace. Your bike pace should be the eight. Your bike pace should within the first 10 minutes of starting the bike, you should feel like I'm a warrior. I'm out here to win. I'm putting in like a super solid effort, right? That you're you're on, I wouldn't say on the edge of red line, but you can see the red line in the in the short distance. You're you're flirting with going too fast, but do not go too fast. That's a nine. An eight says, I am I'm breathing hard, I'm having to focus on my energy, I'm keeping my cadence like at 90 or 95 RPM, and your mind isn't drifting into you know, daydreaming about what's going to happen after the race. Your mind is in the moment. Why? Because you're putting in a substantial effort. That's an eight out of ten, where you know that if you go a little bit faster, now you're not sure if you can keep it up. So stay at that eight. It it hurts, but it's like a good hurt. You know, that sort of, I am really laying it out there kind of feeling. That should be the bike. The run should also feel like an eight for the first half. You should not be like having wonderful daydreams during the run. You should be all business. Feeling the intensity, feeling the burn, managing it. You have to complete 10k. So I'm talking about an Olympic distance again. So the first half is at the eight of the 10. After the first half, I'd say somewhere around six or seven kilometers, you need to start feeling a nine. A nine feels like I don't like this. I hurt. I'm this is really uncomfortable. A nine should feel like you are in it. And at least the way I talk to myself during the nine is I'm suffering more than anybody else in this race because I want to do my best. This is this is where the suck happens. This is where I remind myself pain is temporary. Good feelings are forever, satisfaction is forever. I just look around at the field and I just see most people, they don't look like they're suffering as much as I am. That means I'm doing the right job. So every once in a while you come across a person who looks like they're really suffering. And that should make you feel jealous because they're at the nine. And so you finish that race just oh like it feels like you've laid everything out there, and that's the end. So again, seven in a swim, which is which is you're putting out a good effort, moderately difficult, you're not nervous about anything. Bike, eight out of ten, uh, you're really putting in an effort. You know, if you go much faster, you're cooked. So you have to actually hold yourself back from a nine. But that eight is you're a warrior, you are laying it out there, baby. And on the run, you keep that warrior mentality. You are all business. You are all business. And then in the last half, now you're like, let's see how much you can suffer. And that really separates people who podium or people who do you know close to their their optimal, is that ability or that willingness. We all have the ability, that willingness to suffer. But that suffering, in my opinion, in my experience, that suffering happens in the last half of the run. Because if you suffer in the swim, you'll you'll just you couldn't sustain an effort in the bike worth anything, and you'll just walk in the run. If you suffer in the bike, you won't be able to keep a good pace on the run. So the suffering is for the last half of the run. So let's go back to the beginning. For anyone that's saying, I'm nervous about how you know how this race is gonna go. Well, forget about being nervous. You know how it's gonna go. Seven out of ten swim, eight out of ten bike, eight of the ten run, the last half of the run is a nine out of ten. And that's it. So your nervousness about how to execute during the race should be gone. That is that is the equation. Now, you can play around with that equation to your heart's content. You can make your swim an eight of the ten, you can make your your bike a seven and a half of the ten, and you run a nine of the ten from the start. I don't really care how you slice and dice it, but for the bell curve, for most people, that is the best way to run an Olympic distance race. So if you're running longer races or shorter races, that intensity measurement is gonna change a bit for you. But I don't have that much experience at other race distances, so I could guess at them, but it would only be a guess. I'm gonna stay in my lane. I know what it takes to do well in an Olympic distance, and that's what it is. So that should take care of the first fear about I don't know how this race is going to go. Yeah, well, now you do seven, eight, nine. Or seven, eight, eight, and then nine for the last half of the run. The other part of the fear that comes from, well, I don't know if that strategy is going to net me the result that I'm looking for. And there is a your problem. The result you're looking for, you shouldn't have a firm number in mind. I mean, that's just my perspective. I think effort is what you're looking for. Uh sticking to the strategy is what you're looking for. What it what you end up doing is what it is. Um, so your desire to have a certain time, um, I just don't see how you can affect that without implementing a strategy that gets you there. So take away that fear of wondering if you're gonna do as well as you want to do. You're going to do as well as you can do. That really should be your primary concern. Also, if you're worried about how you're gonna place in the race, you gotta get that out of your mind. I know it's fun to think about and it's fun to dream about, but it all depends on who shows up at that race. That is out of your control, completely out of your control. So there you go. There's there's your six, your secret to race success. You got the strategy, and worrying about how it's gonna go, forget about it. Be curious about how it's gonna go. Be like really like this, it should make you smile before the swim starts. Because you know your strategy. Now you're thinking, I wonder how this is gonna go. I wonder, like, I just you project forward to the run, even just like, am I gonna have gas in the tank? I you don't know, but you're gonna run that strategy, you're gonna see how it goes. Now, let I started at the end, but we need to go back to the beginning. How do you get yourself to the point where you're standing on a start line and you've got this strategy and you've set yourself up for optimum success? Well, that depends on your prior training. Well, how do I train optimally? Oh, the million-dollar question. How do you get the best training plan for that race or races that you're aiming for? Well, there's really three ways to do it. I think the best way, in my experience, is to get a program, pay for a program that has some sort of machine learning or artificial intelligence, some sort of program that will uh adjust with you as you get stronger throughout the training season, that will adjust your runs from long to short and hard, mix them up appropriately. The best way to get that done is through AI, is through machine learning or hiring a coach, one or the other. But that costs money. If you've got the money to do it, you can spend the money. Get yourself a highly ranked coach, uh, pay for some AI programs like Rana for Running or Trainer Road for Cycling. Actually, Trainer Road is great for cycling and triathlon. I used have used Trainer Road for a decade or almost a decade. I love it. Uh, highly recommended. But that that costs money. Now, some of you listening don't have a lot of money to uh allocate towards the sport. Okay, second best would be to educate yourself on the principles of endurance training and then write your own plan. Uh for that, I would recommend buying a book called The Triathlete's Training Bible. I'm sure there are a couple other books out there, but Joe Friel wrote the fourth edition, I believe, of the Triathlete's Training Bible a couple of years ago. This is a large tome, and it educates you from start to finish on the basics of triathlon training, endurance training, periodization, what the difference between base building, build building, specialized training, you know, all the run-ups to your races, recovery, nutrition, types of strength workouts. I mean, the triathlete triathlete training bible really has it all. Now, it requires some time for you to read and absorb and understand, but it's an education that's well worth it because at the end of that book, you will be able to put together your own plan, your own annual periodized training plan. Let's say you're a little lazy and you read the book, but you don't really want to put together your own plan, then you can grab a free plan off the internet, a 16-week Olympic distance triathlon training plan or you know, 24-week Iron Man plan, and you can just follow the plan that you got off the internet, but at least you have the foundation of the knowledge that you gained from the triathlete's training Bible to understand why is the plan calling for this kind of workout this week? Uh, what if I don't have time for that workout? What are some alternatives? What if I want to do more? Should I should I take extra rest? I mean, you can take any kind of cookie-cutter plan off the internet and using your knowledge, adapt it. That would be the second best option. The last best option is just to grab that cookie cutter plan with no education or understanding of why how it was created. Really, any plan is better than no plan. And that's how I started triathlon. I just grabbed any plan off the internet and I and I did it, and I got through my first couple races. Then I started to learn, oh, what worked for me, and read more books about heart rate training and then power training on the bike. You know, as you get into the sport, you start geeking out about all of the elements of it. And uh, but that's a good train, that's a good spot for someone that has gotten like no money and very little time to educate themselves on how to formulate a good endurance plan. Just grab something off the net, give it a shot. If it works, great, you can build on that. If it doesn't work, you've learned something, get a different plan. Right? So there's there's many ways to slice this up, but this idea of being fearful really should you get that out of your mind. Because come race day, you're gonna have your strategy. So that should take your fear of what you're doing out of it. You know what you're gonna do. You know what you're gonna do for the swim and the bike and the run. Uh, worrying about how you're going to do that gets answered by all of the months of training that you did. Because you learn through all those long runs, those track workouts, those VO2 max sessions on the bike, eating enough, not eating enough, not eating the right thing. You learn in the months of the lead up to that race what works and what doesn't work, so that when you get to the race, when you get to that start line, you is nothing is unfamiliar to you. You know how this is going to go. You don't know exactly the time, but you know how it's going to feel. It's going to feel hard in certain sections, and you're prepared for it. Why? Because you already went through that in your training. So again, going some sort of the end point to the beginning point, you're going to have your strategy. You're going to give up this notion of having a time that you want to nail. You're going to do what you're going to do, and you're going to feel good about that because you had a plan that you worked from the beginning, either based on coaching, based on AI coaching, based on your own education, or just based on something you grabbed off the net. But you're going to go into this race with a foundation, and nothing is going to be new to you by the time you get to race day. So I hope I covered this broad topic for all of those who are in race season right now. Use the strategy, lock it down, and don't worry how it's going to go. It's all a learning experience. And for all of you starting base training, get a plan. Educate yourself on how to build a plan or get a coach or buy a program like Trainer Road. And you can be assured that you're going to be building a foundation that's going to take you to that start line and in good stead. All right, that is my encouragement. There should be no fear. In triathlon racing, there should only be preparation and then intense curiosity and fun. We do this for fun, unless you're a professional and you've got a win to put bread on the table. Most of us do this for fun, for self-exploration, for being around other people who are as insane as we are. So, yeah, there you have it. There should be no fear in racing. Take that to the bank. All right, I'll talk to you next time. Peace.