I have been working with athletes for decades helping them to strengthen their minds the same way they strengthen their bodies. Athletes don’t wait to get injured before increasing their physical fitness; instead, they get stronger to prevent injury. That’s why I call it “mental training,” the mind needs to be exercised to withstand the [...]
My first “A”s series of races of 2024, the USAT Multisport National Championships are just 10 days away. I’m already starting to think about and get organized for the races. My goal for big races, particularly those that require air travel, is to front load and organize all of the tasks that burn cognitive and [...]
You may be wondering what sports nutrition, which is intended to fuel our bodies during triathlon training and racing, has to do with our minds. Well, the fact is that fueling and hydrating has as much of an impact on our minds as they do on our bodies. People often separate the mind from the [...]
Before I begin this article, you may have noticed that I changed the name of this series related to my work with several professional triathletes. I felt that the new name, What the Pros Do, is clearer and more direct. Back in 2021, I published two articles about race-day routines (here and here). A lot [...]
Imagine what it’s like to be a professional triathlete. Everyone is genetically gifted, all use the latest fitness testing and training technology, all are in incredible physical condition, all fuel and hydrate scientifically, all have fast bikes and fast shoes. So, on race day, what separates the winners from the also-rans? Two key things, I [...]
I am fortunate to be working with three outstanding professional triathletes who are also exceptional human beings (they have all agreed to allow me to introduce them to you): 1) Ruth Astle, from the UK, is a 3x Ironman winner; Lisa Tertsch, from Germany, is ranked 5th in the world by World Triathlon and is [...]
I just returned from Clash Miami, part of the Clash Endurance series that is held at motor speedways in Florida, where I raced in the Sprint on Saturday and what I called the Olympic + (6 miles longer bike, 2 miles longer run) on Sunday. In a nutshell, my mind was in its best place [...]
The goal for every determined triathlete—the Holy Grail of our sport, you might say—is the ability to maintain or even increase effort and decrease (or at least minimize) the exertion pain you feel during hard workouts and in races. The problem, as we can all attest to, is that it is extremely difficult to resist [...]
What do Mikaela Shiffrin, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, Petra Vlhova, Alexis Pinturalt, Sofia Goggia, Corinne Sutter, Marco Schwartz, and several other World Cup ski racers have in common? They all sustained serious injuries that ended their seasons prematurely (except Mikaela who has missed several races so far due to a knee injury). As my title suggests, [...]
When triathletes think about technology, they typically think about HR monitors, bike computers, power meters, GPS, and the like. Yet, sports technology has been around long before the invention of the silicon chip and the internet. In fact, every advancement that has enabled triathletes to swim (e.g., goggles), bike (e.g., aerobars), and run (e.g., carbon plates) [...]
