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 [...]
As I described in Part I of my experience at the recently completed USAT National Olympic and Sprint Championships, my first race, the Olympic distance, was a source of some tribulation for me. That discomfort continued through the day post-race and when I woke up and prepared for my Sprint-distance race the following day. Pre-race [...]
As I indicated in my last segment of “I Practice What I Preach,” you definitely want to listen to your body when it’s sending messages of injury to you. Moreover, you want to listen when your body is whispering, so you don’t have to listen to it when it’s screaming at you (then it’s too [...]
I have a huge passion for technology in my athletic life. I have a smartwatch (COROS), heart-rate monitor (Polar Verity Sense), power meter (Quarq), bicycle head unit (Garmin), running pod (COROS), smart swim goggles (FORM), training platform (TrainingPeaks), virtual cycling platform (Zwift), and more. Admittedly, I haven’t gotten blood lactate, glucose, or sweat monitoring devices, [...]
Let’s be realistic. The primary obstacle to pushing your physical limits is pain. Your ability to tolerate and manage the pain you experience in your training will determine how hard, fast, and far you go, the gains you make in your fitness, and how you perform in races. So, the $64,000 question is: What can [...]
Global Cycling Network, the publisher of my new book, The Complete Guide to Cycling Psychology, has created several video clips from my visit to their HQ in Bath, England back in April that describes some of the useful tools that the book offers cyclists (and any endurance athlete). Here's the first one about how to manage [...]
Our survival instinct developed to protect ourselves from harm and to ensure our survival. This fundamental drive has been wired into our DNA through evolution since we climbed out of the primordial muck more than 530 billion years ago. And it has worked pretty darned well for most of human existence. Unfortunately, times have changed [...]
I’ve been invited by Working Triathlete, one of the leading endurance-sport training programs in the U.S., to participate in a series of podcasts that focuses on the mental side of triathlon. In the series, we’ll be doing a deep dive into all things psychological and emotional in the complex and demanding sport of triathlon. In [...]
What’s the most difficult part of a triathlon for you? Few people will say the beginning because they are excited and full of energy at the start of the race. Some say the middle of a race, particularly those doing 70.3s and Ironmans, because they’ll have been out on the course for several hours, are [...]
In my last article, I introduced you to my concept of a "chamber of pain." In this Part II, I will show you how to empty your emotional chamber of pain. The only way to stop the toxic contents of your chamber of pain from contaminating your life forever is to empty it. At the [...]
