Latest / Find Your Edge: Training, Nutrition + Longevity for Endurance Athletes / Goal Setting in Triathlon: How to Maintain Joy in Training & Racing Ep 81

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Goal Setting in Triathlon: How to Maintain Joy in Training & Racing Ep 81 · Find Your Edge: Training, Nutrition + Longevity for Endurance Athletes

• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Find your Edge podcast and happy new year.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited that we are in 2025 and today's topic is all about a new year, new goals setting, triathlon goals the right way not the smart way, but the right way and to go into detail on that and how maybe you could rework the way your goal setting process is is, coach Carly, to get into our sports psychology and the inner workings of our brains, which is always so fun.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the show, coach Carly.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Hello, hello and we love a good smarkle, by the way.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean nothing against smarkles.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, they're great and we'll incorporate them into what we talk about today too, just sort of, maybe, a new layer to those of you listening that you can add to how you're setting your goals this year.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love that because oftentimes when people come to us for coaching, they're like I want to do Kona or I want to do which is totally great, right, Like have big goals, dream big, totally into that.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: But what is maybe a better process of breaking down a goal?
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: So tell us about that.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, number one fan of big, scary goals over here.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Love them, love to set them, love to reach them.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: We don't reach them unless we set them Right.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: So if we want to go to Kona, the first step is saying we want to go to Kona, yeah, but the important part of being realistic about what it takes to get there, and certainly won't use Kona as an example for the rest of today because they know that's not on everyone's radar, but we do.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: If anybody doesn't know what we're talking about, kona as an example for the rest of today, because they know that's not on everyone's radar, but we do.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: If anybody doesn't know what we're talking about, kona is fear is typically where they've had the Ironman World Championship, but now it switches.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: One year it's in Kona, hawaii, and then the next year it's in Nice.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: And what they've done and this was starting as a two years ago, I think is that they flip-flop them.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: So the men will do Kona and then they'll do, while the women are doing a niece, and then they switch.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: So anyway, let's just say I'm in world championships, right?
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Go big, go big.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Yes, but how do we break that down a little bit more into, you know, edible pieces?
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and maybe your version of Kona is your first sprint or your first 5k, whatever.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Whatever that big scary goal is for you, and how we break that down into manageable trunks and how we use that to build confidence along the way.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: So when we get to the big scary goal, we feel confident that we're going to take it on and accomplish it so cool, all right.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: So you have outcome goals as the first piece.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: So tell us about outcome goals.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: What are they?
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: How are they important?
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Outcome goals.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Outcome goals are what we just said.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: I want to go to Kona.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to accomplish X, y, z.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Being that it's January and the new year, a lot of times someone's new year's resolution will be an outcome goal.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: It's the end result of what we want to accomplish.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: It's kind of named aptly.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: It's the outcome, right.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: So I want to do a sprint triathlon, I want to finish a sprint.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: That's what I want to do.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: That's the outcome of what you're going to accomplish.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: How do we break it down and what other goals do we set along the way to achieving that outcome goal?
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: I'd say, for most of our athletes that have been working with us, outcome goals typically look more like time goals.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: So I've done maybe a 70.3 a couple of times and I'm now shooting for a sub 530 or something whatever.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Again, make this relative to wherever you are in your triathlon or endurance journey.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: But oftentimes those will look like time-related goals for the athletes that we're typically working with.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: But again, outcome is just what we wanna see.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: After a race is finished is what that outcome goal looks like, and it's typically where people start and finish their goal setting and they say oh my, yeah.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: My goal for 2025 is a 530 70.3.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, apply my smart goals and make them, you know, achievable.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: And all of that great stuff, beautiful.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: How do we break it down?
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: We break it down into performance goals and then we break it even further down into process goals.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Walk us through this yes.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: They are also very aptly named and I love particularly when this form gets broken down into triathlon because it's so simply applied in a triathlon context that it makes it really digestible for triathletes to understand.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: It gets a little more nuanced with other sports because it doesn't just fit so perfectly.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: So in triathlon, the most simple way I can explain this is your outcome goal is typically that time goal, what you want.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: After the race is done, you say yep, I achieved this goal.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Because of this, your performance goals are what you're going to accomplish during the race that allow you to accomplish that outcome goal.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: So if we're going to do a 530 70.3, what do we need to do during that race as a performance goal to accomplish a 530 outcome?
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Does that make sense?
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: So, like, if I am swimming, like if I swim like a 230 hundred yard and I'm biking 14 miles per hour and I'm running 11 minute miles, 5 30 is probably gonna be a stretch.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: If we were to work backwards of like, okay, if I'm gonna perform at 5 30, I need to have sub three hour bike and I like, okay, that's.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: That might be too big of a leap for where I'm at currently and that's okay, but maybe that's it.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Is that meant to like totally deflate us, or is that meant to rework our performance goals?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Great question, Will?
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: I'm going to get into that part in a second.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: So the performance goals also easily break down to and most commonly break down to.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: This is what I'm going to do.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Commonly break down to.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: This is what I'm going to do for my swim, this is what I'm going to do for my bike and this is what I'm going to do for my run.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Maybe you have some transition things that you're working on.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Maybe that, maybe that's a goal, maybe it's.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: It's heavily skewed to the swim.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I don't know, it can vary.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: But again, to most simply break this down, in triathlon, a swim, a bike, a run perfectly create a performance goal as you're heading into this A race.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: So we have something we're focused on in each discipline.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: If we can accomplish each of those, we get the outcome we're looking for.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: We break that down even further into process goals and this is where the magic happens.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: This is where the magic happens.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: What are we doing in training, in the process, to get to this race, that help us accomplish the performance goals?
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: So, if we need to swim in 30 minutes for a 70.3, what are we focused on in training that helps us get to that pace?
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Maybe you need more time in the open water, maybe you need to activate your laps more.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Maybe you need a better catch.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know what it is, but it's something right, something we're going to focus on in training.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: That's also a shameless plug why you should get a coach, but that doesn't mean that you have to.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: You can't accomplish your goals without a coach, Totally.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's sort of the magic of the coach, and I will leap forward and sort of say sometimes why we get better at accomplishing our goals when we have a coach.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: On top of like the accountability, your coach is really nitty gritty with your process goals and you might not outwardly talk about it.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: You might not be focused on it or realize that that's what your coach is doing, but your coach is nitty about these process goals.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: That's what their job is.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Right Is making sure that all of these things are targeted.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: So, when we get to the performance, we know what's going to happen and we're ready to go.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: We really want to focus on the process goals and that we're checking those boxes when we're doing them, because that's where we build our confidence too.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: So that's also the magic of process goals.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: So, if you're working with a coach, if you're not working with a coach either way, making sure we break that down into what am I doing right now that focuses on these performance goals that I have, and making sure that you're acknowledging when you're doing them.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: So, yes, I swam this week and I focused on activating my lats or I focused on my catch.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Whatever it was right, insert, whatever is applicable to you, but taking the time to acknowledge that you worked towards that goal each week and let it accumulate over time.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Now, by the time you get to your race, you're like, hey, no, I know I put in the work, I have the evidence, I checked in with myself, I checked in with my goals and I followed up throughout the whole thing, and then I mean obviously it sounds like we can apply that to bike run.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: And I mean this structure again.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: It really lends itself beautifully into triathlon, because triathlon breaks up so easy, but it can if you have a solely a running goal.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Maybe you're going for a marathon or half marathon, 5 Okay, I don't care what it is.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: It can be broken down into any sport in any context.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: What do you know?
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Maybe you're focused on staying in aero longer.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: That's a big one.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: It's a good one.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Cycling efficiency.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's eating while you're riding, maybe it's drinking while you're riding.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: I don't insert.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Whatever it is that you're focused on, that's going to help you get to your performance goal and result in your outcome goal.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: But that way we don't just have this big scary thing that we're looking at, of this massive goal that we want to accomplish.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: We have something that we can do today, in this week, that we can focus on, that will build up over time to accomplish that goal.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: And what's coming up for me is so often we have people who come to us like I want to get faster and I want to get stronger, which, in my mind, is great but super nebulous.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: One of our clients who came into us is, like I want to get faster on the bike and the things that are coming up in my mind what does your fit look like?
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: What's your gear ratio?
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: What's your RPM?
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: What's your gear ratio?
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: What's your RPM, what's your FTP, what's your lactate threshold and you know what, what's your powder rate ratio?
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Like so many different things that are coming up for me in terms of okay, how can we get this woman faster?
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Who is, who is newer to cycling and which?
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: That's the fun part about being new is that you make leaps and bounds of improvements in the first couple of years of your training and then we have to, you know, get a little bit more nitty gritty perhaps with some of these process goals of like okay, how can I dig into this a little bit deeper?
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: And same thing, like I don't know what this woman's strength training like.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Is she doing any strength training?
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Like, does she have any imbalances?
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: There's so many different things that you could dive into.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: But I feel like our typical strategy is like okay, I want to get faster, so I'm just going to pick this training plan and do it and then be upset when maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, I don't know.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: So this sounds like a way of ironing it out so that it can give us more direction and therefore more likelihood of achieving it.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and making it specific to you, right.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: So if two athletes are shooting for the same time in a 70.3, their performance and their process goals aren't going to be the same.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: They're going to be totally different.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Their outcome goal.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: They could both be shooting for a 530.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: But what they need to do on race day to get there could be totally opposite ends of the spectrum.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: You just don't know.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: So, and that kind of comes into this next portion that you were hinting to, of sort of having a range within your goals as well.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: So, in each of these layers, what is a realistic expectation, what is minimally acceptable for you?
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: And then the other end of the spectrum, I like to say, when the stars align, what is this stretch goal?
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: As we all know, particularly in long course triathlon, there's a lot of outside factors that can influence our times, outside of what our abilities are.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: So it might be a super windy day, maybe you have some some extra choppy water, things like that.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: That are out of our control.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: You drop a water bottle, yep.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, one railroad track and, and there goes your nutrition that you had.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Right, yep, so things like that that are out of our control that we don't want to derail our accomplishment of a goal because they're not in our control.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: So setting a realistic goal that if I do all the things in my control on this day, this is what I'll be capable of, a stretch goal being, if the stars align and the waters may become and there's no crazy bottles lost or winds, you know, and you just have that perfect race day and the weather's great and everything, just it's.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: It's what we all dream of.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Right, those are those kinds of goals like it's real nice when they happen.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: But we don't go into race day expecting that we're gonna have a perfect outside factor type of day and then you're minimally acceptable.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: So if I go into this race and a couple things do go wrong, what is minimally acceptable to me?
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: To feel like I still succeeded at this race, because, again, we're out there for a few hours.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: The longer the race, the more opportunities we have for things to go wrong.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: And what do we find acceptable for us to overcome and sort of maintain a level of acceptance in?
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: It's okay, things came at me today, I handled them and I still came out at the best that I could.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: So we kind of have these three markers that we go in with with our eyes set on this realistic goal of this.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Is what I'm capable of on an average day, average outside conditions, if you will, but I show up and I bring my A game.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: This is what I'm capable of and that's what we focus on, not the stretch goals.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: We really like the stretch goals because they're really fun and really great, but it's hard to get those perfect days out there.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: You guys, it's not you.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: If you've had a, if you've had a race day where it was just an awesome race day, you know what I'm talking about.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: When the weather's perfect, you don't hit any big congestion pockets on the ride and you just fly through and you nail your execution, but the day itself pans out well too.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: That combination is just magic.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: But we know it doesn't happen every time we race, which also is what makes it so wonderful when it does.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: But we can't expect it to happen that way every time, because it's just not gonna.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: It's reality.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: So let's not set ourselves up for failure by planning on it to be this perfect day and we, we perform to our best, but the day is not perfect right.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: So we're setting ourselves up for failure if we go and expecting the day to be perfect too.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I love that and I also love sort of coming away from like and there's nothing wrong with an outcome goal, but I another athlete is coming up in my head who just did, uh, clash daytona and they canceled the swim like the morning of.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: So here, if you had an outcome goal of a 530, like now, your brain is like uh, what?
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, now is it five?
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Is it like?
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Everything gets thrown off, including your, like now your T1 is removed and you're starting off going two by two on the bike.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: You never know what time you're going to start, and so it's like all of these things that are out of your control, and I am just so proud of how he handled it and how it was like well, that doesn't matter because the outcome goal was like so last on the rung, but my process goals is like okay, we had very specific heart rate and power goals for him to, and he still did it, even regardless of, like you know, these packs of people which, again, out of your control, right, you can't control who's drafting and who comes up and like it is what it is, and one of the first things he said to me was, like you might notice that there's some fluctuation in the power.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I was like, no, I, that to me was all normal stuff.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Right, it didn't look unusual.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: I was like you executed beautifully and then for his run goal was like just trust himself and listen to his body and maybe we luck out with a negative split.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: It like didn't perfectly work that way, but it was just like it was so nice to see that, using these process goals instead of the outcome goal, there was so much more enjoyment, yeah, training, enjoyment in the racing, and like more enjoyment and happiness in the outcome, irregardless of a time.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: So well, and I'm magical.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm a big fan, big, big fan.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: If you're one of my athletes, you know this.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: I don't let there be just a number.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: What else goes along with that number?
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: How do you want to feel when you cross that finish line?
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: What do you want to gain from this training?
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: When we get to the start line, what do you want to look back and be like, wow, I did those things.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: I feel like this, I feel accomplished, all of those things that come along with it.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Because the number is only to a certain extent in our control, but we can control, focusing on what we're building towards, how we're growing, all the progress that we're making and helping ourselves feel happy and accomplished in the sport that we're doing.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: To feel happy and accomplished through right, like that's.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: That's why we're here to be healthy and have enjoyment in something that that keeps us healthy.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: So if we're including those things in our goals, that helps us bring them to the forefront and feel that way, and that way when the day hits and again you can perform great and the day is just poo, it happens, you guys, it's out of our control, but we can still walk away feeling like you showed up and you did all the things.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: And I think the example you just gave is exactly that Like the swim was canceled and I still went out.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: I know I focused on my process goals, I came in, I hit my performance goals anyways, and I can walk away being like I did it.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: I did what I came here to do with the circumstances I was given.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's great.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Totally.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And I mean, you know not to be woo or anything, but maybe I do like to be woo, but you know you don't go to your deathbed to be like man.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad I accomplished that like 530 triathlon, but no, I'm glad that I grew through that process of how to challenge myself, how to take care of my body, how to listen to my body and how to pass that along to your kids, to your partner, to the people around you.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: People feed off of your energy and if your energy walking across the finish line is like I can't believe that I missed my goal by a second, no, it's like wow, I hydrated so well and I feel so much better.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I missed it by one second or, but whatever it is, yeah, okay, I can be like a little disappointed in it, but man, I'm so proud of myself for doing X, y and Z.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad that I smiled and high five.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: This is, this is my new thing is to smile at every single person I see on the race course, because that is why I'm there is to bring some joy and encouragement to other people who are doing hard things.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Like we don't have to have like super game face on all the time.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with game face I'm totally have been accused of some massive game face but like enjoy it, like be in the moment and love on it.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: And you know it's so meaningful to also like hand out a high five and I know I'm sort of again adding in the woo and doing my usual like going in 10 different directions, but it's just so meaningful to to I just see so many people quit because they're not reaching these outcome goals and they're disappointed in themselves or disappointed in and therefore they're disappointed in their coach, they're disappointed in the sport and it just like tumbles downhill and it's like it shouldn't.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be that way.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: No at all.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: No, and that's that's what's so great.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: If we can, if we can break these down and bring in other elements and again focusing on what you're, what you do this week and you know it was just, it was just Christmas, right.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of, there's a lot of red popping up on training plans right now and I love to see it.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: I'm so glad you guys are spending time with your families and going out and enjoying yourselves and taking some time to relax and recover and live life outside of sport.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: But also there's green in there too, like we can't just be like, oh, but look at the red like your week was a Christmas tree.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: You know how many people got up on Christmas and went out for a run.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: I'm like you guys, like that's awesome.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: I'm so glad you you enjoy running enough that you wanted to do that on that day.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Know what I mean.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: And can we just also be happy that you're doing some movement right now?
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: There's always good things happening that we can pull out, and that sometimes includes it's a good thing, it was red.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: Sometimes it's a good thing it didn't get done.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: Ultimately, breaking these goals down in a way that when we look week to week, we're taking a minute to see how we're growing, how we're improving, what we're doing well, and if we only look at an outcome number, we don't have a full view of what we're doing in sport and, just like you're saying, we skip over so many opportunities to bring happiness and fulfillment into our sport if we're not taking a whole view at it.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: We're only looking at the negatives all the time.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: We feel negative about it and that's not fun.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Now, do we need to check in?
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Do we need to see where we can improve?
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Because we want to get faster?
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: We want to set these big goals.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's part of what we're doing right, like again, it's the why you have a coach.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: That's why you're setting big goals are supposed to be hard, but let them be a point of growth.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Let them be a point that you look at and see wow, I'm growing, I'm improving.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: I, like you just said, I trusted myself on the run.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: To trust your body on a race day is like it's magic.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: It's so cool and that's hard to trust.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: It's you guys.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: How many of you can go out for a run without your watch and feel confident that you're executing it the way you want to?
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: It's hard, but when you can do it and you can get out there and be like, oh, I got this.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: It's so cool.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Yes, it is so cool, and that's that's a lifelong skill.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like that can take you so far.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: There are a couple of questions that we had written down prior or I should clarify that you had written down prior about whether a goal is worth pursuing.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: So can you go through some of those and maybe talk a little bit more about how they tie into this process?
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Sure, I think, firstly, let me tie it into what we were just talking about Joy, satisfaction, accomplishment and sport.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: Right, we don't want to set big scary goals for the sake of setting big scary goals.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: We want to set big scary goals because they fulfill us in life some really cool things that made me feel really good.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Maybe they made me travel, Maybe they made me, you know, stretch and grow.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: But also there's a time and a place for it, and it's not always.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: It's not always the best time to go for your first Ironman or your first ultra or your first 5k yeah, Whatever it is for you.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: But also, you know, if you're flirting with an idea of a big scary goal, how do you know that it is time?
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: How do you know that it's worth it and that it's time to you know, turn the green light on and go all in.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I had a couple of questions written down here as talking points.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I had a couple of questions written down here as talking points, but one of the main ones being, particularly if we're going to talk about a big goal that's going to take time and financial resources, particularly if you have a family and others that are impacted by this goal Is this a goal that you want to be accomplishing for yourself, or is it something your best friend wants, or your partner wants, or, I don't know, maybe your mom wants you to do it?
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: We bring in this intrinsic piece of.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: Is this something that you want to be doing?
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Because if it's not, again we lose the enjoyment, we lose.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: We often lose motivation because of that.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: That's a big one with that.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: But are we saying or you see a lot of red on training peaks, right, you just don't do it.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: That's your response.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Is you're just like I'm boy, I'm gonna ask for help and have somebody else write me a training plan, but then I'm just not gonna do it because deep down it's not yours.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah 100%.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's okay.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: End of that one.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's okay and it, you know we we as triathlon coaches has struggled um here and there, cause sometimes people fall off the planet and then we're like hello, like we still want to serve you and we want to write a meaningful training plan for where you're at and meeting you where you're at in your journey.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: But yeah, sometimes it's okay to like take a break or to say I don't want to do this anymore or I want to do something different, or you know, finding what really speaks to you is important.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and taking in all the factors, to something you know.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Again, we've had people come in and be like, yeah, I'm going to go to Kona and I've never done a triathlon and I don't know how to swim, but I heard this person say that they did Kona and now I want to do it too, and it's like, okay, cool, we very clearly have a big spike in motivation right now.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: How do we tie that into what you value in your life and how you want to spend your days?
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: And is that still a goal that you want to accomplish when you understand what it really takes to get there?
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: It's a lot of dedication.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Anyone that's been there knows that it takes a lot of sacrifice and time to build yourself up to race at that caliber.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: But and again that's not.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: That's not us saying that.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: That's not for you.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: That's just a.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: We need to be real and understand what that takes before we set it as a goal and go all in on it right Again.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: Are you going to get enjoyment and satisfaction out of it, and are you going to be able to find that within the times that are a little less joyful?
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: You know, we don't always want to go ride our bike for 80 miles, or you know we don't want to go.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Do our sprint intervals to get our 5k time down, Then that's fine.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Are you still finding the joy and satisfaction on the other days?
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: You know, generally do you enjoy running, Then great.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: If you always hate it, maybe not so much for you.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Or choosing a different process goal, right, Like maybe it's like okay, let's focus a lot on you know, a performance goal or on the bike, and then the run.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: We're just.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: You know we're getting through it, yeah, and that's okay.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I wish I could like magically wave a wand and just be like everyone loves running, but I know that that is not the case and also it's not for everyone, nor is triathlon, but I'm trying to make it more accessible to more people and make it less intimidating through this process.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and again, if we're able to break our goals down into manageable, bite-sized pieces that are realistic for our life, realistic for our life we emphasize that again.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Then they can be fun and enjoyable and fitting Great.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: If we bite off more than we can chew and we're committing too much and we're far overstretched, we lose the joy, we don't accomplish the goals and then it all around feels terrible and that's no fun for anyone.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: We don't want that for you, which is why we want to help you set achievable goals that are real for you, that you will accomplish and will help you feel good about being in a sport.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Love that.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: If someone were to walk away from this and take away one to three things at max, what would you want them to walk away with?
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Or just an overall idea?
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily have to be tactical.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: My key takeaway from this conversation would be breaking things down into your process goals.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Again, if you have a coach, your coach is likely doing this already.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: If you have a swim specific block that you're doing, then that's likely the process goal that you're focused on right now.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: But open it up for conversation, have a focus on it and check in with yourself that you're doing it.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: You're putting in the work, because that's how we build the confidence yourself that you're doing it.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: You're putting in the work, because that's how we build the confidence.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: If we just glaze through and make green boxes and training peaks and show up on race day without recognizing that we're putting in the work, then we kind of show up like did I do the things?
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Am I ready?
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Am I here?
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Is it happening?
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: Just check in with yourself.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Check in that you're doing it.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: I'm sure that your your coach is gonna be real with you and tell you yeah, you're doing the things or no, we need to pivot.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: either way, you'll know that you're in the going in the right direction to have the confidence on race day I love that and yeah, like give yourself a little high five, because we're so used to being focused on what I have to do or the bad stuff, and so rarely do we check and be like, hey, I did that and I'm doing it, yeah, continuing to do.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Or the bad stuff, and so rarely do we check and be like, hey, I did that and I'm doing it, yeah, continuing to do it.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Continuing.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I cannot express enough how difficult it is for people to give themselves self high fives.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: I'm like, hey, tell me what'd you do well this week?
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: I got a blank stare and I'm like you're not bragging, I'm not going to, I'm not going to think that you're vain, Like I just.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I just want you to look at what you did this week and tell me what went well.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: How'd you improve?
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: What'd you focus on?
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: What'd you try?
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Did you?
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: I hope you failed at something, Cause it means you tried something new, Like what did what'd we do?
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: And it gets easier when you practice, but it does not come natural.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: No, it doesn't.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: It feels real weird at first.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: It does feel real weird and, yeah, going against sort of what we are innately programmed to do, which is like looking for the big scary things and keeping ourselves safe and only doing what we know that we can do versus and that might not even be good for us, but we know it and it's familiar Just keep doing it and then it's not like, oh, what did I do?
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: That's helpful for me.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: That is one of the things that I do in my strength class every week and I don't let people get away with not saying something.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Like usually they'll like hide in the back and be like I'm not going to share something.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Oh, no, one of our athletes.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Today she we're working on increasing our squat strength and she did an amazing set.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Like this woman is so strong and she's relatively new to the sport and she like comes over and she like whispers to me.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: She's like I just lifted that.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: I'm like I'm sorry, what I just lifted, that.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: I'm like say it loud, girl.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Like it is so, and everybody in our group which is why I love our group is so supportive, because what is typically happening in triathlon in particular is that we are just so hard driven to judge and if you don't have the $10,000 bike or run a 530 mile, then don't even bother.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: And that is could not be farther from the truth.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Show up, there are people here to support you Totally, promise, and you can.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: You can do it, breaking it down in this way, focusing on the good things, and you know, giving yourself your own little personal cheering section, and then you know, hopefully sharing it with, sharing it with us too.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: So if you have a goal or if you have something positive to say about, I want to hear like please.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: I want to cheer for you.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: What's going well?
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, so you can DM us on Instagram at the endurance edge.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Give us either a process goal or performance goal, and and, or something that you're like.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: I know I'm giving you way too many things to do, but give us something that you're like you did'm giving you way too many things to do, but give us something that you're like you did.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: You accomplished and shoot, send it to us every week I don't care, every day, we'll take it.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: Or you can email podcast at theenduranceedgecom.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: So that's y'all's goal as we finish up our goal setting podcast.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: I love it Awesome.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: So I'm high-fiving Coach Carly, and I'm high-fiving you because you out there, are amazing.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: You are far stronger than you think you are and we believe in you.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: So thanks for listening and be sure to check out our triathlon coaching theenduranceedgecom forward slash triathlon coaching or just our website in general, and good luck.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Have an awesome 2025.