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Don't Feel Ready for Your Race? Stop Trying to Prove It · The Endurance Athlete Journey

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome everyone to the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Coach Justin.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: I'm here with Coach Katie.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: And today's subject is from a question I received from an athlete where the genesis of the question was how do you battle insecurity during the training process when you have a race that's coming up?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: Whether that race, whether your goal is just to complete the race, or if you have some kind of performance expectation, how do you deal with the insecurity on being able to meet your expectations based on your current observations during training?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that this topic really fits in with both beginner and more seasoned athletes.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh this isn't a subject.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we we've kind of touched a little bit on on you know the mental side of racing.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that this is uh another piece of the puzzle for for the mental aspect of racing, but we're looking a little bit deeper into a little more fine-tuned, where we're actually looking a little bit more at insecurity.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: I think this is I think that's the best word to kind of describe I think the over the overarching theme uh of the question that I got from this athlete.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so I I think that we just want to just kind of dive on in and get this started.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: So actually, let's do a little bit of a recap.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: So let's uh Katie, how how has your week been going?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was good.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ramping up my training quite a bit.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I started with the high rocks workouts last Sunday.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I've j I joined a gym, a local uh CrossFit gym that does high r high rocks specific workouts.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just doing I'm not doing the CrossFit, I'm just doing the High Rocks and And then I also ramped up my mileage a little bit.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um not mostly because my son's in school, so now I have more time again to train.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying not to overdo it.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I I'm not too worried because um it's not a volume that I haven't had before, you know, and it it was just probably um I think I'll be, I think I'll be okay.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a little tired today, but uh it's been good.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I really like the variety of doing sort of this more strength approach or some sort of hybrid or compromised running style of training because you're not just out there running, you're sort of breaking it up a little bit, and I'm incorporating more strength training again.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm interested to see.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I know with high rocks it's probably hard because you're still running to build a lot of muscle, but I'm kind of excited to see if I can build up some more muscle mass and you know, maybe only running up like the top end would be 35 or 40 miles a week, but probably more like 30.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So really a lot less than marathon training and then building in the strength and this other kind of hybrid, you know, compromise running style of training and and see what good what happens and see how I like it.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: But so far I'm excited because it's like every day's quite a bit different generally.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been going well.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think um now I'm in some a little better routine with things too, so I'm not so overwhelmed.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: I feel a little better.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: I still have a lot.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to kind of figure out my schedule, but I'm yeah, I'm optimistic this week.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Feeling optimistic.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then after our chat with uh James, which will have come out before this episode.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So everyone will hopefully, if you haven't heard that yet, go back and listen to um James Logan's episode and um that we did with him because it was it was uh inspiring to say the least.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've been trying to really take this mindset of like enjoying each day and just like being in the present time with the training and not worrying, yeah, I gotta create a training plan, I gotta kind of think about my training ahead, but to sort of really enjoy the day I'm in and and the training I'm doing and not thinking so far ahead of the outcome.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been trying to practice, practice that a little bit and that and maybe my life a little bit too, just being a little more present.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see if that continues any.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, I think sometimes we we want to do those things and then we kind of go back to whatever we were doing before.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm hoping maybe reading his book will help inspire me some more too.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's my update.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Good.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, so I I've had a pretty decent training week this week.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: I I did some some race specificity training on the trainer.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it was a bit of a I wouldn't call it an FTP test, but it was a it was a race, uh race power test um to really see if the power ranges that uh that I've got targeted for my upcoming races are going to be realistic um or achievable.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um I was pretty nervous about it because I I think I'm estimating that my my FTP I think is too low.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so uh my zones are a little bit off.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: And so when I when I came up with the with the power target, it's it's a really high power target um for for me and what I'm used to seeing.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so I was really kind of insecure on whether I was able gonna to hit that.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I got on the bike and it was actually a lot easier to do than uh what I thought.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um I was able to execute that power on a consistent basis.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: My last my last interval was stronger than the previous two intervals that I had, so it was a three-interval workout, and I did it all in arrow position.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm super excited, and um I got another week uh with some more specificity before I go into a taper.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: But uh today actually was was a little bit of a test for me.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um there's a group of guys that I've been riding with on Saturdays for my long rides, and I kind of meet them at at one segment of of their ride, and you know, I jump in and I I just ride with them.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I'm I've been pretty strong during during the rides, but they're also training for a full Iron Man.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: So they have a completely different fatigue level and training volume level than what I've got.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so you know I'm trying not to get too uh big in my britches for for lack of a better phrase on on kind of like what I'm observing in my fitness.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: So today um they said we're gonna ride uh four hours, and I said, you know what, I'm gonna do the whole thing.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: Now I haven't ridden four hours straight since uh late last year when I was training for Florida.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: All my stuff is I don't think I've I've cracked three hours uh for it.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: So today I had three hours on my training plan, but I said, I'm gonna ride four with you guys, and I was super nervous.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, I don't I don't know if I have the fitness for four hours to ride strong and not embarrass myself and not get dropped from the group.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I actually woke up at like 3 a.m.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: this morning just completely anxiety ridden.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I was kind of like a little shaky and nervous as I was driving to to meet the guys, and I don't know, man.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: It it was it was a bit of a mental day, but I I pulled it off.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I rode a lot better than what I thought I could ride, and I actually felt like I could have kept going with with no problem.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um executed my nutrition plan really well.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I was super strong and consistent.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: So it just goes to show that that the body is is we really underestimate what we're capable of, I think, on a on a consistent basis.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: So Yeah, you're it's it's not to say that you know, hey, we we should always just kind of go out there and just push the envelope all the time, but there's there's something to pushing the envelope every once in a while.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it it this ride today gave me a big boost of confidence.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: It gave me a little bit more fatigue, you know, because I rode longer than what I usually ride.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: But um I I think it the the benefits that I got from it were better than or were greater than the costs that came with it.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um it was supposed to be a brick session, but I did cancel the run and moved it to tomorrow because it just wasn't worth it wasn't worth digging digging a bigger hole after riding an extra hour, riding stronger than what I probably would normally have have executed for that long of a duration.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I was like, well, let's just move the brick to tomorrow.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I just got out of the Norma Tech boots, so my legs are all compressed and feeling feeling halfway alive.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I'm hoping I'm hoping to get a good night's sleep.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I hope so.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've had that that I know that feeling of it happens before races a lot where you're obviously anxious and you don't sleep that well.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that happens to me a lot before my long runs when I'm training for a marathon, because I'm just it's not even that I'm like, I guess there's a little bit of doubt.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, am I am I gonna be able to do this?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like if especially if it's like incorporates more like marathon pacework or something.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that like anxiety of, oh my gosh, am I gonna be able to do this?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And oh my gosh, this is so long, you know, like four-hour ride or a three or two and a half to three hour run, what uh you know, the both instances, that's a really long workout.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely been there before, and then it is amazing what your body can accomplish or what you can accomplish sometimes, even off of poor sleep.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it helps having some friends.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I know having people with me during those types of workouts helps a lot.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't know, there's always something about having other people around you that I don't know, there it's like a boost, a little bit of a boost of like an energy boost or like a morale boost or something.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely of trying more and more to to to do stuff with other people when I'm able to.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like I did a group run or a social run thing last night, but I have I'm pushing myself too.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know you you you're joining these gentlemen on their rides, and that's been that's something you're not used to doing, but it I'm I'm wondering if it's like probably helping you be better because you guys all work together.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like you have this group together kind of pushing each other.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's something really beneficial to that, honestly.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe that's helping too.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just having those guys.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: My my sponsorship of the Richmond Tri-Club um has really paid dividends, not just in the additional exposure for Tabula Rassa racing and you know the athletes that I'm that I'm able to interact with and actually pick up onto my roster now.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's it's done it's done a lot in terms of just my self-confidence and you know my abilities as a coach and as an athlete and the ability for me to fine-tune my social skills, um, because I'm a pretty much I'm an introvert, so I I really don't I don't tend to interact with a whole lot and I don't like group workouts and things like that, but I've really been pushing myself outside of my comfort zone.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think mainly I felt that way because I've been I I'm a little bit just insecure.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I I still see, even after all these years, after you know, my gastric bypass and all the weight, I mean, I still see that guy, you know, staring back in the mirror.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so sometimes when I get stuck in that mindset, it really makes me insecure in my abilities.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I think interacting with these other athletes really give me a glimpse.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, you know what, that that guy isn't isn't around anymore.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I am a different person.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think I I'm I'm more capable of of things than what I think I am.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: And just that that conversation with James.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: So everybody, if you have not listened to the last episode with James Logan, I can tell you that it is a game changer, it is a mindset just switcher.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: It was incredible.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: I left that conversation completely rejuvenated.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I think that I've kind of been stuck in this fear loop for for a while and you know, afraid to take the next step because of my experience with with Florida 70.3 in December, and really just like I I I don't know if I have it in me to pull that trigger.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: And it's all fear-ridden.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: And talking with him just made me see, look, if this guy can go through what he's going through and do what he's doing, what do I have to be afraid of?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's just flipped a switch in me.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm eternally grateful for James Logan for for the conversation that we were able to have with him.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: And um yeah, I I just I can't speak enough about that guy.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: So and kind of like what he's done for my mindset.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm kind of looking forward to you know these next steps and see uh what what we can actually do.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's I know that's kind of how I felt too after that conversation of kind of I don't know, just um what uh what are the things that I wanted, you know, are there certain things that I won't want to accomplish that I I don't know, like shit can I know someday I want to do, but why am I w waiting?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't know.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's because of time or there are legitimate reasons why maybe signing up for something crazy or something like that, or not crazy, but just like really time commitment might be an issue.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's because you're truly afraid of it, or you know, that's kind of what I got out.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: If it's just if it's because you don't know if you can do it, or it's because you're afraid to do it, and that's what's holding you back, that may be something to work through, you know.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: If that's like in your case, if it's something you're kind of afraid to do because you're worried you won't be able to achieve it, or you have some sort of fear that maybe somebody's gonna be like, you know, gonna find out who you you really are.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you know, like those types of fears.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think uh that's that's what I kind of got out of that is like, yeah, there's probably I wanted maybe one day do like the Leadville 100 or something like that, and that's yeah a really cool goal.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: But right now with the time I have, I can't make it to the trails often enough to tr to really be able to train for that and and have a ability to even finish it, right?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because you want to be able to go and finish it.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Someday I might, but that's not because I'm f necessarily afraid of it.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's more I just time, you know, commitment.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's a difference between being a f being afraid and it just not fitting into your life at the moment.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so that's kind of the same thing, same thing to think about.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: If it if I think listen to that episode with him, and if you're fearful of signing up for something, that may change your mind, I think.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so yeah.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't know, do we want to dive into a little bit into our topic today?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: This idea of fear, I think, feeds into this topic that we're going to talk about today, uh, in terms of of insecurity, because I I think fear feeds insecurity.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it may be that, you know, you know, I've signed up for this event, I'm afraid of failing, or I'm afraid of not finishing, so I'm insecure in my abilities or in the plan that I'm following that will that it's good enough to get me to race day, and even if the plan is good enough, whether my body is capable of executing uh the race that I want to see or that I envision in my mind seeing.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I think this fear is like is kind of like the water on the seed, you know.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: So if if we think of insecurity as as a as a seed that we plant in the ground, fear is is the water that just you know helps it germinate and you know sprout out.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: And it's something that I think that if we can control the fear or find ways to lessen its power, then the insecurity will naturally start to decline.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: And when the insecurity declines, the confidence goes up.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I I don't know.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: What are your thoughts uh on that?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: When we were talking, I know we were talking kind of about like the tr like during the training, you know, having certain workouts.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, because obviously through a a training plan, there's gonna be some sort of general progression um to kind of get you to the starting line.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that depends on in in what, you know, how the training is how the training plan is created is gonna be dependent on your goal a little bit.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like is it just to finish the race, is it to have a certain time goal, or you know, complete it in a certain um like a podium, which I don't know if I love those types of goals because there's so much outside of your control there, but um just whatever your goal is, the the training plan is created for that.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: But there's it's like usually we're try creating this training plan for weeks, you know, anywhere from 12 to maybe 18 weeks, depending on the goal.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And there's so much that goes into that each day, you know, there's how many days within the 12 to 18 weeks.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I'm trying to say is like each day you do like a workout kind of leads us, all of those workouts put together that leads you to the race.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I think people get so caught up in like this one specific workout didn't go well, or especially if it's something like I was giving the example of like a marathon, and maybe early in the training plan, the coach puts on like a tempo run of 20 minutes or 30 minutes at marathon race pace or goal marathon race pace, and you're completing that and it's the very beginning of the plan or sometime in the very beginning, and you're finishing that, and it's like, wow, this is really hard.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: How am I gonna be able to continue this same pace if I can barely do it for 30 minutes?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how am I gonna do this for whatever three plus hours in a marathon?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that happens to me, you know, if I do that kind of workout early, early on when maybe I've just been doing base mileage or not as much speed, or all I've been doing is really speedy stuff and no, not a like a lot of tempo.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't um it's easy to be like to start that seed, like you're saying, that seed of doubt right then, right?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I can start a little bit right in that beginning.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's important to remember that it's the accumulation of all of the workouts put together.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: The fitness is going to improve, and maybe eventually you'll be able to get to the point where you can do half a marathon at that pace.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, it's and but it's never exactly gonna be always easy either, right?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and we'll talk a little bit about that, but I think it's just remembering like it's this accumulation of day after day after day of training.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I generally try to tell people not to be too worried about one specific workout and let that just, you know, because we're always gonna have hard workouts.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Most workouts are gonna be hard.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's gonna like the race-paced stuff is gonna feel hard.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a lot of times where people start to have doubts.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but maybe there's other factors going into it, or you know, we've had we have a high volume training week, you know, it's going to feel hard.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: But that's kind of the point too, because it's going to feel hard in the race.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you want to get used to that, you know, sort of feeling, I guess, of um you want to be used to that discomfort.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's part of the training, right?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like because it inevitably is gonna be probably uncomfortable during the race.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: So some sometimes the training, like that that's just that mental aspect of being a little bit okay with discomfort is part of it.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And just because it feels hard, you're I know I know there's a lot of fear about um, yeah, am I gonna be able to do this on race day?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess it's just trying to trust the process, but I guess that's kind of hard.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't know, you know, if you have any other thoughts about like if somebody's coming to you and they're, you know, like they did a workout and they're like, okay, that r was really hard.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: How am I gonna do this?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: How am I gonna complete this distance?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, maybe they do a half marathon or a half iron man and they're like just, you know, as part of their training leading up to an Iron Man, and they're just like, that was so hard.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: That was so hard.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: How am I gonna do like I have to double this?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, or some some sort of situation like that.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, like what are your what what ways do you go about like talking with an athlete or helping them not plant that seed of doubt or fear?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because I like you said, once it kind of gets in there, it does it sort of takes over.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's really hard once somebody's really down that rabbit hole or that, you know, really um starting to have those doubts to kind of reel them back in.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what the analogy be with the seed, but cut out cut off the plant.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I've I've had that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: conversation many times with athletes.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'll give them a workout and they're just like, oh, that that was so hard.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how I can how I could do this for an entire race or or whatever that may be.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: There's a couple things that I usually say to them.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll say to them first, okay, number one, we don't observe race day performance and fitness during training.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: We train so that we can observe it on one day in one day alone.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we want to see that performance on race day.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: I know that you're looking for validation throughout the process.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that we do get glimpses of it and then we can use that to evaluate whether our goals are realistic or not.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: But usually I I'm not doing any kind of re-evaluation in the beginning phases of a training plan.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's usually you know close towards the end of the training we're getting closer to race day.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: I look back and say okay how consistent were we?
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: How available were we?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: How did that how was your execution of workouts?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then I kind of get like an overall picture on whether I think that this is going to be achievable or not.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: Usually I never even have that conversation with the athlete.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: I keep it to myself because I don't want to feed doubt that I know that's already there or insecurity that's already already there.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: You mean like if the if you're if you're if I if I go to them and say you know I think that your expectation or your goal is unrealistic and I don't think that you're that you can achieve it.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: I never ever say that.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that's I mean I guess though it depends on somebody's goal you know if it's like because I don't want them to be misled thinking like if they have some sort of lofty goal and you're like oh wow you're you're not really anywhere near that and there's no way they're going to be there.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you kind of as a coach have to have sometimes some hard conversations.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah I I think but it's it that's more the exception than it is the norm.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've ever had anyone that was like hey I'm going to try to qualify for the Olympic trials but they're like a 330 marathon you know what I mean?
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, well maybe that's possible but not this marathon cycle.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like that might be let's look at that maybe that like down the road you know something like that where it's like way off but um yeah I don't think I've ever had anyone like that.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was just just you know I guess it could happen.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then then that's its own sort of one off thing.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah you're talking about somebody who's maybe just maybe they have I mean I don't know maybe they have a slightly lofty goal but it's achievable potentially.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: But potentially yes you're yourself having some doubts but it's not like way lofty where it's not achievable potential.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: Unless I unless I see a a scenario that's developing where I know it's going to be uh close to impossible I won't say it's impossible but I say it's close to impossible um there was a there was a group that I was training for a half marathon and they all had performance expectations um but it just so turned out that on race day it was a hundred degrees outside humid um and extremely I it wasn't even just uncomfortable conditions.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: It was downright painful conditions.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I had to have a conversation with them and I was like look I know that you guys have performance goals but we might have to put those goals in our back pocket a little bit because the conditions in which we're being exposed to is not conducive to really making these goals likely.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: I won't say impossible but I won't say I say it's it's unlikely that we're going to see PRs and you know great performance today.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: Doesn't mean that you didn't put in the work and that you weren't prepared but you got dealt a hand on race day that was beyond your control and this is what we have to deal with.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think those are different scenarios than oh you know this person trained and you know they have a a a goal a a goal pace in mind but we we didn't really see that kind of execution and training a whole lot but I did like you saw glimpses of it then I won't tell that athlete this is not going to happen.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: This is not possible.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Because there's something about the training process and the accumulation of fatigue which is why I tell them you know hey we're not going to observe race day fitness during the training process.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: We only want we only want to see it on race day because of the accumulation of fatigue over time because we're trying to build adaptation we're trying to gain fitness that's why we taper and so we go into the race hopefully rested repaired still have a little bit of tension in the muscles just so that you're ready to fire off and so your body's ready to perform and not in like relaxation mode because it thinks it's done then I say well maybe that that pace might be possible I just I haven't seen it yet but that doesn't mean that it's not possible because you know I'm now seeing a different I'm seeing a different athlete today.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's an athlete that doesn't have the same accumulation of fatigue and they've got you know they were super consistent during the training process.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: We've talked about the mental aspect of training so we've got cues that we're working on when those negative thoughts kind of come into play uh learned about distractions and things.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: So we've we've done as much as we possibly can but it doesn't mean that their expectation or their goal isn't achievable if we haven't seen it in training.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that's where a lot of this insecurity comes from is because they're trying to observe their goal while they're training towards the goal.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know if that really makes a whole lot of sense.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or I feel like people will do stuff if they don't have a coach maybe I think with coaching hopefully this wouldn't happen but I could see someone trying to do something really to try to observe that fitness or to give themselves confidence that is actually setting themselves up for overtraining or injury or some sort of something risky that won't won't even get them to the race.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm thinking of you know for like a marathon I mean I don't think you know I I don't think people would generally try to run a marathon before their marathon but I have had people ask me that question like well wouldn't it make sense to run more than 26 miles so I know I can complete the distance and it's and it's like no because that is so fatiguing and you know there you you're gonna have to take so long to recover that it doesn't it just it it doesn't make any sense to do that unless you're like a a really elite athlete.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's that kind of thing people will they want to have some sort of workout or something that they're doing to build that confidence that oh I just want to know I can do it.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like I want to know I can complete the distance you know that's probably the only example I think of is the marathon people sort of okay I'm gonna do 27 miles in my training or something and it's like no don't do that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know it's a bad idea but I think people are kind of all sort of reaching for these so they feel like they can go because they want to be able to go to that race and be like absolutely confident that they're going to be able to do it.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the thing I would tell people is unfortunately I mean there's gonna be some races maybe you're confident you can finish it but you know if you're a new athlete and you're doing something long maybe you've never done a marathon or you've never done like a half iron man or something like it's a possible you may not.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like something may happen and it's possible you may not and there's no way to have a hundred percent confidence that you're going to finish it.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many variables within it.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know so you're going to have to go to the race start with some level of unknown or I don't even want to say doubt because you want to feel you know you want to have some confidence that in your training but that's what the trainings that's you know why the training plan is so long and why you've you know what why you go out and run every day or you go out and train every day so that you build up all of what your body needs to be able to accomplish that distance.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I think a lot of people have a lot of like doubt they want to be absolutely sure and I just what I'll say is I don't think there's a way to be a hundred percent confident that you know that's you know that everything came together perfectly on that day and you're going to execute that race perfectly like you had envisioned.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that's just part of it.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I think sometimes just having to be a little bit uh I don't know the right word just like un okay with a little bit of that unknown and try to come at it a little bit like I've been learning a lot more recently or really been trying to focus in a little bit in my my own in on my own training is just kind of realizing like the day is what's gonna happen is going to happen.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like it doesn't this doesn't mean I don't train for it or I just kind of like wing it or something but to be a little bit more curious about it and go into it like this, you know, let's see what happens like I'm doing this because I enjoy it and not doing it because I'm making money with it.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I let's just kind of see what happens and be curious.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if it doesn't go my way or it doesn't go the way I thought maybe there'll be something else that comes of it.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be kind of a learning experience and it'll help me build maybe more knowledge about racing or more it maybe a better ability to embrace discomfort or be in pain and be able to actually sit in it a little better for and the next time when I'm in that situation I'll be able to kind of deal with it better or I'll be able to be in a race and have that moment of discomfort and not let it completely turn into like a monster in my mind of like this is the end you're not gonna be able to finish or whatever.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like every race I learn something there's just no way you're gonna be able to be a hundred percent confident on race morning that you're gonna be able to complete like you wanted to and I think there's no way as a coach that I can do anything to other than create the best training plan possible that is is planned out strategically and you you know as an athlete have to to to do those workouts and that's that's probably the best way to to know that you're probably gonna be able to achieve some uh hopefully your goal on race day but there's no way even as a coach I can put anything into the training plan that's gonna give you absolute 100% confidence and I don't think any coach can do that um because that's just part of the the the nature of the of racing, you know so I think you know especially for new I think newer athletes tend to have because I think seasoned athletes kind of know that over years and years.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're just kind of like okay I maybe they still have doubts, they have fears but they're maybe a little bit better able to understand because they've followed the process and then they've had the outcome.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're brand new to the sport I think it's harder because you don't know that yet and you know you're thinking to yourself wow like I don't I don't know how I'm gonna be able to do this and I want to feel confident.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think this is really just mostly I mean I do think it happens the fear does happen with experienced athletes but this is probably more so that something that really happens with newer athletes I guess.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do you experience that or curious kind of what you're if you see I can I can tell you that I experience it in my own my own racing and training.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: I still have insecurity when you know I'll go out for a training session I'm I'm building for a race and the session was was hard and it's just like man I'd come come race day now you know this bike ride was was hard.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: Now how do I feel about running a half marathon you know after this bike if I'm training for a 70.3 that kind of fear in my head or that level of doubt and insecurity is like man after that bike ride how would I be able to execute a half marathon I don't I don't know if I can and then that's that's the seed that's getting planted into my own head.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah I and I'm a seasoned athlete I mean I've I've been doing this for for a while.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well I mean that happens to me too that's why I don't think it's unique to to I mean it happens to me as just how I deal with those thoughts that's maybe different.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like even my last marathon I did like well I had struggled so much after I got sick.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go back to the one before that with the Vermont City one.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: I remember doing a ver a half marathon maybe in April like six weeks or so before and it was hard you know like it's still hard.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was all at race pace and then like there were quite a like I was happy with how I executed the workout but it was hard still you know and it's like during a high mileage week and all this so I'll tell you kind of how I overcame it but it's like yeah there's a lot like some doubts about being able to do the entire marathon at that pace but I think it's just kind of like the way I you know experienced that before.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's just that familiarity with that those doubts and then it's like okay it's like a lot of mental battle like be in my head probably sounds crazy but there's like the one side of this rational side that's like yeah no doubt it's hard because you're doing all these other things and you're training and you're you know you're fatigued you know is there and you were fatigued when you started the race and then there's this other side that's like how are you gonna finish this marathon you know like and that's hot that's happening in my head but I think I've just been able to kind of um have trust in the process and you know know that okay I'm gonna keep going at this there's nothing I can do about it that was like there's nothing I can do to absolutely know.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna just keep plugging away day to day and hope that on race day I'm gonna get there.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: But because I know there's not what am I gonna what am I gonna do about it?
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like do you know what I mean?
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's not nothing I can absolutely do.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing I'm gonna be able to do is race to see if I'm actually going to be able to to go to do it.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't know of anything I could do in that moment to make me feel like I'm gonna to give me that 100% confidence.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: So to me it's just like okay well that's like I'm we just gotta keep plugging away and try to trust in the in the process.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's that's the thing is it's hard for athletes because I think an um like as a seasoned athlete we kind of know that we have the doubts we have the fears but we kind of know like it's probably silly to try to do a full marathon and see if I can actually I don't know what you would do to like have a hundred percent confidence because then you would that wouldn't make any sense.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like but as a newer athlete I think when those doubts happen it's it the reaction might be a little different because you don't have that experience to know okay I'm just gonna I'm just gonna you know keep plugging away but and know that on race day it hopefully all comes together right you don't have that confidence yet.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I think people tend to make mistakes but I don't know maybe I mean what do you do when you are in that situation?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: How do you do you how do you talk to yourself in your head or do you have conversations in your head like me?
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah I have conversations in my head.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay um I mean we we we s have we have the phrase trust the process and we've said it mo m several times throughout this this episode already.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think as seasoned athletes I think it's easier to trust a process because we've gone through the process.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so we we have those past experiences to draw on so it's easier to trust we're just like oh well you know I've done it before or I did this and and I felt prepared for it.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: And you know so you have those past experiences that you can draw on so there's it's a little bit easier to trust the work that you've put in to get to race day.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: So that's what trust a process means.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_02: Now the one thing that I try and do with myself and with my athletes is that uh I try to not use the word um confidence and the reason that I do that is because confidence to me is synonymous with guaranteed and I I there's like you said there's nothing guaranteed.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: I mean we could be we could execute the most optimal training plan there is and come race day nothing works everything falls apart you you break and shoot you broke a shoelace there's there's all you have a flat tire your goggles leaked you got kicked in the head there's all kinds of stuff that can take place so confidence is overrated in my in my I agree I'm like I've never been a hundred percent I've not been never a lot of times I'm not very confident yeah in my in my the earlier parts of when I I started endurance sports I was looking for that confidence so I would be that one that would go out and run the half marathon before the half marathon because I was like I need to prove to myself that I can do that.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I I understand the mindset.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: I I really do and I'm sympathetic to it.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's because over the years uh of of training and you know doing my own racing and working with athletes I said you know we don't have to prove to ourselves that we can do it before we do it.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so don't you want to have the excitement of actually doing it when it matters to me that's what I'm trying I'm trying to sell the the moment.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to sell the experience and I was like no we we don't want to do what we're gonna have to do on race day prior to race day because I want you to be excited of actually getting it done on the day that it really matters.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want it to take place on just some normal Tuesday because then it's not special.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know I I want I want to reserve it.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so instead of using that word confidence what I use is the word preparedness.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I say are you looking for confidence because confidence to me is that guarantee like I said but I say no we we want preparedness.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_02: I want you to feel like you're prepared for the day not confident that everything is going to go great because that's going to set you up for disappointment because there's going to be at least one thing that does not work well during any race that you ever do there's one thing that's not going to go in your favor.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't want that to be oh it kind of spoiled my day because nothing nothing went perfect.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_02: I was expecting this perfect day one thing went wrong and I was looking for validation on race day and it didn't materialize.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: So what I want is I want to prove to the athlete look we've done the work you know we've been responsible we've been conservative when it needed it we've pushed the envelope when it calls for it we've recovered well we've we've fueled our body well we've slept we've shed the fatigue we've gotten stronger we did the work in the weight room you did all the little things to get to this day so you are prepared you may not feel confident that the that the outcome is for certain but I want you to feel like you can get it done that it's possible and so that's one of the things that that I like to tell my athletes is that uh training how do I how do I say this uh we don't we don't we can't expect race day to be easy.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: In fact it shouldn't be easy and we don't train to make race day easy we train to make race day possible and so that's what I'd really try to try to drive in to my athletes is that this is not going to be easy.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: There's going to be times where it hurts you're gonna be there's going to be times where you feel fantastic and those can be five minutes apart.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: You're like oh I feel great and then five minutes later you're like oh my God I feel like garbage this is horrible.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_02: My legs are killing me and then all of a sudden five minutes later oh I feel I feel fantastic again I'm rejuvenated.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: You know the emotional roller coaster that you go on that you go through especially in long course racing if you're doing anywhere between a 70.3 to a full Iron Man half marathon full marathon the the the emotional roller coaster of feelings that you're going to have throughout that event is going to span the horizon.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's they're all going to be there sadness, happiness pain, fatigue uh joy, uh gratitude, all that stuff is going to it's all going to be there.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: So you know I I I don't want you to think that well this is just going to you know I want race day to be comfortable no I want race day to be possible which is why we've implemented the training plan that we've done and we've been consistent.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: We've done the little things and we planned accordingly and we're going we have solutions for things that are within our control.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know if this happens what am I going to do?
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_02: Then you know I implement this.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_02: So you're you're prepared but it's not for certain there's always going to be some level of uncertainty and risk involved.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what makes endurance sports fun.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_02: Because if it was risk free and everything was guaranteed, why would we why would we do it?
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_02: To me it doesn't make sense.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's part especially like I think I think I've seen that before where people are like, yeah, I wanna you think it's gonna be like this easy walk in the park kind of thing.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's like no like even if even if you were to sort of take it easy, like do it at an easy pace, it's still gonna be kind of hard because you're doing it for a long period of time.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not gonna be really easy ever.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm trying to think you know what people are meaning by that too.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like what do you mean what do you exactly mean by easy?
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like are you thinking it's gonna feel good the whole time?
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah or do you maybe it is no discomfort and unfortunately I just kind of think if that's what you're looking for that you probably picked the wrong sport because it's yeah the discomfort's coming all throughout like in the training plan and that's part of it is like you have you get you get comfortable a little bit with the discomfort.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the best thing you can be ha you know is just when you're just in that discomfort during your race is knowing that you did it in your training so you feel more like prepared like you said to be able to sit in that discomfort a little bit because you know maybe around the horizon just five minutes away a new emotion might come or a new a new state of being will come.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah one of the one of the keys one of the keys I think to long course racing is just your ability to just suffer well.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know I think that's kind of what separates some athletes is just they're just willing to suffer.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_02: To suffer that's true and just yeah and just take it.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's like just I don't know I just think some people are more I think they're built that way built that way.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: It does take a level of mental toughness.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that you have you cannot go into it thinking it's going to be uh easy ever.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe that's the first thing I would tell someone is if that's your expectation that I'm not sure this is going to be the right thing for you to be doing and just being honest from the get-go about it, right?
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like okay sorry I don't know maybe do what isn't com what is comfortable I don't know everything every single thing that involves competition seems like there's a level of discomfort to it right don't you think there's two pieces to this that might explain why people may have this perception.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: I know for Iron Man for so for a full Iron Man the way people typically will execute that is it's a lot of zone two just aerobic work.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: So they picture like a zone two run or zone two ride and it's easy and you're relaxed and you're comfortable and you can do it all day.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm sorry to tell you that after 14 15 16 hours of zone two it doesn't feel like zone two so there's going you know at the beginning of the bike yeah it feels great by that hundred and twelfth mile it does not feel great you want to get off of that bike you want to take your bike throw it into the woods and never ride it again and then you still have to do a marathon so you know zone two yes is supposed to be easy but you can't do it uh indefinitely and so I think that's why maybe some people think that oh well this sh should be easy because it's all zone two or like a or a trail race like oh it's gonna be easy I'm just running through the you just run slow but running slow for a really long time is still hard so it's hard and the wear and tear on your body um you know that sort of distance it it gets painful you know so I I think you're right.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: I think people Yeah the second piece to this I think is from uh I don't want to say just social media because I think YouTube has has a lot to do with it as well.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: But we see these compiled videos of of people racing and they've got you know they look like they're in just complete control and they're you know they're they're executing their plan but you don't know the level of suffering that they're that they're going through I mean you watch a pro, a pro triathlete on the bike and they just look like they're just gliding through the wind they've got a nice solid cadence but you know that they are just burning it.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_02: They have to be because there's there's no other way around it.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean so what is perceived as oh it looks like they're just they're just going through and they're they look like they're handling it very well and they look it looks easy but you watch them on the run and they're cooking.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know you can you can see the pain just in their face and they just maybe they just hide it really well.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: But these motivational or inspirational uh videos and reels and you know YouTube things I think feeds this uh this thought process of oh well do it because it's gonna be easy.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah you know look at this.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be like this yeah I want that I want to look like them when I'm racing and they like make it look so easy.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: But in reality they're they're probably it's probably not some people just have a really determined look they're maybe not grimacing or they're not like outwardly experienced their their form maybe is still good but um but I mean even an Iron Man I mean there's plenty of examples of people just like falling over before the finish and like crawling in you know like it's look at those videos is that's generally what's those are the ones you need to see.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the ones you need to look at and I think many people uh I don't know not everyone falls down and can't finish it there's lots of you know a lot of um examples of that of just like and and mostly you know if you if you do go to a marathon really watch because a lot of people's form does really deteriorate kind of towards the end you can really tell that they're uncomfortable.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately I think if we're comparing ourselves again to uh an elite athlete who has a lot of abilities and and genetics and things like that like they don't always make it it doesn't look generally always hard for them and sometimes it does but try not to compare yourself to those individuals unless you are yourself an elite athlete because um they're just yeah I I've done that before where I'm like looking I'm watching like the Boston marathon and the group of the women there they just look like they're on a jog, you know, just running they have smiles on their face.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like I don't know if I do I smile I don't know if I ever smile like I don't think so maybe I maybe wave or like it's but it's not like a genuine like I'm happy smile.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm har I'm cooked this whole time it's like I'm working right like maybe someday if I just run it easy and it's just for fun but no like I'm going for it you know so I'm I don't know sometimes I'm like they make it look so easy and it's not easy but I'm sure I'm pretty confident though like they're not thinking it's an easy run.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're just they're just so um they're just so much they just have such good physiology that they can kind of like be comfortable looking at that yeah at that pace.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: But like they're they're probably hurting they're just not outwardly looking like they are um but anyways I'm not sure I mean I I'm just assuming um but I think yeah don't don't compare yourself don't look at what you know those yeah those highlight reels and just be like this is it this is the expectation now that you have for your race that you're just gonna look so like perfect form and just like you're just gliding along because that's probably not the reality.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_00: You should see the end of my grandma's marathon I was that video I don't know if I I think I posted the video it's it's painful to watch because I'm just really just tougher you can tell I'm just kind of like barely shuffling along you know so watch that if you want to see what it really is like.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_02: Since it wasn't pretty yeah keep keep in mind that the pros are I mean this is their career they're they're paid you know so there there's something to the development of the poker face you know for them because right true if they if they look like they're suffering then that's just going to uh give confidence to their opponents that they're struggling.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_02: So if they're just like well if I could just hang in there I can overtake this guy because really great suffering.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_02: But if they just look stone faced then the other their competitors are having a hard they're gonna have a harder time reading like what level of discomfort that they're in.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that's true.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I think it's just like don't you know don't look at that and have that be your expectation if you're brand new to the sport.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think knowing that there's gonna be some discomfort and I mean I can't lie I can't lie that sometimes that doesn't like before my marathons especially because there's just so much discomfort in a marathon um I do have a lot of like wow can I really do that like almost the doubts of like can I actually am I gonna be able to actually dig that deep into this discomfort like do I have it in me today?
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know it's coming like and sometimes that's the bigger question is like how deep how deep am I willing to go today with this if it gets hard if I start to have that discomfort like how long am I going to be able to hang on to it to to to finish you know and that's sometimes like just knowing it's gonna be uncomfortable can be a little discomfort in itself you know because you know it's gonna be hard and sometimes that's the hardest part about race day is just that um you kind of have to try to like like not think about it too hard because then I think it kind of creates a little bit of anxiety just knowing what's coming um but to expect that it's not going to come at all is unrealistic entirely.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: I th I think some people are also reluctant to uh to do that in training.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um I know that there were several years where I spent training uh to be comfortable I was like oh you know I know that this is my comfortable pace so this is where I'm going to be it wasn't until I said you know what I have to learn how to really suffer and really get used to that pain because I can't expect to train in comfort and race and discomfort and pain.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's not how that works.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_02: You have to really develop a sense on you know hey how is how is that what's it going to feel like that doesn't necessarily mean we're gonna go out and we're gonna like do the whole duration of the race but there are some race efforts that you should be doing in training to really learn how to dip into that hurt locker a little bit so that you can do it on race day.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: We d we don't do it you know on training in training just to prove that we can but we want to at least introduce how it's going to feel possibly on race day so that when it comes to it you're not surprised and you don't start to second second second guess yourself slow down during the race and then you sabotage your own race because you did not practice hurting.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I yeah you mentioned that and it's it's interesting because I actually kind of think at this point I like I like doing harder work.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_00: I almost like enjoy the discomfort in I must or it's masochistic masochistic is that the right word but I I feel like I'm like I kind of enjoy that that's why I I don't like generally I don't really love just like running along just kind of at one pace pretty easy.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of boring.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: But that's I like to switch it up and have like the faster paces and feel like I'm moving quickly and um being a little bit of discomfort and I've maybe sort of learned to embrace that a little bit more and then actually enjoy it.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think when I was in high school maybe college I used to really really fear the discomfort and really really like try to not avoid it but I really just didn't have a good relationship with that discomfort and the fear before race just the fear of the discomfort alone of like where uh of being uncomfortable and the anxiety that came with that in college especially like now I feel like generally I mean there's definitely some times when I'm I know it's coming and I'm like oh this is gonna hurt.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I think because I've sort of embraced it in training maybe maybe when it comes to the races I'm just kind of like okay I got I got this because I kind of know what it's like so but you don't want to be like that all the time.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to always be like training hard and be into and being so you know because that you usually discomfort means you're going you're doing something hard and challenging and you don't want to do that every day.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know I think when you can kind of accept it and almost not embrace it but you know I think Courtney Joalter like she kind of she's a the goat for the ultra endurance you know um ultra racing and running and she she's talks about the pain cave and how she kind of goes into it and just sort of sits in there, you know and I kind of try to to um maybe embrace our a little bit of you know Courtney DeWalter's um her whatever you would call it but I try to kind of like okay I'm gonna I'm gonna be a little bit like Courtney you know what I mean?
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm gonna try to be a little bit like Courtney and be able to embrace that pain cave a little bit because that's probably partly what made her that's sort of what we're talking about that mental toughness that being able to kind of be in that uncomfortable space and be able to sit in it because you know maybe on the other side something better is coming or you're gonna feel better.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I think that that probably makes her one of the best ultra runners, you know, ever so I think there's there's something to it but to but yeah I think if you're not able to do that or you're um expecting something comfortable then you're then I think that that's you're just I don't know you're you're gonna be disappointed.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna have it's not gonna happen for you.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's where and the reason that that we're talking about this particular aspect you know and the comfort discomfort and being willing to go to the pain cave or the hurt locker or whatever um is because that's I think when when athletes start to see a little bit more of that insecurity because they dip their toes into the hurt locker and they didn't like it and now they're second guessing on whether they're able to to do it again.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_02: To do it and for the duration that they'll have that they're expecting to have to do it again.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_00: So they're like okay I'm gonna try to train or I want to prove I want to make it so that when I get there it's it's it's gonna feel easy but it doesn't work that way.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to feel better yeah yeah unfortunately I've been running for so many I don't think it ever I don't think I've ever had a race a race you know that I was actually gonna going for it that I was like this was just so easy the whole time you know what I mean like I felt great the entire time maybe I don't know maybe I can't think of anything um yeah I can't think of any I can I can't think of a single race I've ever done where I cross a finish line and I was just like oh that was that was easy that was a piece of cake yeah that was never that has never crossed my mind.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking maybe ones I didn't like race but then you're not racing you're just running so it doesn't count.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: It has you know one that you're actually racing.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah I don't think so I think it's always been there.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's I I think you know sometimes it's to a greater degree some races are more than others and so sometimes that's where I'm like it what's this day going to bring for me?
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be like one of those days that I suffer a little more or not.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_00: But um I don't know yeah I think that's just kind of part of it.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's what I would if as a coach like if I'm trying to give some some concrete like advice or just if I'm talking this through with someone is that's kind of where I start is like really helping them understand that it's not going to be a walk in the park is not going to be easy that the training itself is going to involve a little bit of discomfort and that it's going that that's preparing them that we're preparing them for race day and we're never going to do the incomplete race nor are we going to do anything that's going to make it a hundred percent certain that they're gonna execute perfectly on race day.
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully on race day you're able to complete the distance in the in the um goal you have it's probably gonna be uncomfortable no no matter what let's try to to create the training plan so that on race day you're able even if you go into that uncomfortable place you're still able to to keep the pace you want and you're able to achieve your goal or uh you know optimally hopefully as long as everything comes together correctly like at the right you know the the weather and all those other aspects and the training all was you know executed per the way it was supposed to and all this and let's get there but there's certain things that happen sometimes if you're not trained correctly or you something goes on or the day doesn't come together perfectly that just you're not able to comp continue at a pace because there's mechanisms that you just can't do that.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can't force yourself into that but either way it's gonna be painful.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: So let's be prepared for it.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do the best we can to be ready.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have any other you know tips other than like I think that's the good reason maybe to have a coach is because you can have somebody there when you know this is the thing that's hard for me is this bat this mental battle that happens sometimes in my head.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_00: To have somebody else there being like no I'm looking at your training and it's you're you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing and giving and and putting that input in of like that assurance of this is the way it's supposed to be going.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing everything right we don't need to do anything else and just having that other voice of like no don't worry you know don't worry because it's gonna be okay and we're you just need to do the training as it's on the plan and having someone there to help because otherwise without that I know I'm better at that now self-coaching but I think that's where it can start to go off the rails a little bit that's kind of what happened with grandmas for me a little bit is that I didn't have someone there like helping me stay kind of in the rails and I was kind of starting to like you know okay I've got to I've got to figure out how I can execute this on race day and what do I need to do and I'm like trying to force myself to do stuff that maybe I shouldn't have because I was trying to stick to my plan.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know what I mean like I just think to have that coach there is is nice to be able to be like no you you know we're gonna change the plan we're gonna um listen to your body you know all of these things that um it's hard for us sometimes to do when we're on our own or we're following like an AI plan or something like that.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the other thing I think is just having somebody there to help direct you in the right direction.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't in your own mind and your own tendencies be like oh I'm gonna do the 27 mile run or whatever.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why I said that one of the one of the jobs of a of a good coach is to protect the athlete from themself.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean that's that's a big part of what we do as coaches and you know it's it's to to help guide and shepherd but it's also uh protect you know protect our athletes not just from injury and risk but protect them from you know for a lack of better way to describe it's just doing stupid stuff that you know doesn't need to be done in order to validate that that you're able to do something at some point in time in the future when then why are we training?
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_02: If if we want to do it today and we're expect to be able to do it today then why are we preparing to do it in the future?
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's a that's a really important role of a coach is to just kind of help them sometimes just talk 'em off the ledge.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely there was a concept that was in uh when I was in graduate school uh in econometrics where it was called constrained optimization and what it is is that if you have you have a distribution there's going to be an optimal the optimality of that distribution is going to be like a what's the peak, what's the point in which it's highest.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's the ultimate you know optimality.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_02: And then you overlay constraints on it.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_02: You're like oh well you know this is a limiter and this is a limiter we're no longer at the ultimate uh optimality point but now we're at some other point along the distribution but that's the optimal that's the optimal place to be given the constraints that we're under I think that that really describes how a coach guides an athlete it's like I I can't give you the optimal plan because I don't think it exists because if I gave you an optimal plan it means you have no constraints and that's not realistic.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_02: My job is to give you the best plan the most optimal plan that I can give you given the constraints that we have your availability your ability to recover and absorb and adapt and other other things that you have going on in your life you know a full time job you have family wife kids you know all kinds of other stuff those are constraints that get lay overlaid on top of your training plan and it moves you from that Optimal place into something that's suboptimal, but it's optimal given the constraints.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know, I don't know.
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_02: I thought that was pretty interesting.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_02: It kind of popped into my head and it made sense.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so I was like, okay, then why why do people feel insecure on race day because they feel like they didn't have an optimal plan or they didn't have the best plan because race day hurt or it was uncomfortable?
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_02: No, it just means that you may have had an optimal plan given the constraints that you were under.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_02: So if you want a different plan, then you got to change the constraints.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_02: And there's gonna be have to be stuff that you have to sacrifice.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, okay, I'm gonna have to relax this constraint, or you know, this is something that I'm not willing to sacrifice and and and change, so that's going to remain.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's the success of training is all all boils down to the availability to train.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, honestly, that's that's what it comes down to.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so once that's limited, then you have different constraints that you're facing.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that kind of goes back to that, yeah, like um idea that there is you know, you're an athlete and you're training, but the it's like all those other things that are happening that are also going to factor into how well you're able to execute your training plan, to rest, to recover fully and get to that starting line, being able to complete the the the goal.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a lot more than just the training plan that goes into that too.
• 1:07:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I think what you're kind of saying is like keeping all of that in mind, sometimes that is like where um like a coach or having someone else there trying to help navigate that, you know, like okay, well, this is happening because this is what AI w wouldn't be able to do for you, or something like a generic plan is okay, well, Friday night I was up all night with my kids puking uh and I'm supposed to do this genotis thing today, but I I can't.
• 1:07:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 1:07:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how am I gonna adjust it?
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of what the coach is there for to be able to continue to can we adjust things around, giving these constraints to be able to get you to that race day and still be able to maybe execute your plan.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes those constraints we have to all be able to admit maybe when those constraints are too much, to be, you know, maybe you're not able to execute the training plan like you were supposed to, and you aren't going to maybe be able to get that on race day.
• 1:08:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I think coaches are there to kind of help either way, you know, whether it's everything's going great and you're, you know, you're current given that your constraints, you're able to, you're able to get the training in, you'll be able to recover, or sometimes that's not the case.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the coach is there to kind of help be that um not only like your kind of cheerleader or the person just kind of helping um quell your fears and your your um your doubts about whether you're gonna be able to to do the race, but also there to kind of be like, okay, this is the these constraints that you have with your life are sort of making it really hard for you to train.
• 1:09:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you know, to be that voice of reason too of like this is this is kind of what's going on and this is what I'm seeing, and I don't know if you know, I don't know, you know, maybe you'll be able to achieve this goal, but there's a lot of other stuff going on in your life, and sometimes we can't see that ourselves.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think sometimes I'm guilty of that of just being like, oh, everything's great.
• 1:09:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not that I don't have a lot of other stuff going on, and and in the background there's like chaos all around.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I you know, so I don't know.
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's that just I don't know if that kind of took a different direction, but I agree.
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's no, I I think that this concept of of constraint optimization is really what makes me like the word prepared versus confident.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I like I like that that that way of thinking about it.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, well, you know, are we confident?
• 1:10:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but we're prepared.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_02: And we're prepared as much as we could given the constraints that we were under and you know what we had to deal with, you know, during the training process.
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_02: So we're as prepared as we could be.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um could you be more prepared?
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it depends on what you're willing to change or what what things could could go different go differently, but um it is what it is.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_02: But I I will say that I I don't know if the insecurity ever goes away because the human mind just I I think to a certain extent it kind of defaults, you know, it quickly goes to those places of doubt.
• 1:10:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if there's a way to really uh protect yourself from feeling from thinking those thoughts, but I think that there are valid approaches that when the thoughts do come up to minimize their effect.
• 1:10:57
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, hopefully, hopefully there's been something in this episode that has given you some ideas on on how to manage those thoughts when they when they do come up and you know how to to limit their impact so that you know the the seed can still get planted, but you don't have to water it, and hopefully it doesn't it, you know, it doesn't have to germinate and sprout.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_02: It just never does anything.
• 1:11:21
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where we're we're trying to get.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_02: But it doesn't mean that the seed's not going to ever exist.
• 1:11:26
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 1:11:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was at a summit, just one last thing that might be helpful for people.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was at a running summit two three weeks ago, and one of the speakers, oh, like I should probably know her name, so maybe maybe I can find it and and put it in here somewhere.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_00: But she is um a trail runner for North and she runs for North base, but she just had a son who's maybe a toddler now, and she her she's like of the funny runner is what she's called.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's her handle, I think, on Instagram.
• 1:11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And she um she was doing this whole presentation, but all of her presentation was all of her doubts.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_00: She's got this big race coming up.
• 1:12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's like the one of the trail championships over in Europe, the one of the trail running championships, like um, gosh, I wish I knew the name of it.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_00: But she's like getting ready for this, and she's she she had this cool presentation where on one side it was like Judge Judy like saying all the reasons she's not gonna be able to do the race or it's not gonna go well.
• 1:12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like those are all the things stacking up against you on this one side, and it was like not, you know, having a son, a toddler, so maybe not always sleeping that well.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_00: It was like maybe not being able to go out for two runs a day because she uh, you know, is a mom now.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, there's all these things that she's kind of listing on one side that were stacking up against her, and then it was like Frank Azar, he's just like this call, he's like one of those like lawyers, those injury lawyers, you know, that you kind of find a little bit annoying, um, that are always like putting ads out there about, well, if you're in a crash, you call me.
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but he was on the other side, like on her side, like, no, these are all the things that went well throughout your training plan.
• 1:13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you were able to get a lot more naps than you usually do because she would take naps with her son.
• 1:13:11
  SPEAKER_00: So you got like you were able to sleep, you know, during the day, or you were able to like um, and and being a mom is a lot.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's a lot there, like you you uh as a mom, you had to build this mental toughness that, you know, or this toughness that, you know, counts for extra training.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, there's all these things she listed of like these are all the things that I did well and I executed well or was able to do.
• 1:13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it was kind of like putting these two kind of pinning against each other, and kind of in the end, she realized, like, no, actually, I, you know, all of these other things that I'm doing well and executing well and that are going well in the training plan kind of out offset some of these like negative these things that maybe aren't going well or aren't going perfect.
• 1:13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I think I'm gonna be okay in my race.
• 1:14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it was this thorough presentation was this, and it was cool.
• 1:14:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's something if you're going to take anything from that, is maybe doing sort of that exercise for yourself instead of just sitting in that doubt and letting all of those thoughts kind of overwhelm you, maybe even writing down, like, okay, these are the things I'm fearful about, or these are the things that are kind of making me doubt whether or not I'm going to be able to execute this race.
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_00: But then also trying to really think about those things that went well through the training plan and what you did do well, because I'm sure there are plenty of things, you know, sometimes we don't give ourselves credit for.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then almost like making a list, like write it out, make a list, and then maybe you'll be able to see it a little better.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, actually, I'm I'm I'm killing it.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like these all all this stuff is going well.
• 1:14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, there was some rough nights that I didn't sleep, and sure there were some of the this other things going on.
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_00: But man, I have so many things that went well.
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so many things I was able to do.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to execute my nutrition strategy and all of these other things, you know, perfect.
• 1:15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, like I'm doing good.
• 1:15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes just like doing that exercise might help you feel a little bit more prepared and know that you put the work in.
• 1:15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I think our minds can get the most the best of us sometimes if we just let it run wild.
• 1:15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes if we kind of control some of that energy into actually sit put putting it down on paper or thinking it out like that, you might it might help.
• 1:15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that's my last piece of advice from not necessarily coming from me, but from the funny runner.
• 1:15:32
  SPEAKER_02: All right, so I think that's that's gonna, yeah, let's uh we're gonna wrap this thing up here.
• 1:15:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to thank you guys for joining in today.
• 1:15:41
  SPEAKER_02: So this has been episode 116, where we've talked uh about uh insecurity and fear and you know the the mental side of training and racing and how to combat some of those uh insecure thoughts that that creep in from time to time.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_02: And uh hopefully you'll trust the process.
• 1:16:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know for for whatever that means for you.
• 1:16:06
  SPEAKER_00: So uh so her name is Brittany Sh Charbonot.
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think I said that right.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Brittany Charbonneau.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so I want to give her credit for that.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_02: So all right, so uh that does it for us today.
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_02: So uh if you found this episode to be helpful or it resonated with you, or you feel that there's somebody that you know that would be helped by the episode, please share it.
• 1:16:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and uh I hope that you'll consider leaving a review and a comment.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Those are greatly appreciated, and they really help the podcast.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_02: Since we don't monetize uh this podcast, uh we're not trying to sell you anything, and there's no commercials and ads.
• 1:16:41
  SPEAKER_02: The reviews really do help uh increase the exposure and uh you know help us in the algorithms for when people are searching for content.
• 1:16:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we hope that you'll consider doing that.
• 1:16:51
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you if you have.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_02: We also have the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast Group.
• 1:16:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's a private group on Facebook.
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_02: We created it from day one when we started the podcast.
• 1:17:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh all you have to do is go in and answer one simple question and agree to the group rules, and it lets you in.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_02: This is where you can connect with other listeners from the podcast, see additional content, and connect with us directly.
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so if if you're interested and you're on Facebook, hope that you'll consider joining the group uh and foster the community and join the conversation.
• 1:17:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're also uh active coaches, so we're bringing on athletes onto our rosters.
• 1:17:26
  SPEAKER_02: If you are looking for a coach to help you move forward, uh you want to try something different, you're just super busy, you're tired of trying to find workouts, chat GPT isn't giving it giving you what you want, uh, we hope that you'll consider reaching out to one of us.
• 1:17:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh if you're looking for run coaching or dietetics for any sport, uh you can reach out to Coach Katie.
• 1:17:46
  SPEAKER_02: She's at uh fuel the number two run.com.
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_02: If you're looking for multi-sport or single sport uh coaching, so try on, swim, bike, run, uh, endurance hiking, uh what have you, uh you can reach out to me, Coach Justin at taboularasseracing.com.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Both of our websites have uh additional content.
• 1:18:05
  SPEAKER_02: We've got blogs and videos and all kinds of stuff that's out there uh for you and uh resources to help you move forward.
• 1:18:11
  SPEAKER_02: But we hope that you'll reach out to us and uh consider us um as your coach.
• 1:18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so that that again that does it.
• 1:18:19
  SPEAKER_02: So episode 116 is in the books.
• 1:18:21
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you guys for joining us.
• 1:18:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we greatly appreciate the support you continue to show the podcast.
• 1:18:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I've been your host, Coach Justin, along with Coach Katie.
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time, we'll talk to you again.
• 1:18:31
  SPEAKER_02: All right, bye-bye, everyone.
• 1:18:42
  SPEAKER_02: That wraps up today's episode of the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast.
• 1:18:46
  SPEAKER_02: Endurance sports have a way of teaching us patience, humility, and resilience.
• 1:18:51
  SPEAKER_02: Lessons that carry far beyond the workout.
• 1:18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Progress in endurance sports doesn't come from shortcuts.
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_02: It comes from consistency, discipline, and doing the work when it's not glamorous.
• 1:19:02
  SPEAKER_02: Wherever you are on your endurance journey, keep trusting the process and honoring the work you put in each day.
• 1:19:09
  SPEAKER_02: If today's episode resonated, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone to help on their endurance journey.
• 1:19:17
  SPEAKER_02: Don't forget to join the conversation on our social sites to help build and foster a community where we all learn and support one another.
• 1:19:25
  SPEAKER_02: We'll be back with more stories and insights from Coach Justin and Katie.
• 1:19:29
  SPEAKER_02: Until then, visit the podcast website at the endurance athlete journey.buzzsprout.com for more episodes from the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast.
• 1:19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Have questions or comments about the podcast?
• 1:19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Feel free to send us an email at the endurance athlete journey at gmail.com.
• 1:19:49
  SPEAKER_02: For all things coaching, visit Coach Katie at fuel the number two run dot com and coach Justin at taboolarasta racing.com.
• 1:19:59
  SPEAKER_02: Again, thank you for listening to the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast, and remember to find joy in the journey.