Latest / Find Your Edge: Training, Nutrition + Longevity for Endurance Athletes / How to Write a Race Report that You Actually Learn From Ep 142
Transcript
- 0:37Coach Carlie: Hey y'all, and welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast.
- 0:41Coach Carlie: I am your host, Coach Chris Newport.
- 0:43Coach Carlie: And I figured since so many people raced this past weekend, it would be a great opportunity today to talk all about race reports and debriefs.
- 0:55Coach Carlie: So if you're watching this on YouTube, I've got our race report template that oftentimes we'll use with athletes.
- 1:02Coach Carlie: But if this, this at least gives you some more detailed report structure so that you can truly reflect on a race experience.
- 1:13Coach Carlie: So many athletes I have found who race, they may be extraordinarily disappointed in themselves, and then they don't necessarily have any evidence to back up the disappointment when there wasn't necessarily a strategy or an expectation going into it.
- 1:30Coach Carlie: So this is the back end, the debrief part, but expecting that there should be a part on the front end to say, why am I doing this?
- 1:42Coach Carlie: What's my expectation?
- 1:44Coach Carlie: What are my goals for this event?
- 1:47Coach Carlie: And perhaps even some expected times.
- 1:50Coach Carlie: And that's what our coaches, I will have to say, are pretty darn good at in terms of supporting athletes in managing their expectations going into various events so that they can feel more calm, more confident, and just overall having a better time as they go into the event.
- 2:09Coach Carlie: So I'm going to walk you through this race report or debrief.
- 2:14Coach Carlie: And then I also want to provide you a couple of more specific examples of various athletes and their debriefs and what may have gone well and what may have needed some adjustments.
- 2:28Coach Carlie: So the first thing to ask yourself in your either pre-race report or post-race report is number one, why this race?
- 2:37Coach Carlie: So, what made you choose this particular race?
- 2:39Coach Carlie: What personal goals, challenges, or motivations were behind your decision?
- 2:43Coach Carlie: Was it part of a bigger season plan or just a one-off adventure?
- 2:49Coach Carlie: So thinking through those things and then looking at your training journey reflections.
- 2:54Coach Carlie: This is really important because I think that so many people don't necessarily do this.
- 2:58Coach Carlie: Or if they feel like they performed not up to their hypothetical expectation, then they're not truly reflecting on evidence-based training journeys.
- 3:11Coach Carlie: So the questions here to ask are how did your training go leading up to the race?
- 3:16Coach Carlie: What wins did you have?
- 3:18Coach Carlie: What potential struggles or setbacks did you have?
- 3:21Coach Carlie: What areas of improvement or skill development did you notice?
- 3:25Coach Carlie: And I'm going to talk about that in some of our examples.
- 3:28Coach Carlie: And then did you adjust your training due to injury, travel, or other life events?
- 3:33Coach Carlie: Because let's be honest, y'all, life is gonna life.
- 3:36Coach Carlie: Like that's just how it goes.
- 3:38Coach Carlie: So your training journey is exactly that.
- 3:41Coach Carlie: It's a journey.
- 3:42Coach Carlie: So there is no quote unquote perfect training.
- 3:45Coach Carlie: And we're also unique and fabulous.
- 3:48Coach Carlie: So be sure to honor that.
- 3:50Coach Carlie: All right.
- 3:51Coach Carlie: So third thing that we liked to ask is what are your pre-race preparation and logistics that you need to do?
- 3:59Coach Carlie: So when did you arrive?
- 4:01Coach Carlie: How did your travel go?
- 4:02Coach Carlie: What were your routines leading up to race day?
- 4:05Coach Carlie: Like sleep, like meals, maybe like a shakeout run or a pre-race bike ride just to make through and run through all the gears.
- 4:14Coach Carlie: What were your gear check and pre-race rituals?
- 4:16Coach Carlie: What went smoothly?
- 4:17Coach Carlie: What perhaps would you improve?
- 4:21Coach Carlie: And then looking at, of course, race gate, race day conditions.
- 4:23Coach Carlie: So if you were one who just did White Lake Half Iron Man this past weekend, uh, God bless you.
- 4:28Coach Carlie: There it rained the entire time.
- 4:31Coach Carlie: So certainly entering your weather, the terrain, the surface, the elevation, anything unusual, delays, course changes, etc.
- 4:37Coach Carlie: If you did, in fact, do White Lake Half Iron Man, the intention was for a 56 miles bike ride.
- 4:43Coach Carlie: And of course, it got shortened for safety of the athletes.
- 4:48Coach Carlie: So those are things to certainly write down on your debrief.
- 4:52Coach Carlie: And then we have the actual race breakdown.
- 4:55Coach Carlie: So if you are doing trathon, swim, bike, and run, or if you're doing humans of steel, which is our race, which is the opposite, run, bike, and swim, or if you're just doing a running race or cycling race, whatever it is, break it down into each individual segment.
- 5:11Coach Carlie: So what was your course type?
- 5:13Coach Carlie: What was your distance and format?
- 5:14Coach Carlie: What were the water conditions?
- 5:16Coach Carlie: What was your starting strategy and pacing?
- 5:19Coach Carlie: Oh my gosh, can I tell you how important that is?
- 5:21Coach Carlie: Pacing, anything that may have surprised you?
- 5:25Coach Carlie: Any key mental or physical wins, any gear issues or wins, any pacing or fueling?
- 5:33Coach Carlie: If you are doing triathon, how did your legs feel in getting off the bike?
- 5:37Coach Carlie: Or again, if you're doing something like our humans a steal event, which is run, bike, swim, how did your legs feel coming off the bike while in the water?
- 5:45Coach Carlie: How'd your arms feel?
- 5:47Coach Carlie: Those types of things.
- 5:48Coach Carlie: And then any notes you want to take in terms of transitions, again, if it was a multi-sport event.
- 5:53Coach Carlie: Or I know some of these bigger marathons, you're having to take buses, you're having to wait for an extended period of time.
- 6:01Coach Carlie: So perhaps your breakfast is at six o'clock in the morning, but you don't start until 11.
- 6:06Coach Carlie: So there may be a gap there.
- 6:08Coach Carlie: So how did you handle that?
- 6:10Coach Carlie: So always great to take those notes to keep that in here.
- 6:14Coach Carlie: Next up is results and reflections.
- 6:17Coach Carlie: So what was your finish time?
- 6:19Coach Carlie: What was your goal time?
- 6:21Coach Carlie: What are things that you are most proud of?
- 6:23Coach Carlie: How did this race compare to your expectations?
- 6:27Coach Carlie: And is there anything you would have done differently?
- 6:32Coach Carlie: Then fueling and hydration notes, of course, one of my favorites.
- 6:35Coach Carlie: What was your plan for pre-race, during, and post-race fueling?
- 6:38Coach Carlie: What products or foods did you use?
- 6:41Coach Carlie: Did it work?
- 6:42Coach Carlie: Any GI issues, any cramping, any uh bonking, and anything you would change for next time?
- 6:48Coach Carlie: Perhaps it's related to the next one, which is gear and equipment notes.
- 6:51Coach Carlie: I've had an athlete this week told me that he didn't quite clip his water bottle in completely into his arrow bars and whenever a bump and it nearly went like shooting out across the road.
- 7:03Coach Carlie: Luckily, he was able to catch it.
- 7:05Coach Carlie: But things like that, be sure that you hear that click when you put your water bottles into the actual holder.
- 7:14Coach Carlie: So that would certainly be a note that he would write.
- 7:17Coach Carlie: And then again, like I had alluded to, what were any gear or equipment notes?
- 7:22Coach Carlie: Was there anything specific that you used if you did multi-sport for swim, bike, or run?
- 7:28Coach Carlie: And if it gets more technical, if there were things, uh like I'll give you an example.
- 7:34Coach Carlie: Uh, I was at the Whitewater Tathlon this past weekend and it was supposed to rain pretty consistently.
- 7:40Coach Carlie: It ended up being wet but not overly muddy.
- 7:43Coach Carlie: But as a precaution, I dropped my tire pressure pretty significantly, and I'm so glad that I did that.
- 7:48Coach Carlie: So that would be in my post-race debrief.
- 7:51Coach Carlie: And then again, any nutrition setup, any transition setup, what worked well, what might need slight tweaking.
- 7:59Coach Carlie: And then getting down even deeper.
- 8:02Coach Carlie: So hopefully, hopefully you guys are hanging with me with all these different questions.
- 8:05Coach Carlie: But these are these are important to note.
- 8:09Coach Carlie: Your strategy and execution.
- 8:11Coach Carlie: So this is oftentimes what people will leave out.
- 8:15Coach Carlie: And this is what I would have to say, our coaches do really well with our athletes is creating a pacing strategy, making sure that you have a plan for your nutrition and hydration.
- 8:25Coach Carlie: Maybe you even need to submit it to your coach.
- 8:28Coach Carlie: Uh, we do that as part of our fueling and hydration boot camp that's coming up.
- 8:32Coach Carlie: Were there any mental strategies that you used?
- 8:35Coach Carlie: And of course, I wish that Coach Carly would hear to talk about all the wonderful sports psychology mental strategies.
- 8:41Coach Carlie: This isn't just a one-off thing.
- 8:43Coach Carlie: This is something that you need to practice, just like, you know, swim, bike, run.
- 8:47Coach Carlie: Did you follow your plan?
- 8:49Coach Carlie: Did you adapt?
- 8:50Coach Carlie: Or a little bit of both?
- 8:52Coach Carlie: Number 10 is what were the lessons you learned?
- 8:56Coach Carlie: So thinking about two to three takeaways that you'll potentially bring into your next race.
- 9:03Coach Carlie: So, and I really want you guys to try to give these some thoughts.
- 9:07Coach Carlie: You know, yes, I'm reading you these questions, but as I'm saying these, are there things coming up that perhaps wouldn't otherwise come up had you just like done the race and been like, okay, you know, that sucked, or that was great, or whatever, just kind of giving it a one-word label and then just moving on and not actually learning from it?
- 9:26Coach Carlie: Because that's really what this process is all about.
- 9:30Coach Carlie: And then similarly, what did this race teach you about yourself?
- 9:35Coach Carlie: Were there any unexpected insights or aha moments?
- 9:38Coach Carlie: I love a good aha moment, you guys.
- 9:41Coach Carlie: And then what's next?
- 9:43Coach Carlie: So, what does how does this race fit into your bigger season or your bigger goals?
- 9:49Coach Carlie: What might be the next race or challenge?
- 9:51Coach Carlie: And you may not be ready to answer that question yet, and that's okay.
- 9:55Coach Carlie: And write that down.
- 9:56Coach Carlie: Like, I don't know what I'm gonna do next.
- 9:59Coach Carlie: And then how has this experience shifted your mindset or your motivation?
- 10:04Coach Carlie: So uh you guys heard all about how my mindset and motivation changed after XDRA uh World Championships a couple of podcasts ago.
- 10:13Coach Carlie: So I'm happy to link to that as well if you want to hear all that.
- 10:16Coach Carlie: But then we've got a separate section that's for coach notes.
- 10:20Coach Carlie: So this could be for coach feedback, for review, for next steps.
- 10:25Coach Carlie: And then getting into my athlete examples.
- 10:29Coach Carlie: So every week our coaches meet and review things like this.
- 10:35Coach Carlie: So we reviewed several athletes' performances from this past weekend in our meeting that we had this week.
- 10:44Coach Carlie: And then I'll give you another example of another athlete who recently did a race uh last month that perhaps that strategy was not fully executed and they felt the ensuing results.
- 10:59Coach Carlie: So Coach Notes goes even deeper.
- 11:02Coach Carlie: Now we get into some of the deeper analytics when we actually open up the workout file and see what were the expectations going in, and then what were the analytics.
- 11:13Coach Carlie: So some of the things that we like to look for not only are some of the obvious ones like time, but also if we're looking at bike more specifically, if we're looking at power numbers, some of the things that we like to look at are normalized power, not just average power.
- 11:31Coach Carlie: We also look at something called intensity factor, and then we also look at something called variability index.
- 11:37Coach Carlie: So, where did all those fit into the strategy that we were trying to execute going into the race?
- 11:44Coach Carlie: So the first athlete I want to give you an example of, and I'm gonna leave all these folks nameless, but we have one athlete who is a newer athlete to a uh to Tarathlon in general, and certainly to the half iron distance or the 70.3 distance.
- 12:03Coach Carlie: She had a very specific strategy going in, and then we opened up, and granted, she doesn't have power, so we were able to go off of her heart rate data.
- 12:11Coach Carlie: We went into our heart rate data for each of the swim, bike, and run, and then we're able to look at the overall results from the race and be able to compare where she was in terms of the rest of the field, and then of course, looking at USA TRAFON rankings or scores that are um used for that particular race, and then seeing was she able to actually execute that strategy?
- 12:37Coach Carlie: And based on her heart rate date, it was beautiful.
- 12:40Coach Carlie: Everything was super steady, there wasn't a lot of like uh rises and falls.
- 12:46Coach Carlie: She executed the plan beautifully, spot on, and the analytics show it.
- 12:52Coach Carlie: So that was an example of going into some of the data on the coach's end and actually reviewing it.
- 12:58Coach Carlie: And then, of course, the coach is actually gonna have some feedback for her on like super kudos and you know what's gonna be next.
- 13:08Coach Carlie: Conversely, we had an athlete who recently did an Iron Man event, and we were looking at his bike file and noticed that about probably about 20 to 30 percent of his overall bike ride was spent in both heart rate and power rate in zones four and five, which is an extraordinarily large amount of time to be spending in those higher zones, considering the longer distance.
- 13:43Coach Carlie: And he sort of ran out of steam somewhere around maybe mile 16 or 17.
- 13:48Coach Carlie: There could have been other things going into play, some maybe musculoskeletal issues or previous injuries that were sort of flaring up.
- 13:57Coach Carlie: But I would argue that had we executed the strategy of the bike ride being in a certain normalized power, with the allowance of going into zone four or five being in a smaller percentage of the time, sometimes you have to surge.
- 14:11Coach Carlie: So his variability index was very high, which means that you're sort of surging and slowing and surging and slowing.
- 14:17Coach Carlie: And of course, that's not an ideal strategy to be doing in something as long as Iron Man.
- 14:24Coach Carlie: So considering that, what how would we tweak his particular strategy going into his next race and also going into his training?
- 14:33Coach Carlie: So I also wanted to give you an example of my own experience with Whitewater Try and my debrief.
- 14:41Coach Carlie: So when I went into my files, there were a couple of things that I specifically noted was my bike file and my run file.
- 14:50Coach Carlie: So we'll talk about the run one first.
- 14:53Coach Carlie: So I spent the majority of my heart rate zones in between zone three and zone five for a four-mile run off the bike, which is in my mind a well-executed race to be able to do that shorter distance and execute it well.
- 15:13Coach Carlie: So that tells me I was sort of topping out on my cardiorespiratory fitness.
- 15:19Coach Carlie: And perhaps there could be some additional training measures if I wanted to dedicate more time to the run that I could, but certainly as expected on the run.
- 15:31Coach Carlie: The bike is a little bit of a different story.
- 15:33Coach Carlie: So if I look at my bike file, my zones were more like zone two and three, and some into four, and just like a little tiny amount into zone five.
- 15:46Coach Carlie: So that tells me I have a bigger cardiorespiratory opportunity for doing that event.
- 15:53Coach Carlie: So then you start to ask, okay, well, what was holding this athlete back?
- 15:58Coach Carlie: And I can tell you very specifically, in my case, it would be mountain biking skills.
- 16:04Coach Carlie: So the greater skill set will allow for the cardiorespiratory engine to start to take off and do its thing.
- 16:12Coach Carlie: So that's certainly one thing that I have an opportunity to work on over the summer.
- 16:16Coach Carlie: And the other thing that tells me is nurturing that more zone four and zone five development on the bike, whether it be on the trainer or actually on that specific bike.
- 16:30Coach Carlie: So the trainer, I've got a road bike, and then I ride my mountain bike.
- 16:34Coach Carlie: So considering some of that discrepancy too.
- 16:37Coach Carlie: So some interesting information and comparison opportunities of how you can do your race debrief and then what we're looking for as a coach perspective to see what are our areas of opportunity, what did we do well, and also considering how much fun did you have.
- 16:59Coach Carlie: So hopefully, this was good information to see what are some of the things that you should add in your race debrief, in your race report, and also what are some of the things that we look at as coaches in terms of some of your analytics to give you an opportunity to be better, to have a good reflection on some of your experiences, and turn that hopefully into areas for opportunity and improvement for both you and for your coach if you have one.
- 17:31Coach Carlie: And certainly if you are looking for a coach and somebody to support you in this process of creating that strategy, going into a race and being able to reflect and debrief in this sort of style, not only with your one particular coach, but also with a whole team of coaches.
- 17:49Coach Carlie: So that's where we really shine and we would love to support you in that journey.
- 17:53Coach Carlie: So if you are interested in coaching, don't forget to head over to the enduranceedge.com forward slash traffong coaching.
- 18:00Coach Carlie: And yes, we work with traffices and we also work with runners.
- 18:04Coach Carlie: So hopefully that was some good information for you to take into your season.
- 18:08Coach Carlie: Thank you guys so much for listening, and we will catch you next time on the Find Your Edge podcast.