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What Are You Actually Training For? Complete, Perform, Compete · The Endurance Athlete Journey

• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome everyone to another episode of the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm your host today, Coach Justin.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And this is episode 127 of the podcast.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And today I want to come to you with three questions that have become or is quickly becoming a foundational component of my approach to training and racing as an athlete myself.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And these same three questions are becoming a foundational component to my coaching philosophy as well.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been giving a lot of thought to this methodology that I've been trying to flush out over the past several months now.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to just kind of come to you today to kind of talk it through a little bit and share some of my insights.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just tell you what these three questions are.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: The first question is, can I complete?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: The next question is, can I perform?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the next question is, can I compete?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that these three questions describe the mindset of an athlete.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to walk away from this episode thinking that these three questions are somehow a ranking system of your athletic progress or it's a way to classify you as an athlete because I don't feel that's the case at all.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll and by the end of the episode, you'll understand why I believe that this is true.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: So let me tell you a little bit, a little story before I get into the weeds a little bit with these three questions.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So this is I'm recording this on October 16th of 2026.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And last year, 2025, was my first year back into the sport of triathlon after taking a four-year break from the sport to recover from various surgeries that I had to repair some issues.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I came back into the sport, I had serious questions on whether this is something that I could do.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Can I race again after being gone for so long?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: What's my body going to be like?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And is it going to be able to perform and compete in the sport?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Am I able to be prepared for the demands of race day?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And how's my body going to handle the stress again?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And how do I start to make this progress back into the sport?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because my goal was was and is to get back to long course triathlon racing.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: So my goal is to get back to the full Iron Man distance, but I know that I'm not ready yet.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know it's been this is the second year of my kind of comeback to the sport.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I know still that I'm not ready.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Whether I'm could whether I could be ready physically, I believe that is a question that could be answered.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Whether I believe that I am emotionally and mentally ready for the commitment that it would take to get back, I don't believe I'm there yet.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: As I've made these decisions, I've as I've progressed over the past two years of trying to get back to the sport, these three questions keep coming up.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that they describe very distinct periods of this comeback.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so there was a race that I recently did that kind of solidified and made me see how this kind of all fits together.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so the the ability to complete, perform, or compete, like I said, these are not classifications of where you are in your athletic journey.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that these are three very distinct and different questions that each athlete is asking themselves in any given moment of their journey.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And but what do these questions actually ask of the athlete?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so now let's take a look on how I asked myself these questions as I made this comeback.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, first, when I came back in and my very first race back into the sport was a sprint.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the only question that I was asking myself was, can I complete this?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: I just my goal is just to complete the race.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have no performance expectations.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to get back to racing to see how it feels.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a I believe that I had a very successful race, and it gave me a big boost of confidence that yeah, I feel like I'm moving in the right direction.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Am I where I want to be at?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: No, obviously not, but I felt like I could see some kind of progression.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, really, the question that I was asking myself when I was preparing for that race was can I complete this race?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Even though I've done just countless sprints, I've done every race distance up to full Iron Man.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that I had never done them before.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: I was I am an experienced athlete.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: The question was at this moment in time, can I complete this?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And my my previous experience would say, yes, you can, but that isn't necessarily all the evidence that one needs in order to validate that question and the response to that question.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: So right after that race, I started the next training cycle for an Olympic.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I had never really intended to race an Olympic last year.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: I had another guy that I knew fairly well, and he said, Hey, I'm kind of, I think that you should do an Olympic.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to see you do an Olympic.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I did that first sprint, I did another sprint, like maybe a month later, a little bit more of a challenging sprint, but I had good, I had I did well and actually found myself on the podium for that race.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so then I really started to ask the question okay, now I'm starting to see this completion.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Can I complete an Olympic now that I've shown myself that I have the ability to complete the sprint?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So then I went and I raced the Olympic and did fairly well at that one as well, and found myself on the podium again.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I was starting to feel confident.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I hadn't really asked myself, how well can I perform or how well can I do this race?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: The only question that I was asking myself was, can I complete it?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: I ended up getting a free registration into Iron Man Florida 70.3.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I wasn't asking myself how well can I perform this 70.3.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: My only thing was I just need to get through the day.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see if I can complete this.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And while the obstacles were significant, I did finish the race and I was able to complete it.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: That experience left me with some more questions to where am I still in this completion mentality?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Am I still asking myself, can I complete these races?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or now am I starting to say, I know that I can complete them now.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now the question that I'm asking myself is, how well can I do in the next year?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So in 2026, I had signed up for a couple more races, and it was I signed up for that same first sprint again.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't ask myself, hey, can I complete this?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because I knew I could, and I was fairly confident.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: I started to ask myself, how well can I do?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see if I can put some performance metrics in place to where I can kind of judge how well I'm doing, and did the race and found myself on the podium again.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: As I've gone through this year, I've had pretty good success in racing, but I've consistently found myself asking, hey, how well can I do?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: How well can I perform?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: I had my first attempt at an Olympic aqua bike, as I've been giving some thought to that discipline, and that gave me my first overall win this year at the Kinetic Patriot race.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I did the the sprint the very next day.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I said, Hey, I I performed well, so now let's see if I can perform well again.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I I feel like I executed a good race for that sprint, but I missed the podium by just a little bit.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was like a minute and a half, I was off.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started to ask myself, why did I lose this podium?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because I felt like hey, I executed a solid race, and I'm trying to figure out what it is that I need to do in order to build some kind of reliability in my performance.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I started to find that there were little pieces of race execution that I just wasn't doing well, and whether that was an execution issue or just a preparedness issue, because the reason that I lost that podium was basically because of my run.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got persistent issues that I have to manage when it comes to running, and so I don't have the durability and reliability and consistency in my running that I really would like in order to compete, not just perform.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I discovered in that race that the reason that I missed the podium wasn't necessarily because I executed a poor race, it was I didn't show up that day to compete.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I showed up that day to perform.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it really got me thinking that, hey, I've got another race in two weeks.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got no time to build additional fitness.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I do have enough time to recover and then start sharpening the sword again.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I asked myself, what is it that I need to do differently at this next round of races to where I can start to compete and not just perform?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Showed up on race day two weeks later at the Kinetic Giant Acorn Trathland Festival.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was a weekend of racing.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: I did the Olympic Aquabike on Saturday again, and I did the sprint on Sunday.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I performed really well in the Olympic aqua bike.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: I grabbed a podium, but I did not grab the overall win.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I did play second in that, and you can go back and listen to the race recap of these two weekends of racing.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the very next day, I raced a sprint, and I said, I grabbed a podium today.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: What do I need to do tomorrow in terms of my execution that sets me up for success in terms of placing again?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Make this a double podium weekend.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I started to realize that I just need to, I need to start taking on some risk.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I need to find ways to inject calculated risk into my execution, knowing full well that it could blow up or it could pay off.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so during that race, there were some calculated risks that I took.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, I think those it paid off because I did grab third place in the sprint.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: So this really had me thinking, okay, then what is the difference between performance and completion?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: These three questions I think we're going to dive into are just a little bit more.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: But this is the story on how these three questions can be tracked and used as a way to illustrate your mindset in racing and training.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: And as you can see, experience isn't really a significant factor.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I do think it does play some role in the type of question that you're trying to answer.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I will say that I don't think experience keeps you from going back to previous questions that you've asked and answered.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So let's take now, let's move this into what I feel is the completion question.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: The question is, am I prepared to complete this race or can I compete this?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Complete this?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And really what we're asking is, can I do this?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: I hear this a lot from athletes.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Heck, I hear it in my head quite often as well, even if it comes to just a plain workout.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Man, can't can I do this?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And what I feel is the foundation of this particular question is not from the perspective of I just want to finish this race.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't think that completely summarizes it.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: What I do think that this question gets to is about building reliable capability.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And we're not looking at performance, not how well can I do it, is can I do this?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Can I build the skill set that is necessary to execute my plan and to meet the demands of the day, of today?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so really what we're doing is during the training process, where this is our central question that we're trying that we're looking to find an answer to.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is like, can we build consistency and durability?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Consistency in training has very different definitions and different different perspectives across the spectrum of athletes.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: To me, consistency is can I do something today in a way that allows me to do something tomorrow?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then you keep asking that same question.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Not just looking at what I'm doing today in isolation.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: You have to look at what am I doing today in terms of what did I do yesterday and what do I want to do tomorrow?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's consistency.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: You can't really build durability, which means that you're able to consistently execute that without this consistency.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: So consistency and durability go hand in hand.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can't have one without the other.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing that we're focusing on during this process is that we're looking to just build a base level of fitness.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I want to provide you the way to build the skill set that you're going to need to meet those demands.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that means that I want to get you to a point where you feel comfortable in the water.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: You can survive in the water, not necessarily be completely comfortable, but you can be confident going into the water, that you've put in the work and that you're prepared.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: That we ride our bike enough that allows us to have the ability to run well off of the bike.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we've practiced those transitions.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: We have ridden what is responsible and consistent bike volume so that you can understand that if you get off the bike feeling exhausted, you know the consequences of that in terms of the quality of your subsequent run.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, what we do is at Tabula Rassery, we spend a lot of time building bike fitness.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: As we continue through the training process, I'm not necessarily focused so much on performance.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do I look at performance in terms of judging the progression that we're making in training?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm not really using it as a benchmark criteria for for the athlete.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So what I really want to instill in those that I work with and in myself to a certain extent, is that as we build this base level of fitness with that building comes confidence.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, confidence is not the same thing as I know I can do this in terms of like guarantee.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Confidence is just taking a look at the breadth and width of the work that you've put in to the process of getting to race day.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And even though you may not have done a particular race distance before, you're using your portfolio of work that you've put in as confidence that you are prepared to meet those demands.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to guarantee, no nobody can guarantee that.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, regardless of how much work you put in, there are things that are out of your control during race day.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: So confidence is not the same thing as a guarantee.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Fueling competence is another thing that we work on, is we have to get an understanding on how to fuel properly during the race or either right before or post-race.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Depending on your race distance, fueling can play a big role.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it doesn't play that big of a role.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Especially, let's say, for instance, a sprint triathlon, your fueling may not be as important because the duration in which you're out there racing is relatively short.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Pacing discipline is another thing that we work on during this particular question of can I complete this?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because discipline in your pacing and execution is going to be extremely important in order to observe that day's potential.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, if you swim really hard, you get out of the water and you're just you're cooked, and now you're going to try and get on the bike and ride hard, what are the chances of you being able to execute that plan and still have enough left over for when you get off on the run?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if we can understand what it means to swim efficiently and calm, then that effort management has ripple effects and can improve the quality of your bike.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Likewise, if you go out and you just ride as hard as you possibly can and completely disregard what you have coming up with the run, we have to learn how to be okay not observing our true bike-only fitness during a triathlon because we have to ride the bike in such a way that sets us up for success on the run.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So discipline plays a role throughout the entire day.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one of the things that I work on with athletes and myself as well.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: We'd have to learn technical competence when it comes to the completion of a race.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: I want to make sure that you understand how to shift your gears and your bike, what it means for effort management for how you're positioned on the bike, if you're sitting up on the hoods, if you're sitting down in the drops, or if you're in an arrow position, what are all those consequences of those different positions in terms of your ability to execute the effort?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the things that that I consider and that I take into account when it comes to working with an athlete who is asking the question can I complete this?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Really, my goal at this phase has nothing to do with what is optimal.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm more interested in.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Building reliability over optimization.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: So the idea or the principle of let's say zone two training, while is optimal for some, I don't believe it's optimal for others, and we've done a whole series on the efficacy of zone two training.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: My point is that I'm not really necessarily focused on what is optimal.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: I can see what is beneficial and getting you to the point where you can meet the demands of your race.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Optimization comes later, once we've laid a better foundation.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: So a little bit more of an insight on my early start in this sport, is I started as a 365-pound, almost pack-a-day smoker.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it took me well about two years before I actually did my first triathlon.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: At which case, those early race finishes, even though all I was interested in was can I complete this?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Those experiences were extremely valuable.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: So one thing that I find that coaches may end up doing is they really come downplay the importance of completion because of the huge return in terms of confidence, momentum, and just overall satisfaction in what you're doing, the benefits and the joy that you get from just completing for some athletes is immeasurable.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want you to think that if you're just looking to just complete the race, okay, that's good.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: And downplay it because I think that there's more to it than that.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: What we then progress to is this what I call this second state of mind.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to call them phases because I don't want you to think that we are moving from one to the next and then to the final.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's some kind of logical progression while there is some dependency between each state of mind.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that there is a point where once you get to one certain level that you never have to go back, or you never may even want to go back, I don't believe that it works that way.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: So once you get the confidence and being able to complete something, now I start to ask the question, how well can we do this?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so, really, what we're asking ourselves is, can I perform?
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now the training and the approach starts to morph into something a little bit different.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: We've already built the fitness that's there, and we know that we've done that.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what we're looking to do is improve the execution of our strategy and not necessarily be focused solely on becoming fitter.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So uncertainty starts to become a little bit minimized.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: While there's still some level of uncertainty, that's why I'm not going to say that it completely goes away.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: But really, the training that we go through when we're trying to ask ourselves, how well can I do this, requires more specificity.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now we start to look at pacing, not necessarily the same type of way that we looked at pacing before, where we were just looking at pacing discipline.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're starting to put some quantitative measures around our pacing.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Though that may mean that we're now going to start riding by power.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so we get how much power are we pushing, how many watts, what can I reliably hold for this amount of duration of time.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: And we start to set up these guardrails around the effort in order to execute a strategy and not just get through the day.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're starting to look at ways to fine-tune our skill set to find efficiency gains.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're focused on how efficient can I be in the water.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: When we start to talk about performance, now I'm starting to take a little bit closer look on what that swim stroke and what are some other ways that we can continue to fine-tune this stroke.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're starting to put a little bit more structure behind the workouts.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of giving an athlete a workout to where I want you to just go out and just ride for 45 minutes and execute that.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm starting to give you some structure to it.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, for these same 45 minutes, I want three three by five minute intervals at a tempo effort.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's going to be a zone three effort with just one to two minutes of easy pedaling between these efforts, but I want these efforts to be at the tail end of the bike and not at the front end where you're fresh.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's that specificity that we're starting to define.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're starting to then fine-tune our fueling strategies.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're not just focused on, hey, can you eat and drink while you're doing this?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: What products seem to work for you?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: I may not be necessarily focused on how many carbs are you getting per hour per se, but I'm still tracking it, but it might not be something that I'm putting in front of the athlete to make that decision on.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: But now, once we start to get to how well we can perform, now it starts to play a little bit of a bigger role.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Say, I want you to get in 50 to 60 grams of carbs an hour for this effort, for the for this bike ride, and we want to start to see how the body tolerates those that level of carbohydrate because we're going to need that for when if we want to perform well on the run.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: We have to replace what some of what we're losing and what we're spending.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Race specificity, we start to then kind of dial in.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: I look very closely at what kind of course they're going to be racing on.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I may start to tailor some of their workouts towards the skill set that would be needed.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say that they're doing Iron Man Florida 70.3, or they're doing Golf Coast, which is that let's do Golf Coast that's a flat and fast course.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: But the specificity that I would implement into that training plan would be okay, we're going to do some good trainer work because we're we need to condition the legs to keep spinning.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Flat and fast doesn't mean easy.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to condition the legs to have the muscular endurance to keep moving.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's no going to be no coasting, there's no just kind of like riding down the hill kind of thing and let the legs delo.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Those courses have their own challenges.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we start to then find places on that course where we might be able to get some performance gains from.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it's okay.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're doing a hilly route, a hilly course.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dial in our effort in terms of how do we want to run?
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is the race course hilly on the out and it's an out and back course?
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is it uphill going out and downhill coming back?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that means that we have to practice a little bit more discipline on the way out.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that off-the-bike brick run is going to be pretty important in order to learn that discipline.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just trying, like I said, it's just setting up the guardrails.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: So what I want to use as an illustration for this is the point that I'm trying to make is that you can have the fitness that is necessary to complete the race and do well at the race, but then still poorly execute the race strategy.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: So performance is not about, hey, how fit can I be?
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Performance is about how strategic can I be and practicing the discipline that was needed.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: I need to hold back here, I need to go for it here.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: These are the things that we start to dial in on.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll use my experience where I did, I'm in North Carolina 70.3, and this was the last race that I did right before I took my break and ended up having to have surgery.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: I I did that race with a torn rotator cuff, a torn bicep tendon, and training for it was a challenge in itself.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: There were some other issues that I had to deal with that just popped up out of nowhere.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: But when I got to the to race day, I felt healthy and I felt fit and I knew that I could race it.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't, I wasn't too concerned about, hey, can I complete this?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because I knew that I could.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: The question that I was having is like, hey, can I perform well?
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I got through the swim and I got onto the bike, and it was a fairly, it was probably my slowest bike, but it was one that I executed really well.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: And because I was purposefully holding back on the bike in order to set me up for success on the run.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: But when I got to the run, I got in my own head and made the mistake of looking down at my watch to see what my heart rate was, and it was at a level that I thought was not sustainable.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't train by heart rate, I don't even monitor my heart rate, but that day I happened to look down and see it, and I let it get to me and it sabotaged my run.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: So even though I had the fitness to perform well, and that race was probably my slowest 70.3 to date, even though I had the fitness, I executed my strategy poorly.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so did I perform well?
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think this is an illustration that fitness isn't necessarily the name of the game.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Triathlon tends to be a heavily strategic sport, especially if you want to start answering those questions, how well can I do and can I compete?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're asking your question is like, can I complete?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then there's a little bit less strategy involved, but there is still some that's there.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: So my point behind this is that yes, I was fit to do North Carolina and I was prepared to perform well.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Fitness alone does not guarantee a good performance.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Fitness is a piece of it, but the execution of that strategy and that plan plays a big role on whether you end up having a good performance or a bad performance.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you can have races where you performed really well, but it wasn't your best execution.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes you hear athletes talking about what was your best race, and it wasn't actually their fastest race.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was just one that they executed their plan perfectly.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's performance.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now that we've seen how the execution of a race strategy plays a big role in the quality of your performance, what does that mean in terms of the last question that I'm asking is can I compete?
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: What does that really mean?
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: What does competing mean?
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because some people tend to think that a good performance is competitive.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that means that performance is a sufficient and necessary condition for competition.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't necessarily believe that's true.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, really, what it is that we're asking of ourselves is not can I compete, which means that can I beat others?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: What I believe that we're really asking is what is the highest realistic outcome that is available today in this moment?
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: How well can I do right now?
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: And what are the possible outcomes that can come from this?
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: And what is the most realistic?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, competition then builds on the performance by tactical decision making.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, as we've gone through this progression of these questions, you can complete and then you can go to perform, but you can't perform unless you do the work that allowed you to complete.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Likewise, you can't compete until you do the work that is required for performance.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: So there is an interdependency among these three states of mind.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel that sometimes we get instances where an athlete is has a completion mindset, but they are so focused on performance and what are the metrics telling me?
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: And what are the what are the numbers saying?
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: That they haven't done the work that is required for completion yet.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: So why are you adding the added stress of trying to put guardrails on that and restrict it?
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like they've gone ahead of where they're at.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that we're asking of ourselves and what what's the skill set that is needed in order to compete?
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: We've talked about the skill set that would be needed for performance, but how does this change for competition?
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Really, what I think is the main driver between this performance and competition mindset is the ability to calculate risk, to make tactical decisions in the moment, and how you deal with and process uncertainty.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Really, this boils down to how strategic can you be?
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: There was some level of strategic thought that was required in performance, but when you get to the competition mindset, I think it amplifies and it plays a much bigger role.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've illustrated that you can go from a performance mindset to a competition mindset without building additional fitness.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I did that when I raced giant acorn.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: The decisions that I was making that weekend relative to the decisions that I made two weeks prior at a at for similar demands, different race courses, yes.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: But the decisions that I was making during that race in terms of my effort really illustrates that the fitness wasn't any different.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was how I executed it and how much I was willing to accept the risk associated with the decisions that I was making in that moment, knowing full well that these same decisions could result in two different results.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: One result is I make the decision and it's the wrong decision, and I get a bad result.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: Likewise, I make that decision and it's a good decision, and it pays off, and I get a good result.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Nowhere in that discussion is talk about, oh, I gained additional fitness in order to make this leap from one to the other.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was all about my decision making and the risk that's associated with those decisions.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: And some of that risk is not mitigatable.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's risk that is outside of your control.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there are ways that we can mitigate risk and calculate risk in such a way that doesn't just allow us to go this reckless abandon where you just go and you just drop the hammer and disregard the consequences.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: What we want to do is we want to be able to make those decisions under pressure.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I start working with an athlete who has this competition mindset, sometimes I actually give them less structure in their training.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: What I'll do is I'll give them parameters and say, this is the purpose of this workout and this is what we're trying to achieve.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: But how you execute this workout, I want to leave it in your hands.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: The reason that I do that is because I want to give the athlete the ability and opportunities to make decisions, to calculate risk, to see the consequences of the decisions that they make.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'd much rather them do that during training than leave them to race day, not having practiced making decisions and calculating risk and having a bad result as a consequence.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'd much rather them blow up on a two or three hour bike ride than have them blow up on race day.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: So what I'll do is I just say, hey, this is the purpose.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, this is the purpose of the workout, and we want to test different strategies.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I want you to make a decision on when you go hard, when you go easy, how you how you execute, where what's your position like on the bike, or how are you going to run this?
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: What's the strategy that you're going to use?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to pick a hilly course, you're going to pick a flat course, you're going to charge the hills, walk the hills.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's make all kinds of different decisions so that we can find a strategy that seems to have consistent and reliable results.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that skill set is extremely valuable and a big piece of long course racing.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: I want them to understand that when we get into this competition mindset, there is a chance for failure.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: And just because you execute a good race does not guarantee good performance and being competitive.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: To illustrate, on that Sunday of the giant acorn race, I was racing the sprint.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now I made the decision to not scout the run course.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: I do believe it was a bad decision, but my justification for it was I didn't feel like I had a whole lot of time in order to do that.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: It meant that if I went out and scouted the run course, that meant that I would have less time for recovery from the Olympic aqua bike race that I had just done.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt that there was more important things that I needed to focus on in order to be prepared for the next day than taking the time to scout the run course.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, but I knew the first half of the run course was going to be uphill because it was the same segment that was on the bike course.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I had ridden the bike course twice at this point.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew that I was going to have to be disciplined and control my effort going out.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: What I didn't know was what the back half looked like.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now, was could I run the risk of, oh, there could be more hills on the back half, even though I would have some descent.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: Was there going to be any ascension?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Into where if I started to run harder, was I going to cost me because of that?
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I got to the halfway point.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, okay, I've got a decision to make now.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do I hold my effort here or do I increase my effort in order to feel like I'm racing and set me up for a chance at a podium?
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I made the calculated risk of, yeah, let's go ahead and let's just open things up a little bit.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was disciplined on the uphill part, but I was like, let's run the risk of what this route is going to look like, and let's just hold on for as long as we can.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: It paid off because there was the majority of it was downhill, and I've found myself racing the back half really well, and found myself on the podium for the second day.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think this illustrates the tactical decision making that one needs to be comfortable with and willing to assume the risk because I could have made that exact same decision and the course not be conducive to the decision that I made and resulted in a bad race or an unfavorable result.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the thing about endurance racing, and the way that I describe especially long course racing, is the Iron Man is a PhD course in crisis management.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: When I think of the 70.3, the half Iron Man, I think of it as kind of like a master's degree of crisis management.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you are confronted with hundreds of small decisions throughout the day.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: So endurance racing is all about your ability to make these small decisions and make good decisions in the moment, under pressure, under fatigue, and the consequences of all these little decisions accumulate into a final and ultimate result.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to be willing to accept the result based on the decisions and your assumption of risk.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm starting to think about the concept of potential as momentary.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: These are this is my potential right now, in this very moment, am I racing to my potential?
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: And is my potential a theoretical potential or is it a realistic potential?
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the re the reason that I bring this this theoretical versus realistic potential into the mix is that there was a coaching program that I was doing where I was working with some athletes that were going to be running a half marathon.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was a trail half marathon, and it was like in July in in Virginia.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we knew that the potential for it to be extremely hot and humid was fairly reliable.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we had calculated the risk.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we had done a lot of intensity training within the training plan, really starting to work on like how to build speed, how to improve leg turnover, and really pushing into that tempo and zone four effort in order to build speed and run a faster half marathon.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: So the athletes did all the work and they were ready.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that was their theoretical potential.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're taking as okay, this is all the work that I did.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: Looking forward to race day, this is what I think my potential is for this future time period.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: However, race day rolls around and it's 100 degrees and the humidity is probably close to 100%.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there is going to be a significant difference between their realistic potential and their theoretical potential.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we have to make this assessment in terms of how much risk am I willing to take on in order to realize what I think is my theoretical potential when there's such a big gap between the theoretical and the realistic.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I sat down with the athletes and I was just like, look, this is what we got to do.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: I understand that we had formed some level of expectations on how well we could perform, but the situation has changed.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now our strategy has to change with it.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: So assuming the risk of going out there and completely blowing up by chasing something that was theoretical to begin with, where we should have made the smarter choice, adjust the plan and the strategy to accommodate for the conditions so that our realistic potential is actually closer to our theoretical potential.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so we start to make these adjustments.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is what it means to compete.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is the strategic mindset that you have to have.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have to go into each outcome and to each race and say, what is the highest realistic available outcome given the conditions that I'm facing?
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: They may be different from the expectations that you formed when you clicked on the registration button, or they may be completely different from the expectations that you formed in terms of the quality of the training that you've put in.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now the theoretical versus potential and realistic potential really starts to come into play and how well you're going to be able to compete and not just perform.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll pose a question to you.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say that we have two athletes, both equally talented, they're they put in the same level of work, and by all means that they are effectively equal.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say that one athlete goes out and they execute the strategy well, they perform well, but they made some dis they've made some strategic decisions on what they felt was the risk, and they went for it.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: And as a result of the decisions that they made, let's say they did not get the result that they wanted.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: And let's say out of a hundred athletes that are in their group, they placed 50th.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: So they were in the 50th percentile.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: But they were strategic in how they executed their race.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't get the result that they necessarily wanted, but they got the result that they got.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let's take a look at that second athlete.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_00: And let's say that this athlete just happened to find themselves on the podium.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you go back and you ask him, is okay, how well do you think you executed?
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, ah, I kind of laid back a little bit.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't go for it, and I was a little on the safer side, and I held back.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, which of those athletes do you feel has a competitive mindset?
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: I would say the person that finished 50th was actually more competitive than the person that found themselves on the podium.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not necessarily about the outcome that you get.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's the execution of the plan and the strategic thought that goes through it is really what defines the competitiveness and the competitive mindset.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want you to think that, oh, this person is on the podium, they won the race, they must have been the most competitive, because I don't believe that is the case at all.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that you can have many competitive athletes that are there calculating risk and making decisions and not necessarily getting the results that would lead you to assume that they are competitive.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's an important distinction that we have to make, and we have to break this association from awards and what it means to be competitive.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that illustration of these two athletes is why I believe that these three questions that we're asking of can I complete, can I perform, and can I compete, they're not classifications and they're not rankings.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because that athlete who finished 50th, I would find them to be competitive, while the athlete on the podium may have had a more of a performance mindset.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_00: They made the choices, and but their assumption of risk, I believe, kept them from a competitive mindset, even though they got the better result.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want you to think that winners are competitive, people that don't find themselves on the podium, they're just completioners, or they're just how I don't know how you would classify performance then.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_00: So looking at these these three questions is really giving me some insight and some some food for thought on what is it, what do these things mean, and what kind of questions am I trying to really answer?
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_00: What am I trying to get at with each of these mindsets?
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that this is not a way to classify an athlete as beginner, intermediate, and advanced, because when I came back to triathlon, I had that completion mindset, even though I was an experienced athlete.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_00: That again shows that this is not a ranking system.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not a system in which you graduate from one step to the next.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that, oh, now I'm I'm way be I'm beyond the completion thing, and now I'm like in my performance, that I never have to go back to the completion because I don't believe that's the case either.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_00: There, let's say, for instance, for an illustration, is that I've gotten recently into gravel bike racing, and I have a race that's coming up in in 2027, and I did a race, I think it was last year, I did a gravel bike race where all I was interested in was just I just want to complete this thing, I just want to get through it and see what this is all about and whether this is something that I like, and I wasn't too concerned about time and metrics and data and all that kind of stuff.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as I'm approaching the next race, I'm looking at it in terms of how well can I perform now?
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: And this is an interesting question because I'm still fairly new to it, but I'm not new to cycling per se.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: But even though I've gone to the point where I feel like I've been competitive, there are instances where I've gone back to that completion mindset.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you can go, it's a spectrum.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that there's steps.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_00: Life situations can have an impact, can move you from one to the next.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say that you're a really performance-minded athlete, but you end up getting a raise in your job or a promotion, and now you have a more demanding job.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe now you have to let go on the performance mindset and just get to the point where you're just racing to stay active, to have a little bit of engagement, just the satisfaction that comes from racing, right?
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're not just doing it because for performance, you do it because you like it.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so maybe you're not willing, you're not able to train as hard or specific in order to get the performance that you want, but you do have the time to train to complete the race and just have fun.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now that I've talked about what it means to go from one mindset to the next, and we know that we can go back and forth as the situation calls for, what is the role of the coach then?
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of this has been athlete focused.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's the role of the coach in terms of finding out what question that they're being asked, or what question the athlete has, and how does a coach guide them accordingly?
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_00: So the job of the coach, or a part of their job, is to distinguish between aspiration, readiness, and if there are any current limiters that are that are in their way.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_00: Whether somebody is ready for something is a question that has to be answered.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_00: Whether the athlete wants a particular result is another question that we have to answer.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say that the athlete says, I want a podium, but they can't seem to find consistency in their training.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that that I have to sit back and say, Look, I know you want the podium, but you have to have the consistency to get to the podium.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you have the aspiration for the podium, but you don't have the readiness for it.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_00: I have I can have an athlete who says, Hey, I just want to finish this race, but during the process, they're so focused on, hey, what's my pace?
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_00: And what what pace should I be running?
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_00: And what should my bike power be?
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: And how hard should I be swimming?
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: This kind of stuff.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_00: They're obsessed over the pacing and where they rank, but they say that they have just a completion mindset.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: So the execution doesn't match the mindset.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's my job as a coach is to reconcile those imbalances or inconsistencies.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: An athlete may have a goal to compete, but still lack the ability to perform.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_00: So they're trying to rush the process a little bit.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: They have a performance goal, but there are completion problems that have not been addressed yet.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_00: So there's something that's keeping them from moving forward, even though they have this goal to perform.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of one of the things that that I do as a coach is to evaluate these imbalances, inconsistencies, in order to say, hey, if this is what we want to do, then this is how we should approach this.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if this is what you really want to achieve, this is what's going to be required to get you there.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_00: So is this really the question that you should be asking yourself?
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or are you setting yourself up for disappointment, or are you aiming too low?
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_00: Those are all realistic questions that that I have to sometimes ask an athlete that I'm working with.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason that these this is so important and fixing these imbalances and inconsistencies is because the training should match the question that the athlete is asking.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_00: I can't give the athlete a performance-oriented training plan when their goal is to complete.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't give them a training plan that is performance-driven without the skill set that would be required to compete at the race.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: So the training doesn't match the question.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_00: So when I'm sitting down to plot out a particular direction or trajectory of training, either if it's from myself or for an athlete that I'm working with, I spend a lot of time digging into these questions now.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that being able to accurately and fully ask the proper question and really get at the underlying foundation of the question will allow me as a coach to develop the best plan for that athlete with that goal in mind and for the demands of that particular race that they picked.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that I find is that athletes who find training plans that are out on the web or they use some kind of AI-based platform or tool to generate training plans, I find a lot that there's this inconsistency between the plan that they're following and the question that they're asking.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's one of the big benefits of having a coach and is this ability to really get at what the true question is that I'm trying to ask, and then find the path that gets me there as best as we possibly can.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, as a way to wrap up this conversation, I want to put this now into your hands, the listener.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_00: What is the current question that you're trying to ask and find an answer to?
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_00: Are you trying to prove to yourself that you can do a particular race?
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_00: Are you trying to improve how well you do at the race?
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or are you trying to express the highest realistic potential that you have in that moment at a race?
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_00: And how does your current training prepare you for to find the answer to that question?
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that this system of thought of complete, perform, and compete really helps us when it comes to setting goals, determining readiness, your direction of training, and the composition of your training, how to formulate your race day plan and what's the intent that you have at racing, and how you actually define success, because that definition can vary based on the question that you're answering.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_00: So again, this complete, perform, and compete, these are just three different questions that that one single athlete can be asking at any given moment during their endurance journey.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope that this episode has shed a little bit of light in helping you really figure out what question it is that you're asking, or what questions you should be asking but aren't asking yet.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_00: So if you found this episode to be helpful or it resonated with you, or there's somebody that you think that it would be helpful to, I hope that you will consider subscribing, leaving a comment, leave a review if you find the content to be helpful, and share the episode with anybody that you feel like it would that it would help in their journey.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I want to thank you guys for the time that you spend with me and the support that you continue to show the show.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to reach out, you can feel free.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can go to taboularasseracing.com and you can send you can reach out to me if there's anything that I can do to be of service and to help you.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm more than willing to do that.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_00: Again, thank you guys for the support and thank you for joining me in episode 127 of the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been your host, Coach Justin.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, bye-bye, everyone.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_00: Endurance sports have a way of teaching us patience, humility, and resiliency.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_00: Lessons that carry far beyond the working.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_00: Progress in endurance sports doesn't come from shortcuts, it comes from consistency, discipline, and doing the work when it's not glamorous.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_00: Wherever you are on your endurance journey, keep trusting the process and honoring the work you put in each day.
• 1:06:20
  SPEAKER_00: If today's episode resonated, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone to help on their endurance journey.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be back with more stories and insights from Coach Justin and Katie.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_00: Until then, visit the podcast website at the endurance athlete journey.com for more episodes from the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_00: Have questions or comments about the podcast?
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_00: Feel free to send us an email at the endurance athlete journey at gmail.com.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_00: For all things coaching, visit Coach Katie at Fuel Number Two, Roman.com, and CoachJustin at Buleromster Racing.com.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_00: Again, thank you for listening to the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast.
• 1:07:13
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, I'm Julie in the journey.