The Lonely Triathlete

Being Race Ready

Getting race ready requires a plan and patience. It requires consistency. It requires boring determination. Then you have to show up on race day and swim, bike and run to the best of your ability. Simple, isn't it? Are you a member yet? Check membership options at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete [https://www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete] ---------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT Happy Fathers Day and Welcome back to The Lonely Triathlete. Well… this is it. Eight months of training comes down to this. In just over a week, on June 28th, I’ll be lining up at the start line with a goal that, honestly, would have seemed pretty ambitious a few years ago. I’m going to attempt to qualify for the Triathlon Age Group World Championships. And the funny thing is… I actually think I have a shot. Now, before anyone thinks I’m getting ahead of myself, let me explain. Last year at this same race, I finished first in my age category. Which sounds pretty impressive. Except there’s a small detail. I was the only person in my category. So technically, yes, I was first. But I was also first because I was the only one. And that’s one of the funny things about endurance sports. You can prepare, you can train, you can execute — but there are still so many things completely outside your control. Who shows up. Who is having the race of their life. Who has been training specifically for that event. And that’s why I’m trying not to obsess about the competition. That said, I do think there are a few things that could work in my favour. This qualifier has not been heavily promoted. In fact, even knowing that this was a qualification race, I had trouble finding much information about it. So maybe that means fewer people are chasing those qualification spots. Maybe someone fast shows up and beats me — but they didn’t realize there were extra steps required to actually qualify. Who knows? The other thing is there is a potential rival I’m watching. He beat me by about a minute at the Vancouver Standard distance race in 2024. A minute. That’s not a huge gap. That’s the difference between a good transition and a slow one. A slightly better swim. A smarter bike. A stronger run. But he is also racing at the World Championships at the Sprint distance in Spain later this year, so it’s possible he won’t be targeting this Standard distance race. Again though — all of that is speculation. And that brings me to the only thing I actually control. The preparation. So what have I done since October to give myself the best possible chance? Number one: consistency. I started training back in October and I have put in six days a week of training consistently. And that is the thing I’m probably most proud of. Not one huge workout. Not one heroic training week. Just showing up. Week after week. The swim sessions. The bike sessions. The runs. The recovery. The boring stuff. Because that’s where endurance fitness is built. The race is just the final exam. The work happened months ago. The second thing I’m really excited about is my bike fitness. My FTP is the highest it has ever been. I’m sitting around 270 watts. And my watts per kilogram is also the highest it has ever been — around 3.43 watts per kilogram. For me, that’s a huge milestone. Because the goal isn’t just to be fit. The goal is to be fit enough that I can swim, bike, and still run well. That’s the challenge of triathlon. Then there are the little things. The marginal gains. Because if you’re a triathlete, you know exactly what I mean. At some point you start looking for every possible advantage. This year I added aerodynamic calf sleeves. Will they make a difference? Hopefully. Maybe they save me a few watts. Maybe those few watts add up. I’ve also got a new pair of Speed Laces ready for my race shoes. Because it makes absolutely no sense to spend eight months training and then waste 15 seconds in transition tying your shoes. I am fully aware of how silly it is to spend money on marginal gains but the reality is, as a mid or back-of-the-packer while these things don't matter, once you've done everything in your power to hit the podium and yet fall 1 minute short, it is an option to try and squeeze that minute from a slightly faster pair of shoes or by shaving your foreams or by getting those extra massage sessions. What else? Well, I’ve also got my new pair of TheMagic5 Vector goggles ready to go. A leak-free swim and clear vision is a pretty good way to start the race. And nutrition is another big focus this year. I’ve switched to Precision Fuel and Hydration. I’m loading more electrolytes before the race, and I’m carrying more electrolytes with me on the bike and run. Now, can I say for certain that electrolytes were a limiter for me? No. Especially at the Olympic distance. But I strongly suspect they hurt me during my 70.3 last year. So this year I’d rather go into the race slightly overprepared than underprepared. Speaking of things outside the plan… If you follow my Patreon, you’ll know I had a bit of a scare two weeks ago. I hurt my back. I think it happened during swimming, and for about three days I was in significant discomfort. It affected my sleep. It affected my ability to train. And the decision I made was probably one of the hardest decisions for an athlete: I stopped. I took eight full days completely off training. And in hindsight hat was the right decision. I’ve also seen a chiropractor twice. And I’ll admit — I’ve had reservations about chiropractors in the past. That’s probably a topic for another episode. But I have to say, I’ve been really impressed with the care I received. Not just the treatment itself, but the exercise recommendations and stretching protocols afterward. That homework has probably been just as valuable as the treatment. The other little experiment I’ve added is supplementing with 200 milligrams a day of Ubiquinol. This is the more bioavailable form of CoQ10. There are some studies suggesting potential benefits for endurance and recovery. Now, the frustrating part is that these things take time. Apparently four to six weeks for meaningful levels in the body. So I’m probably not going to see some magical transformation before race day. But if it gives me even the smallest advantage? I’ll take it. At this point, there really isn’t much more I can do. Other than one thing. Stay calm. There is a fine line between preparation and obsession. Between having a plan and trying to control every single variable. The weather. The competition. The exact race conditions. You can’t control those things. You can only control how you respond. Im happy to see that at the moent the forecast is looking pretty ideal. Cool temperatures. Blue skies. A great day for racing. So my goal for the final week is to be Zen about the things I can’t control. I want to show up prepared. I want to execute my race. I want to challenge myself. Yes, I want to qualify for Worlds. That’s the goal. But at the end of the day, the reason I do this sport is bigger than a result. It’s the feeling of pushing myself. It’s being surrounded by other people who live this strange triathlon lifestyle. It’s knowing that I gave my best. And regardless of the outcome, I know I’ll come away with either satisfaction, insight, or both. And why does any of this matter to me as a 58 year old amateur? Because as I age it is becoming increasingly clear that life is not forever. Every day brings a headline that a childhood hero or celebrity has passed away. More and more often I'm hearing of friends with sudden health issues. Personally, I'm experiencing injuries at a higher rate than ever. I realize that our time in this sport has a limit and while we never can never know where that limit is, it's out there somewhere on the horizon. So… The countdown begins once again. June 28th. Let’s see what happens. Until next time, peace

[PREVIEW] Being Race Ready

Getting race ready requires a plan and patience. It requires consistency. It requires boring determination. Then you have to show up on race day and swim, bike and run to the best of your ability. Simple, isn't it? ---------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT Happy Fathers Day and Welcome back to The Lonely Triathlete. Well… this is it. Eight months of training comes down to this. In just over a week, on June 28th, I’ll be lining up at the start line with a goal that, honestly, would have seemed pretty ambitious a few years ago. I’m going to attempt to qualify for the Triathlon Age Group World Championships. And the funny thing is… I actually think I have a shot. Now, before anyone thinks I’m getting ahead of myself, let me explain. Last year at this same race, I finished first in my age category. Which sounds pretty impressive. Except there’s a small detail. I was the only person in my category. So technically, yes, I was first. But I was also first because I was the only one. And that’s one of the funny things about endurance sports. You can prepare, you can train, you can execute — but there are still so many things completely outside your control. Who shows up. Who is having the race of their life. Who has been training specifically for that event. And that’s why I’m trying not to obsess about the competition. That said, I do think there are a few things that could work in my favour. This qualifier has not been heavily promoted. In fact, even knowing that this was a qualification race, I had trouble finding much information about it. So maybe that means fewer people are chasing those qualification spots. Maybe someone fast shows up and beats me — but they didn’t realize there were extra steps required to actually qualify. Who knows? The other thing is there is a potential rival I’m watching. He beat me by about a minute at the Vancouver Standard distance race in 2024. A minute. That’s not a huge gap. That’s the difference between a good transition and a slow one. A slightly better swim. A smarter bike. A stronger run. But he is also racing at the World Championships at the Sprint distance in Spain later this year, so it’s possible he won’t be targeting this Standard distance race. Again though — all of that is speculation. And that brings me to the only thing I actually control. The preparation. So what have I done since October to give myself the best possible chance? Number one: consistency. I started training back in October and I have put in six days a week of training consistently. And that is the thing I’m probably most proud of. Not one huge workout. Not one heroic training week. Just showing up. Week after week. The swim sessions. The bike sessions. The runs. The recovery. The boring stuff. Because that’s where endurance fitness is built. The race is just the final exam. The work happened months ago. The second thing I’m really excited about is my bike fitness. My FTP is the highest it has ever been. I’m sitting around 270 watts. And my watts per kilogram is also the highest it has ever been — around 3.43 watts per kilogram. For me, that’s a huge milestone. Because the goal isn’t just to be fit. The goal is to be fit enough that I can swim, bike, and still run well. That’s the challenge of triathlon. Then there are the little things. The marginal gains. Because if you’re a triathlete, you know exactly what I mean. At some point you start looking for every possible advantage. This year I added aerodynamic calf sleeves. Will they make a difference? Hopefully. Maybe they save me a few watts. Maybe those few watts add up. I’ve also got a new pair of Speed Laces ready for my race shoes. Because it makes absolutely no sense to spend eight months training and then waste 15 seconds in transition tying your shoes. I am fully aware of how silly it is to spend money on marginal gains but the reality is, as a mid or back-of-the-packer while these things don't matter, once you've done everything in your power to hit the podium and yet fall 1 minute short, it is an option to try and squeeze that minute from a slightly faster pair of shoes or by shaving your foreams or by getting those extra massage sessions. What else? Well, I’ve also got my new pair of TheMagic5 Vector goggles ready to go. A leak-free swim and clear vision is a pretty good way to start the race. And nutrition is another big focus this year. I’ve switched to Precision Fuel and Hydration. I’m loading more electrolytes before the race, and I’m carrying more electrolytes with me on the bike and run. Now, can I say for certain that electrolytes were a limiter for me? No. Especially at the Olympic distance. But I strongly suspect they hurt me during my 70.3 last year. So this year I’d rather go into the race slightly overprepared than underprepared. Speaking of things outside the plan… If you follow my Patreon, you’ll know I had a bit of a scare two weeks ago. I hurt my back. I think it happened during swimming, and for about three days I was in significant discomfort. It affected my sleep. It affected my ability to train. And the decision I made was probably one of the hardest decisions for an athlete: I stopped. I took eight full days completely off training. And in hindsight hat was the right decision. I’ve also seen a chiropractor twice. And I’ll admit — I’ve had reservations about chiropractors in the past. That’s probably a topic for another episode. But I have to say, I’ve been really impressed with the care I received. Not just the treatment itself, but the exercise recommendations and stretching protocols afterward. That homework has probably been just as valuable as the treatment. The other little experiment I’ve added is supplementing with 200 milligrams a day of Ubiquinol. This is the more bioavailable form of CoQ10. There are some studies suggesting potential benefits for endurance and recovery. Now, the frustrating part is that these things take time. Apparently four to six weeks for meaningful levels in the body. So I’m probably not going to see some magical transformation before race day. But if it gives me even the smallest advantage? I’ll take it. At this point, there really isn’t much more I can do. Other than one thing. Stay calm. There is a fine line between preparation and obsession. Between having a plan and trying to control every single variable. The weather. The competition. The exact race conditions. You can’t control those things. You can only control how you respond. Im happy to see that at the moent the forecast is looking pretty ideal. Cool temperatures. Blue skies. A great day for racing. So my goal for the final week is to be Zen about the things I can’t control. I want to show up prepared. I want to execute my race. I want to challenge myself. Yes, I want to qualify for Worlds. That’s the goal. But at the end of the day, the reason I do this sport is bigger than a result. It’s the feeling of pushing myself. It’s being surrounded by other people who live this strange triathlon lifestyle. It’s knowing that I gave my best. And regardless of the outcome, I know I’ll come away with either satisfaction, insight, or both. And why does any of this matter to me as a 58 year old amateur? Because as I age it is becoming increasingly clear that life is not forever. Every day brings a headline that a childhood hero or celebrity has passed away. More and more often I'm hearing of friends with sudden health issues. Personally, I'm experiencing injuries at a higher rate than ever. I realize that our time in this sport has a limit and while we never can never know where that limit is, it's out there somewhere on the horizon. So… The countdown begins once again. June 28th. Let’s see what happens. Until next time, peace

Improving the Ironman Swim

Let's face it, swimming 3.9km is no easy feat. Let's say you can easily swim 1.9km but find the IM swim cutoff challenging, what can be done. Well, it depends on your particular obstacles so let's get into it. Head on over to www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete [https://www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete] for more lonely content! ---------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT A few weeks ago, my awesome patron on Patreon reached out with a question. Hi Ron, hope you are doing well. Ron is turning 74 years old. He's completed four Ironman 70.3 races. Four. Let's just pause there for a moment. What a freaking inspiration! Most people his age aren't training for endurance events. Many aren't exercising at all. Yet here's a guy still swimming, biking, running, racing, and setting ambitious goals. His question to me was simple. Why can he complete a 70.3 swim, but can't seem to make to swim cutoff in an Ironman swim? It's a fascinating question because on the surface it sounds like a swimming problem. But I don't think it is. At least not entirely. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized this episode isn't really about swimming. It's about something all endurance athletes eventually face. The point where determination alone is no longer enough. The point where we have to get smarter. Not just tougher. Now before we go any further, let's acknowledge something. A 74-year-old athlete attempting an Ironman deserves respect. Period. It would be easy to focus on what isn't working. But I'd rather focus on what already is. This athlete has completed four 70.3 races. That tells me he has discipline, consistency, courage, and experience. The question isn't whether he's capable of hard things. Clearly he is. The question is whether the approach that got him through a half Ironman can get him through a full one. And those are not always the same thing. The first thing I'd want to know is whether he can comfortably swim 3.8 kilometres in a pool. Not race it. Not hammer it. Just swim it continuously. Because if the answer is no, then we're dealing primarily with swim fitness. The Ironman swim is nearly four kilometres long. That's a long way. And while it looks like exactly twice the distance of a 70.3 swim, anyone who's raced long enough knows it doesn't feel like twice the distance. Fatigue compounds. Small inefficiencies become major inefficiencies. Little mistakes become quite expensive. And if you've never developed the fitness to comfortably cover that distance, the water will expose you. But let's imagine he CAN swim the distance in the pool. NOW things get interesting. Because that means the problem may not be fitness at all. It may be EFFICIENCY. One of the most important lessons I've learned in endurance sports is that fitness and efficiency are not the same thing. And nowhere is that more obvious than in swimming. You can be incredibly fit and still struggle in the water. I've heard coaches say something that stuck with me. "The water doesn't care how fit you are." And it's true. You can bully your way through a run. You can overpower mistakes on the bike. Swimming doesn't negotiate. If your technique is inefficient, the water collects payment on every single stroke. And those payments add up over nearly four kilometres. This reminds me of something from my own swimming journey. I was new to distance swimming when I took up triathlon around 25 years ago. I had a swimming background although not comptetitive and I'd never ever swam 100M straight witout stopping because...why would I? So I self taught myself how to swim. I watched videos and read a few books. I went to the pool 3-4 ays a week and swamd swam and swam until I could cover the race distace of 1500M. My times were slow, around 3:00/100M, maybe a bit faster but not much. And I figured that as I contiued to swim over the years I would naturally get faster. I was so wrong. I could muscle myself to a 2:30 pace formaybe 1000M but then I was gassed, no way I could cycle after an effort like that. Something was holding me back and I didn't know what, so I enrolled in a Masters swim class at the local pool. During one of those workouts the coach walked alongside my lane, calling out technical issues with my stroke. He kept yelling "deeper, deeper" and at the end of the class told me that on my breathing side I tended to pull very shallow, my arm didn't go deep in the water so I was effectively swimming with one hand. Over the course of a few evenings I corrected that. Then end of one of the last sessions he pulled me aside an commended me for dropping both arms deeper in the water but he said "Todd, you tend to push down with your hands and only pull towards the back half of your stroke. Remember those high elbow drills (the ones that I did but didnt really make sense to me), we do those to encourgee you to catch the water much earlier in your stroke and to PULL yourself thorugh the water rather than push down so much." Huh. Suddenly, everything made sense and as I pulled raher than pushed, I got my swim time down to 2:00/100M. A massive improvement in minimal time. What struck me afterward was how obvious those flaws seemed once they were pointed out. Yet I never would have found them on my own. I had convinced myself that the solution was more swimming. More fitness. More effort. Instead, the solution was seeing something I couldn't see. And I think that's an important lesson. Sometimes we're too close to our own problems to diagnose them accurately. The very thing holding us back may be completely invisible to us. Especially in swimming. Now there's another possibility. And this one is surprisingly common. Anxiety. I've seen athletes who can easily swim the required distance in a pool. Then race day arrives. The water is colder. There are hundreds of athletes around them. They're getting bumped and kicked. Their breathing feels different. Their wetsuit feels restrictive. Suddenly they're swimming at an intensity they would never sustain in training. Their heart rate climbs. Their stroke shortens. Their efficiency disappears. And twenty minutes later they're paying the price. Many Ironman swim struggles aren't actually swimming struggles. They're pacing struggles. They're anxiety struggles. They're energy management struggles. The athlete is burning matches far too early. When people talk about Ironman, they often focus on speed. But for many athletes, especially older athletes, the goal isn't speed. It's economy. How LITTLE energy can you spend to move through the water? How relaxed can you stay? How efficiently can you convert effort into forward motion? Those questions become increasingly important as we age. At 25 years old, we can often compensate for technical flaws. At 74, every unnecessary movement has a cost. Every inefficient stroke carries a penalty. Which brings me to the part of this conversation I find most interesting. There comes a point in every endurance athlete's life when we must decide whether we are trying harder or trying smarter. And that's not always an easy distinction to make. Most of us love hard work. We trust hard work. Hard work feels noble. If something isn't working, our instinct is often to do more. More miles. More intervals. More volume. More suffering. But sometimes the breakthrough isn't on the other side of more effort. Sometimes it's on the other side of better information. A coach notices something. A training partner sees something. A video reveals something. An expert identifies a flaw we've been carrying for years. And suddenly progress happens. Not because we're working harder. Because we're finally working on the right thing. I don't know whether Ron's challenge is fitness, technique, pacing, anxiety, or some combination of all four. But I do know this. The goal is not to SURVIVE the Ironman swim. The goal is to become the kind of swimmer for whom the Ironman swim is MANAGEBLE. That's a different objective entirely. And I think that's true outside of triathlon too. The challenges we struggle with for years are not always asking for more determination. Sometimes they're asking for a new perspective. Sometimes they're asking for better guidance. Sometimes they're asking us to admit that we don't know what we don't know. And that might be one of the hardest lessons in endurance sports. Not that we need to work harder. But that we might need help. If you're listening today and you're chasing a goal that's been stubbornly out of reach, maybe ask yourself this question. Am I missing effort? Or am I missing insight? Because those are very different problems. And one of them is often easier to solve than we think. Thanks for listening. And remember, whether you're training for your first sprint triathlon, your fifth Ironman, or simply trying to stay active and healthy as the years go by, you're not training alone. You're just another lonely triathlete. Until next time, Peace

[PREVIEW] Improving the Ironman Swim

Let's face it, swimming 3.9km is no easy feat. Let's say you can easily swim 1.9km but find the IM swim cutoff challenging, what can be done. Well, it depends on your particular obstacles so let's get into it. ---------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT A few weeks ago, my awesome patron on Patreon reached out with a question. Hi Ron, hope you are doing well. Ron is turning 74 years old. He's completed four Ironman 70.3 races. Four. Let's just pause there for a moment. What a freaking inspiration! Most people his age aren't training for endurance events. Many aren't exercising at all. Yet here's a guy still swimming, biking, running, racing, and setting ambitious goals. His question to me was simple. Why can he complete a 70.3 swim, but can't seem to make to swim cutoff in an Ironman swim? It's a fascinating question because on the surface it sounds like a swimming problem. But I don't think it is. At least not entirely. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized this episode isn't really about swimming. It's about something all endurance athletes eventually face. The point where determination alone is no longer enough. The point where we have to get smarter. Not just tougher. Now before we go any further, let's acknowledge something. A 74-year-old athlete attempting an Ironman deserves respect. Period. It would be easy to focus on what isn't working. But I'd rather focus on what already is. This athlete has completed four 70.3 races. That tells me he has discipline, consistency, courage, and experience. The question isn't whether he's capable of hard things. Clearly he is. The question is whether the approach that got him through a half Ironman can get him through a full one. And those are not always the same thing. The first thing I'd want to know is whether he can comfortably swim 3.8 kilometres in a pool. Not race it. Not hammer it. Just swim it continuously. Because if the answer is no, then we're dealing primarily with swim fitness. The Ironman swim is nearly four kilometres long. That's a long way. And while it looks like exactly twice the distance of a 70.3 swim, anyone who's raced long enough knows it doesn't feel like twice the distance. Fatigue compounds. Small inefficiencies become major inefficiencies. Little mistakes become quite expensive. And if you've never developed the fitness to comfortably cover that distance, the water will expose you. But let's imagine he CAN swim the distance in the pool. NOW things get interesting. Because that means the problem may not be fitness at all. It may be EFFICIENCY. One of the most important lessons I've learned in endurance sports is that fitness and efficiency are not the same thing. And nowhere is that more obvious than in swimming. You can be incredibly fit and still struggle in the water. I've heard coaches say something that stuck with me. "The water doesn't care how fit you are." And it's true. You can bully your way through a run. You can overpower mistakes on the bike. Swimming doesn't negotiate. If your technique is inefficient, the water collects payment on every single stroke. And those payments add up over nearly four kilometres. This reminds me of something from my own swimming journey. I was new to distance swimming when I took up triathlon around 25 years ago. I had a swimming background although not comptetitive and I'd never ever swam 100M straight witout stopping because...why would I? So I self taught myself how to swim. I watched videos and read a few books. I went to the pool 3-4 ays a week and swamd swam and swam until I could cover the race distace of 1500M. My times were slow, around 3:00/100M, maybe a bit faster but not much. And I figured that as I contiued to swim over the years I would naturally get faster. I was so wrong. I could muscle myself to a 2:30 pace formaybe 1000M but then I was gassed, no way I could cycle after an effort like that. Something was holding me back and I didn't know what, so I enrolled in a Masters swim class at the local pool. During one of those workouts the coach walked alongside my lane, calling out technical issues with my stroke. He kept yelling "deeper, deeper" and at the end of the class told me that on my breathing side I tended to pull very shallow, my arm didn't go deep in the water so I was effectively swimming with one hand. Over the course of a few evenings I corrected that. Then end of one of the last sessions he pulled me aside an commended me for dropping both arms deeper in the water but he said "Todd, you tend to push down with your hands and only pull towards the back half of your stroke. Remember those high elbow drills (the ones that I did but didnt really make sense to me), we do those to encourgee you to catch the water much earlier in your stroke and to PULL yourself thorugh the water rather than push down so much." Huh. Suddenly, everything made sense and as I pulled raher than pushed, I got my swim time down to 2:00/100M. A massive improvement in minimal time. What struck me afterward was how obvious those flaws seemed once they were pointed out. Yet I never would have found them on my own. I had convinced myself that the solution was more swimming. More fitness. More effort. Instead, the solution was seeing something I couldn't see. And I think that's an important lesson. Sometimes we're too close to our own problems to diagnose them accurately. The very thing holding us back may be completely invisible to us. Especially in swimming. Now there's another possibility. And this one is surprisingly common. Anxiety. I've seen athletes who can easily swim the required distance in a pool. Then race day arrives. The water is colder. There are hundreds of athletes around them. They're getting bumped and kicked. Their breathing feels different. Their wetsuit feels restrictive. Suddenly they're swimming at an intensity they would never sustain in training. Their heart rate climbs. Their stroke shortens. Their efficiency disappears. And twenty minutes later they're paying the price. Many Ironman swim struggles aren't actually swimming struggles. They're pacing struggles. They're anxiety struggles. They're energy management struggles. The athlete is burning matches far too early. When people talk about Ironman, they often focus on speed. But for many athletes, especially older athletes, the goal isn't speed. It's economy. How LITTLE energy can you spend to move through the water? How relaxed can you stay? How efficiently can you convert effort into forward motion? Those questions become increasingly important as we age. At 25 years old, we can often compensate for technical flaws. At 74, every unnecessary movement has a cost. Every inefficient stroke carries a penalty. Which brings me to the part of this conversation I find most interesting. There comes a point in every endurance athlete's life when we must decide whether we are trying harder or trying smarter. And that's not always an easy distinction to make. Most of us love hard work. We trust hard work. Hard work feels noble. If something isn't working, our instinct is often to do more. More miles. More intervals. More volume. More suffering. But sometimes the breakthrough isn't on the other side of more effort. Sometimes it's on the other side of better information. A coach notices something. A training partner sees something. A video reveals something. An expert identifies a flaw we've been carrying for years. And suddenly progress happens. Not because we're working harder. Because we're finally working on the right thing. I don't know whether Ron's challenge is fitness, technique, pacing, anxiety, or some combination of all four. But I do know this. The goal is not to SURVIVE the Ironman swim. The goal is to become the kind of swimmer for whom the Ironman swim is MANAGEBLE. That's a different objective entirely. And I think that's true outside of triathlon too. The challenges we struggle with for years are not always asking for more determination. Sometimes they're asking for a new perspective. Sometimes they're asking for better guidance. Sometimes they're asking us to admit that we don't know what we don't know. And that might be one of the hardest lessons in endurance sports. Not that we need to work harder. But that we might need help. If you're listening today and you're chasing a goal that's been stubbornly out of reach, maybe ask yourself this question. Am I missing effort? Or am I missing insight? Because those are very different problems. And one of them is often easier to solve than we think. Thanks for listening. And remember, whether you're training for your first sprint triathlon, your fifth Ironman, or simply trying to stay active and healthy as the years go by, you're not training alone. You're just another lonely triathlete. Until next time, Peace

The Power of Habits

This year, if you could perform one behavior over and over (that you aren't currently doing) that you think would most positively impact your triathlon performance, what would that be? It would be a powerful habit, is what I think! ---------------------------------------- Come join our community at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete [https://www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete] ---------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT Today I want to talk about something that might be more important than your training plan, more important than your latest piece of gear, and maybe even more important than your motivation. I want to talk about habits. Because if you've been in this sport long enough, you've probably noticed something. The athletes who succeed year after year aren't necessarily the most talented. They aren't always the fastest. They aren't always the most motivated. They're often just the ones with the best habits. And that's because habits do something incredibly valuable. They reduce the number of decisions we have to make. Every decision requires energy. Should I go to bed now or watch one more episode? Should I do my workout before work or after work? Should I eat the apple or the doughnut? Should I stretch? Should I hydrate? Should I foam roll? Should I prepare tomorrow's workout? If every one of those actions requires a fresh decision every day, eventually decision fatigue wins. Life gets busy. Work gets stressful. The kids need something. The weather is lousy. And suddenly all those good intentions disappear. But habits are different. Habits automate behavior. When something becomes a habit, we stop negotiating with ourselves. We simply do it. And that's where long-term performance gains come from. Not heroic efforts. Not occasional bursts of motivation. Consistency. The compound interest of athletic performance. So today I want to walk through some of the most valuable habits a triathlete can build. Not workouts. Not race strategies. Habits. The small recurring actions that quietly improve performance over time. Before we get into the specific habits that improve performance, I want to share something. For a long time, I wrestled with the whole idea of habits. They sounded boring. They sounded restrictive. I like spontaneity. I like making decisions off the cuff. I like the feeling that I'm in control of my time and free to do whatever I want in a given moment. For years, I looked at highly structured routines and thought, "That doesn't sound like a very interesting way to live." I thought habits would make life feel scripted. Like I was following a checklist instead of actually living. But over time, I came to realize a couple of things. The first was that finding an effective action and repeating it over and over again is incredibly productive. Far more productive than constantly making mistakes and trying to reinvent the wheel. Think about triathlon training. Once you discover a workout structure that works, you don't throw it away and invent an entirely new training philosophy every Tuesday. You repeat what works. You build on it. You let consistency create results. So why wouldn't the same principle apply to sleep, nutrition, recovery, and the rest of life? The second realization was even more important. I discovered that I was already living a life full of habits. I just wasn't calling them habits. I showered at roughly the same time every morning. I ate many of the same breakfasts. I arrived at work at roughly the same time. I watched many of the same television shows. I read many of the same types of books. I followed dozens of patterns every single day without even thinking about them. In other words, habits weren't something I needed to add to my life. They were already there. The difference was that most of them had developed unconsciously. And that's when the light bulb went on. If habits already exist in my life, why not examine them? Why not identify which ones are helping me and which ones are holding me back? Why not intentionally select the habits that support my goals? Why not add the ones that are missing? Instead of letting habits happen by accident, why not consciously design them? That's when habits stopped feeling restrictive to me. They started feeling empowering. Because habits aren't really about removing freedom. They're about using today's decisions to make tomorrow easier. And for endurance athletes, that's a pretty powerful advantage. Sleep Habits Let's start with the foundation. Sleep. I know. Sleep isn't exciting. Nobody posts screenshots of their bedtime on social media. But if there was a legal performance-enhancing drug available to every athlete, sleep would probably be it. The problem is that many athletes treat sleep like whatever time is left over after everything else is done. Instead, high-performing athletes often reverse the equation. Sleep comes first. Everything else fits around it. One habit that can dramatically improve sleep quality is having a consistent bedtime. Not just on weekdays. Every day. Your body loves routine. Going to bed at roughly the same time each night trains your body to expect sleep. Another powerful habit is reducing screen time before bed. I'm not perfect at this one. In fact, I suspect many of us are not. But we all know the difference between drifting off peacefully and scrolling through social media until midnight. A third habit is preparing for tomorrow before going to bed. Lay out your workout clothes. Charge your watch. Fill your water bottle. When you wake up, there is less friction between you and the workout. And less friction means more consistency. Training Habits Now let's talk about training. Most athletes focus on the big sessions. The long ride. The key run. The hard intervals. But the athletes who improve year after year tend to have strong training habits. One of the best habits is simply protecting training time. Treating workouts like appointments. We don't skip dentist appointments because we don't feel like going. We shouldn't casually skip important workouts either. Another habit is beginning workouts at a consistent time whenever possible. If you always run at 6:00 AM, eventually your brain stops debating whether you're going. It's just what you do. The same way brushing your teeth is what you do. One habit I've come to appreciate is tracking workouts immediately after completion. A few notes. How did it feel? What worked? What didn't? Those little observations accumulate over months and years. They help us become smarter athletes. And perhaps the most important training habit of all: Show up on the days you don't feel like it. Not every workout needs to be amazing. Sometimes success is simply putting on the shoes and starting. Many workouts that begin reluctantly end up being perfectly fine. Recovery Habits Recovery is where a lot of age-group athletes leave performance on the table. We spend hours thinking about training. Minutes thinking about recovery. Yet recovery is where adaptation actually happens. One valuable habit is doing a short recovery routine immediately after training. Not someday later. Immediately. Five minutes. Stretching. Foam rolling. Walking. Whatever works for you. The key is consistency. Another habit is paying attention to recovery markers. How's your energy? How's your mood? How's your motivation? How's your resting heart rate? How are you sleeping? Elite athletes monitor recovery because they understand that training stress only creates improvement if recovery keeps pace. One recovery habit I've become a fan of is scheduling recovery before you think you need it. Not after you're exhausted. Before. Because once fatigue becomes obvious, you've often been accumulating it for quite some time. Nutrition Habits Now let's move to nutrition. If you're anything like me, you may have spent years looking for nutrition secrets. But most successful athletes aren't relying on secrets. They're relying on habits. For example, having a protein-rich breakfast. Hydrating first thing in the morning. Bringing healthy snacks to work. Eating vegetables with most meals. None of these habits are revolutionary. But together they become powerful. One nutrition habit that made a huge difference for me was becoming more aware of evening snacking. It's amazing how many calories can sneak in between dinner and bedtime. A handful of chips becomes a bowl. A bowl becomes several hundred calories. And suddenly we're wondering why training isn't producing the body composition changes we expected. Another critical habit is fueling workouts properly. Especially longer sessions. Many athletes train hard but under-fuel. Then wonder why performance stalls. Consistent fueling is a habit. Just like consistent hydration. And just like recovery. The Habit That Connects Everything There's one habit that may be more important than any other. Planning. Every successful athlete I know plans. Maybe not obsessively. But intentionally. They know when they're training. They know what they're eating. They know where recovery fits into the week. They don't leave important behaviors to chance. Because chance is usually where inconsistency lives. A few minutes of planning each week can eliminate dozens of decisions. And remember, every decision you eliminate preserves mental energy. How Do We Identify the Right Habits? So how do we decide which habits to build? Here's a simple question. What behavior, if repeated consistently for the next year, would have the biggest positive impact on my performance? Notice I didn't say biggest workout. I said behavior. Maybe it's going to bed 30 minutes earlier. Maybe it's drinking more water. Maybe it's strength training twice a week. Maybe it's eliminating late-night snacking. The best habit is often not the most impressive one. It's the one that addresses your biggest weakness. And it's the one you're actually willing to do. How Do We Turn Behaviors Into Habits? The mistake many athletes make is trying to change everything at once. More training. Better nutrition. Earlier bedtime. Daily stretching. Strength training. Meditation. Hydration. Reading. Journaling. By next Tuesday they're exhausted. So, start small. Ridiculously small. If you want to stretch more, start with five minutes. If you want to improve sleep, move bedtime earlier by fifteen minutes. If you want to hydrate better, put a water bottle where you'll see it. Make the habit easy. Attach it to something you already do. This is called habit stacking. After I brush my teeth, I stretch for five minutes. After I finish a workout, I drink a recovery shake. After dinner, I prepare tomorrow's training gear. The more automatic the sequence becomes, the less motivation is required. And that's the goal. Because motivation comes and goes. Habits stay. Closing Thoughts As triathletes, we spend a lot of time chasing breakthroughs. The perfect workout. The perfect race. The perfect piece of equipment. But most breakthroughs aren't dramatic. They're quiet. They're the result of hundreds of small actions repeated over and over again. A consistent bedtime. A prepared water bottle. A planned workout. A healthy snack. Five minutes of stretching. Nothing spectacular on its own. But together? They create the athlete you become. So this week, don't ask yourself what huge change you need to make. Ask yourself: What's one habit that future me will be grateful I started today? Build that habit. Protect it. Repeat it. And then let consistency do what consistency always does. Compound.