Race Morning Mindfulness: I Just Want to Feel This Moment

You may have heard or read advice to “stay in the moment” when racing or training if you want to have a breakout performance, or make the most of a key training session. I know I’ve written about staying focused and being present more than once. But, it’s not common to think about this advice in the context of race morning – the very moment when anxiety threatens to culminate in a potential freak out or meltdown. Obviously, the meltdown scenario has to be avoided at all costs – or it may cost you a positive race day experience. In the chaos …

Post-Race Analysis: Next Time I’ll Be Bulletproof

The final 10k of Ironman Lake Placid 2013 haunts me. After almost a year, I finally did the type of post-race analysis that I recommend for my athletes. Sadly, I confirmed what I had guessed to be true for the past year: if I had I stayed on the pace I ran for the first 18 miles of the marathon, I would have run from 11th place off the bike into 4th place in the final mile or two, and the Kona slot would have been mine. Instead, I finished in 6th place, and a little under 5 minutes from the glory spot. …

What’s Next? The Hail Mary Pass, Of Course

So, what’s next? After my close call with a Kona qualifying slot at Ironman Lake Placid (race report here), I’ve asked myself this question quite a bit, as have my family and friends. I didn’t make any plans for races after Lake Placid. I poured every ounce of mental energy I had into that race, so when I came up short, I had no idea what the answer would be to this question. The day of the roll down at IMLP, our friend Eric texted John to find out if I nabbed a slot. When he got the news, he …

Ironman Taper Progresses: A Case of Whoa Nellies with a Side of Joyful Weeping

It’s just days from Ironman Lake Placid. And, I’m well into the taper, as I wrote last week. If you’ve ever experienced a taper from endurance training, then you know that it brings with it a range of emotions, from irritability to anxiety to excitement to joy. The irritability stage is usually first for me, and on Monday it hit me pretty hard. I spent most of the day trying to keep myself from hurting someone – especially after the women in the aqua aerobics class hit me in the head and hand with the lane rope. GRRR! But, yesterday’s episode of taper …

Preparation Rituals: Ironman Race Week Tips

Ironman race week is here. The training is done. All that remains are the final, don’t-mess-this-up-now preparations. It can be quite easy to get off track in the final days leading into an Ironman: there’s so much excitement, new places to explore, people to chat up, gear bags to pack, bikes to drop off, athlete dinners to attend, expos to walk through. All of this excitement seems cruel at a time when you need to relax, rest and reserve energy. It can be very easy to go off the rails and make decisions that could affect you on race day. …

I just want to know what happens already

Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will. ~James Stephens. It’s just a little more than a week to go until showtime. Nine days until the canon goes off, and I begin my third Ironman in Mont Tremblant, Canada. You’d think I’d be nervous or scared. And I am, a little. But, mostly, I am curious.  I try to read the tea leaves of my training, of my performances at Bassman, or Quassy or Rhode Island – hoping to find a clue as to what I can expect at Ironman Mont Tremblant. While that story is positive, it’s incomplete. It offers …