Intro: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses your training data and genetic profile, combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to optimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewer injuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire, and entertain. We’ll talk all things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join the conversation and let’s improve together.

Andrew Harley: Hey folks!  Welcome to the TriDot podcast! You can learn quite a bit about racing IRONMAN from watching people race IRONMAN.  And no one has watched people race IRONMAN more than Mike Reilly. So today, I am pleased to present Ten Race-Day Lessons from Mike Reilly.  Mike has called 214 IRONMAN races worldwide, and his iconic call of, “You are an IRONMAN!” has been heard by almost half a million finishers, myself included. I was one of those half a million.  He has done the onsite announcing and television coverage for over a thousand other triathlon and running events, in ten separate countries.  He is the only person inducted into the IRONMAN Hall of Fame, the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame, and the Running USA Hall of Champions. He is the author of Finding my Voice, and the host of the Finding Your Finish Line podcast.  Mike, welcome back to the TriDot podcast!

Mike Reilly:  Thanks for having me back, Andrew, this is exciting!

Andrew:  Helping me interview Mike today is Vanessa Ronksley.  Vanessa is your Average Triathlete with Elite-Level Enthusiasm. She has been a TriDot Ambassador since 2019, and you hear her voice on all of our media channels as a host and contributor.  Vanessa is from Calgary, Canada but is currently living with her family in Sidney, Australia. Vanessa, thanks so much for joining the conversation!  How is Sydney this morning?

Vanessa Ronksley:  It’s a pretty typical autumn day here in Sydney, a chilly morning.  Like, legit chilly, not just Australian chilly.  There’s not a cloud in the sky, and the sun will be shining in full force in about an hour probably.

Andrew:  How does it compare to autumn in Calgary, Canada?

Vanessa:  It’s so much nicer.  I mean the mornings are chilly, the evenings are chilly, but the daytime temperature is just so glorious.  It’s warm, we still go in the ocean, it’s just really great, really nice.

Andrew:  All right, well, I’m Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People and Captain of the Middle of the Pack.  As always, we’ll roll through our warmup question, settle in for our main set conversation, and then we’ll wind things down with Vanessa on the cooldown, where she’s going to be interviewing a TriDot coach for our Coach Cooldown Tip.

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Warm up theme: Time to warm up! Let’s get moving.

Andrew:  Here at TriDot media, we have a big giant creative board where we track ideas for podcast episodes, what coach is coming on next to share the cooldown tip, and ideas for warmup questions.  Everyone on the team knows they can add an idea whenever they have it, and for today’s warmup question, I chose one that Vanessa added to our creative board.  So Vanessa, I’d love to have you ask it. Take it away!

Vanessa:  Awesome, here we go!  So it’s usually a good thing to get out of your comfort zone and try something new. After all, there was a day for all of us when we tried triathlon for the first time, and now we’re all here listening to a podcast about it.  I’d say for me that hobby kind of stuck, and for all of the listeners as well who are listening.  So what I’m curious to learn about today is, what was the last time you tried something for the first time?  Mike Reilly, we know you’ve called a lot of races, but what was the last time you did something for the first time?

Mike: Wow. There were a few things last year where I said to myself, “Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen that or done that before,” but it was something that someone else did.  The last time I DID something for the first time was just this past weekend. I went to an IRONMAN 70.3 event as a spectator.  I have never spectated from the VIP tent, walking around the race on the other side of the fencing, trying to high-five the athletes as they came by and yell at them. I had never done that before.  My niece was racing, so I was out on the course following her around, and for the first time I was just one of the many spectators out there.  It felt fantastic, it was so nice.

Vanessa:  That’s incredible!

Andrew:  Yeah, what’d you think, Mike?  Was it a different experience?

Mike:  It was a different experience.  It was refreshing.  I got to see it from the other side.  I was standing next to family members who were waiting for their loved ones, and saw the look on their face.  I was right there amongst it all.  I didn’t have the badge to get me on the other side of the fencing, my credential wasn’t very good.  But it was for the first time, and I really enjoyed it.

Vanessa:  I just have a question for you.  Were you dancing at the finish line?

Andrew:  Of course he was!

Mike:  Well, I was inside the VIP tent or on the other side of the finish line, and I’m sorry to say – yeah, I cut a move or two when a good song came on with a few people, but nothing extravagant like people have seen in the past.

Andrew:  Probably a big difference between the energy you have to put forth when you’re the one entertaining and hyping up the audience, versus just watching somebody else do it.  Mike, I’m curious to hear this, what time did you wake up in the morning for race day as a spectator?  I’m sure it was a couple hours longer than you’re used to getting to sleep on race morning, huh?

Mike:  You want to hear something funny, my niece had to walk down to the bus, and her mom, my sister was there.  They were rooming together.  So before we all went to bed my sister said, “I’m going to walk down with you to the start line, honey, and get you on the bus.”  I’m looking at them going, “I don’t need to get up to do this.  Your mom can walk you to the finish.”  Their room was next door, so I heard them leave, and it was about 4:45 or something.  I just laid there, laid my head back down, and went to sleep for another hour.  I have never done that.  Usually I’m up at 3:30, 4:00, I’m down onsite before anybody else.  I go, “This is kind of nice!”  It’s like I hit the snooze button big time!

Andrew:  I love that so much for you, I really do.  Vanessa, this answer for me – as many of our TriDot athletes know, my wife and I just had a baby.  She was a full month early.  Totally healthy, everything was great, she was just ready to go a little bit early. She was a breech baby, so she was a C-section.  So while my wife recovered from the C-section, she was in bed for two-ish days before she was even allowed to get out of the hospital bed.  So for that first 48 hours, whatever had to happen – if baby needed a diaper change, if baby needed to be fed, if baby just needed to be picked up and held – dad was up, dad was on it.  It was really good for me I think, to get that experience and to just have to dive in.  As a guy who has zero experience with babies, to really truly dive in and be thrown in the fire, it was a great experience.  So that weekend especially I was doing a ton of things for the first time.  I’m continuing to do more things for the first time, and we are having a blast getting to be mom and dad to our daughter, Ellie.  Vanessa, what is this answer for you?

Vanessa:  Well, since moving to Australia, there have been a ton of first-time things that I’ve done. But one that’s probably the hardest first-time thing recently is, about a month ago I did my first swim-run race, which was totally new, and in preparation for this race obviously I needed to start learning how to swim in the ocean.  Because living in Alberta there’s not very much open water, so we have to drive for at least an hour to get to some kind of swimmable water, and still it’s a mountain lake so it’s very different.

Andrew:  Yeah, freezing.

Vanessa:  Exactly, very cold.  So up until moving here, the most I’ve done in the ocean is frolicked in the waves, snorkeled, done a little bit of surfing.  But now I’m legit ocean swimming, and it is so hard.  There’s the current, the rips, the swells, the jellyfish, the fear of all sorts of other animals that I might encounter while I’m out there.  Every time I go out, I feel like I’m doing something for the first time.  It’s pretty crazy.

Andrew:  Any shark sightings out there while you’ve been swimming, Vanessa?

Vanessa:  No, but I do have to tell you, I have swam across the shark net.  There’s actually a shark net in the bay.

Andrew:  You can see it, and you know when you’re swimming over it?  Wild.

Vanessa:  Yeah. I was unprepared the first time. I swam over it, and I saw and I’m like, “It’s not a myth!  There’s actually a shark net down there!”  It was so scary, but as we got closer to the place – it’s called Wedding Cake Island, we were going to swim around it – and as we got closer, you can start to see rocks along the bottom, so it became a little bit less terrifying.

Andrew:  Mike, there’s some great open water swimming out in San Diego, your neck of the woods. No shark nets though, correct?

Mike:  No, no shark nets.  I know the shark net that Vanessa’s talking about, I’ve swum over that in Sydney. You know, Sydney and San Diego are very similar cities as far as the tri community, the weather, the ocean, the temperature.  They’re almost the same.  But our open ocean is just going to the beach, jumping in, going out about a hundred yards, swim a diagonal about a half mile, turn around, and come back. Or La Jolla Cove, it’s one of the best spots in the world to swim in.  There’s buoys out there, a half-mile and one-mile buoy.  Or you can swim over to La Jolla Shores and back, and that’s like a two-mile round-trip, a lot of people do that.  There’s a lot of great open water, ocean swimming here.  Really in San Diego County, you don’t swim in lakes here, you have to swim in the bay or the ocean. It’s not like being in Minnesota where you go swim in a lake.  It’s all open water.

Andrew:  All lake swimming here in Dallas, Texas, and no shark nets required, mate.  Hey guys, we’re going to throw this warmup question out to you, our audience, as we always do.  Make sure that you are a member of the I AM TriDot Facebook group, that’s where we post this question to you, our audience.  We’ve got over 15,000 athletes now talking swim, bike, and run all through the week in that group.  Vanessa, on Monday I’ll let you be the one who puts out the post asking everybody this question.  So y’all be on the lookout for that, and let us know what was the last thing you did for the first time?

Main set theme: On to the main set. Going in 3…2…1…

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When I head to the races to cheer on TriDot athletes, even when I am not on the race course myself, I always learn what to do, and what not to do, by watching other folks as they navigate the course.  I know from all his years calling races, Mike Reilly has plenty of race-day wisdom to share, and today we’re going to see exactly what he’s learned through his legendary career watching athletes on course.  Now Mike, before we get to your ten pearls of wisdom so to speak, a very exciting announcement has gone out that we need to talk about.  The news has hit the press already that you, sir, are officially on board working with us here at TriDot.  Your official title – which I think is fantastic by the way, ten out of ten for whoever came up with this – you are the Chief Motivational Officer for TriDot Triathlon Training.  Tell us, Mike, what is your role as the CMO of TriDot?

Mike:  Oh my gosh, my role is going to be varied, but like the title says, hopefully my words can help motivate you to get to your finish line, to get through your training journey, to even start your training journey.  There’s so many ways that we can help someone in our lives that are trying to get something done.  As the Chief Motivational Officer – kind of weird for me to say that – I see my role as someone that can, if there’s a word or phrase, or an inflection in the way I use my voice in the app to try to spur you on, to get to your next workout, to get your butt out of bed, to get to that finish line, I want to be able to do that.  So the role will probably develop more and more over time, because I’m not going away. I retired from announcing races, but I didn’t retire from the sport that I love, that I’ve been a part of since the 70’s.  I see TriDot and the training apps as the future of the sport.  I want to be a part of that, and hopefully I can help people on their journey.

Andrew:  I trust you certainly will, Mike.  Over the years you’ve interacted with the TriDot community quite a bit.  You’ve called a lot of our athletes across the finish line.  You’ve popped in and said hi at TriDot Pool School in San Diego when it was in that neck of the woods.  You’ve come on our podcast before.  Our team bumps into you at the races all the time.  You always stop and chat with us when we see you.  But even before coming on to the team, what was your impression of TriDot, just observing the brand and our athletes over the years?

Mike:  Oh my goodness, it was how close-knit everybody is, the community aspect, the support that they give one another.  I saw that from afar.  I saw it when people were finishing, and others screaming and yelling for them, cheering them on.  I see it when they’re all walking around through the expo.  I just felt this energy that the TriDot athletes had, and have, that was infectious and refreshing.  I really enjoyed being around everyone, whether it was one person wearing TriDot gear walking around, or seven of them walking around together. I could sense there was something different about it.  Even before I became a part of the community, I knew there was something very special going on at TriDot, and now I’m honored to be a small part of that community. Because I love and adore all the athletes out there and everything they do and accomplish, and it inspires me to keep pushing through my life and doing the things I want to do.  That’s what I saw, Andrew.  I saw a deep sense of community, and love and support for one another.

Vanessa:  You know Mike, hearing you say those words just gave me shivers all over, because that’s exactly how it feels.  It’s just such a wonderful thing that you’re coming on board, and now you get to feel it too!

Mike:  The other thing Vanessa, they’re walking around with all this great-looking TriDot gear. I go, “I want some of that stuff!”

Andrew:  Red, black, and white, colors you’re already used to!

Vanessa:  Throughout your career, you’ve always focused on taking care of athletes.  For a man who’s at the pointy end of triathlon notoriety, you are incredibly accessible on race weekend.  So many people over the years have gotten to know you, they’ve gotten autographs and selfies with you, and have been declared an IRONMAN by you. You’ve made a mark on hundreds of thousands of people’s lives.  As you hang up the mike and move into your next chapter, how is this the best way to continue your legacy?

Mike:  The word “legacy” is something I don’t like to say about myself.  I’m just a guy that wants to help enhance someone else’s life. We all need a push from someone else in our lives, and I had the opportunity to do that, thousands upon thousands of times at races.  So when Jeff and I started talking about getting together with TriDot, it was brought up that, just because I’ve retired from the finish line of announcing races doesn’t mean my voice shouldn’t be heard.  TriDot came to me, and I came to them, and we had this mutual respect of one another.  And it’s an honor to be able to think that my voice, and what I say to people, will still continue.  I don’t look at myself as, “You gotta listen to me because I’ll push you on your way. “I just want to be a small part of someone’s life, to help them enhance it.  Just because you hear a motivational phrase, someone tells you something, or praises something you do, you still have to take the step forward.  You still have to get out of bed to go train.  You still have to find that finish line.  But it’s pretty humbling to know that my voice will go on, and the things I say will go on in this community.  Because we’re family.  Whether you like it or not, family has to listen to one another, so we’re going to be listening to each other on our journeys forward.

Andrew:  Well Mike, all of us here at TriDot are excited to have you in the family. You’re a great culture fit for us. We’ve admired you, and have just loved watching you do your thing at the races over the years.  I know our athletes are going to love having the Reilly touch built into the app.  I already love firing up the app on Monday and seeing Mark Allen pop in and give me a training tip, so I can only imagine how fun it’s going to be to encounter you throughout my training week in the TriDot app in a variety of ways.  I know some of the ways where athletes will see you in the app.  I’m not going to spoil any of them, we’re going to let them be a fun surprise when people start getting the Reilly touch, as I like to call it, in the app.  But enough about all of that.  Let’s get to our ten tips from Mike Reilly.  Mike is going to share a nugget of wisdom he has learned from the races, and then the three of us will chat and reflect on what he shares.  Let’s do it, Mike!  What is Lesson #1 from the races?

Mike:  When I put these down and thought about them, they were really in no particular order. But then I did move them around a little bit.  The first one, on race day, is to always remember and embrace your “why” – why you're stepping into that water, why you’re jumping on the bike, and why you’re running.  Don’t discount that.  You made a decision to do a hard thing, to swim, bike, and run.  That decision always has to be at the forefront for you. You embrace it on race day, because times are going to get tough, and that’s when you embrace your “why”, “This is why I’m out here.”  Whether it’s for yourself or someone else, we all have our varied reasons of why we’re on that race course.  Embrace it every step of the way.

Andrew:  For our listeners who might not know this, Vanessa is currently signed up for her very first IRONMAN, IRONMAN California 2023.  There is going to be a massive TriDot presence in Sacramento for that race. Vanessa, what’s your “why” for that race?

Vanessa:  My “why” is constantly shifting at this point.  I haven’t figured out the one that’s going to be the driving force. But the original “why” for doing that race was because I was kind of conned into doing it.

Andrew:  Sure! It happens!

Vanessa:  I don’t know if it was really my choice.  But it will become more apparent to me, the really good solid “why”.  But what athlete goes into triathlon and doesn’t dream about someday becoming an IRONMAN?  That is something that I’m sure most triathletes dream about, so at that point there has to be a little bit of a “why” burning within your soul.  Of course I have that, I just have to discover what the main “why” is that I basically want to plaster on my hand, or have it written somewhere so that I can constantly be reminded.  There are multiple reasons, but I haven’t picked the one that’s the most valuable to me quite yet.

Mike:  Vanessa, you mentioned that you’ve got to write that down.  I’ve seen so many on the crossbar of the bikes when I’m walking through transition, before everybody gets in.  I see these little notes to themselves, and most of them is their “why”. I’ve seen so much of that, I think that is a very cool idea.

Andrew:  Mike, you're an IRONMAN yourself.  Back when you actually took that plunge and registered for your first full-distance IRONMAN, what was your “why”?

Mike:  Andrew. I’ve never done an IRONMAN.

Andrew:  I thought you had done an IRONMAN!

Mike:  No!

Andrew:  It was just your son Andy that did one?

Mike:  Yeah, Andy. I’ve got a lot of family members, but I never did it.  I was scheduled to do Kona in 1989, and I was training for that race, but that’s when I got a call to come over and be an assistant announcer.  It was like being called up to the big leagues.  I talked to my wife about it and she had the comment, “Well, you can always do that race.  What the heck, if they’re going to bring you over there and announce a World Championship race like that?  You’ll always be able to do an IRONMAN!”  Well, that was 214 IRONMANs ago.  My IRONMAN was always on that microphone.  I wanted to be on that side of it more.  My friends were funny, I’d go out training with them all the time and they’d go, “God, Reilly, you train like you’re doing an IRONMAN.”  And I go, “Yeah, but I don’t have the stress of the race.”  And they go, “Yeah, that’s right!”

Andrew:  Well, Mike, if you ever decide that you want to pull that trigger and get that done, there’s a training app that you can use to get ready for it.

Mike:  Yeah, thank you very much.

Andrew:  Happy to oblige.  My “why”, when I signed up for my first IRONMAN, honestly I just wanted to round out the triathlon résumé.  My intention was always just to do one.  I’m sure at this point I’ll circle back and do a second eventually.  Sure enough, Mike, to your point of remembering your “why”, there were several times when that race got hard.  It was hot and windy on the bike, you start getting tired on the run, and there were several times where I was like, “I trained months and months and months for this.  I want to get this done.  I’m not stopping.  I’m checking that box on my triathlon résumé that I am an IRONMAN finisher, and I’m not stopping for anything.”  That was my “why”.  Probably not the most altruistic “why” – some people want to inspire others, or they want to show their kids that nothing is impossible, raise money for a cause, or whatever.  Mine was a lot more selfish, it was just to get it done.  But that was my “why”, and I clung to it on race day, and I got it done.Great stuff there, Mike. What is your Lesson #2?

Mike:  A lot of athletes have heard me say this as they’re getting into the water, before that cannon goes off.  There’s a lot of things out of your control on race day.  The wind, heat, rain, somebody bumping into you, a volunteer not getting you that drink you want.  They’re not in your control, so you can’t worry about them.  There’s one thing you can control on race day, and that’s your attitude.  If you keep that positive, it will get you to the finish line, and you’ll forget about all the other things you don’t have control over.  Control your attitude, keep it positive, and it will get you to the finish line, no matter what else happens on race day.

Vanessa:  I’m really hoping to embody that positivity.  I know when I did my first half, as soon as I had made that mental switch from completing a race to having fun while doing the race, it just made a huge difference in my outlook throughout the entire race.  It’s something that I’m reminding myself of now, as I’m mentally preparing for the event in October, is to just think of the positives.  Think about how exciting it’s going to be, and focus on that excitement, as opposed to getting nervous about it.  I really appreciate that.

Andrew:  I feel like, to get worked up about something that maybe went wrong that was outside of your control, that steals crucial energy from your energy reserves that you're going to need later in the race day.  The more you can stay positive, the more you can just say, “You know what, that happened, I’m going to move on to the next moment.”  Don’t let that negative experience and emotion take energy from the day.  Love that, Mike, great stuff.  As we move on to Lesson #3, what do you have for us here, Mike?

Mike:  Vanessa just mentioned it too.  When you do control your attitude, and don’t worry about those things around you, my Lesson #3 is “have fun”.  I have actually had some athletes, after I said the attitude thing, come up to me and go, “You know what Mike, you said that to me, and the rain came, and I laughed at the rain!  I don’t have control over it!  So it’s raining, what the heck!”  You just have to have that attitude of, “I’m going to go out there and have fun.”There are a lot of people in the world that can’t do what you’re doing that day.  They don’t have the opportunity, or they don’t have the physical ability, or they don’t have the mental ability.  You got through all those things, so you go out there and have fun!You're just a big kid out there on a 140.6 playground, and it’s all yours.  So go play in the sand, swing on the swings.  That’s how you have to look at it.  Have fun all day long, then come to that finish line, and no matter how much you’re hurting, you’ll be smiling.

Andrew:  Personally, and I’ll be curious to hear Mike’s take on this, to me, there’s a lot of ways for this sport to be fun.  Riding a bike in and of itself is fun.  To me, going for a run is fun.  Hitting the open water for a swim, that’s loads of fun.  But from my triathlon experience, ratcheting up the fun multiplier by a tremendous amount, was meeting more triathletes and getting involved in the triathlon community.  Locally, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, there’s a lot of athletes I know that I ride bikes with and train with.  Some are TriDot athletes, some are not.  I would encourage everybody listening, try to find a local triathlon club in your area.If there’s not a tri club in your area, maybe think about starting one.  Maybe think about trying to find one or two other people in your area that do this sport.  If you can roll into race day and have friendly faces, have other people rocking the same kit as you that you’re seeing, that just ratchets up the fun so, so much.  Mike, do you have any other personal ways that you think people can add to the fun on race day?

Mike:  I think one of the biggest ways is to always, every step of the way, try to cheer someone else on.  You’ll go by somebody and go, “Oh my god, that dude is hurting!  Maybe I’ll give him or her a pat on the back, or run next to them for a second.”  Just say something like, “I was hurting five miles ago, but now I’m okay.  You’re going to be okay.  Do you want me to run with you for a little while?”  Complete strangers do things for each other like that in our sport.  They’re strangers, but they’re still family.  That’s what this sport’s all about, encouraging someone else.  Show them you’re having a good time, and even though they’re hurting, maybe you’ll pick them up just a little.  You may not get a smile from them, their frown may still be there.  But they heard you, mentally, they heard you, and sometimes that’s all that needs to be said.Do that a little, that’ll help.

Vanessa:  That might be the turning point for that person, in that race.  That tiny little pick-me-up might be the thing that gets them out of that zone of, “I can’t do this,” to, “Oh wait, I can do this.”  You might be affecting them in a way that you couldn’t even imagine.

Andrew:  I have vivid memories from races, of small interactions that I had with people that were total strangers.  They weren’t long interactions, you’re either going by somebody on the race course, or they’re going by you, or you’re going in opposite directions.  But even just a quick interaction takes your mind out of the moment, reminds yourself that you’re out here doing this thing with people, and it totally ratchets up the fun.  What is our next Mike Reilly lesson from the races?

Mike:  Number four really started with number three.  Don’t be so serious!  I see people out there racing, and they’ve got this look on their face like, “Don’t step in front of me, or I’m gonna knock you down.”  Or, “I gotta get off the bike at this time, I’ve got to do this.”That just sucks energy from you like crazy, like you said Andrew.  Don’t be so serious.  There’s really nothing to expand on that. Sure, the pros are in the serious business.They’re trying to win the race, they’re trying to produce their income, that’s a serious business.  But I know a lot of professional athletes, in both the men's and women’s side, that have come through that finish line in first, and they race with reckless abandon, and weren’t serious about it.  They just went out and did what they love to do.It goes through all ranks, the pros and the age-groupers, just don’t be so doggone serious.

Andrew:  One of my favorite social media follows right now in the triathlon space is Fenella Langridge, a female professional from the United Kingdom.  She has loads of personality, she is a very fun Instagram follow.  She always is very candid with what’s happening in her training and racing.But what’s really striking to me about her – I go back to Kona.  She had a great result in Kona this past year.  She was one of the top finishers, she was in contention late into the stages of the run for podium positions.  There was a picture of her running side-by-side with Daniela Ryf through the Energy Lab, and she noticed that the photographer was there, and Fenella flashes a peace sign, flashes a huge smile.  Daniela is just doing her thing as she always does, she’s a tremendous athlete, and Fenella is right next to her and is relatively unknown compared to Daniela Ryf.  She was out there in the Energy Lab, late in the race at the IRONMAN World Championships, in a breakthrough performance for her in the female field, and had the presence of mind to have fun in front of the camera while going through one of the hottest portions of the race course.  No matter who you are, no matter where you are in the performance spectrum, if Fenella can be out there having fun in Kona, you can take some time to not be so serious in your own personal race, wherever you are.  Vanessa, I trust this is not a problem for you.

Vanessa:  Oh my gosh, it IS a problem.

Andrew:  Is it really?I would never guess that!

Vanessa:  Oh my gosh.When I’m in training mode, I am so serious.  Oftentimes my husband will say to me, “What are you doing this for?  Why are you so serious?  You take every little detail and think that it’s the most important thing that you’ve ever done.”  He often has to remind me to have fun.  So I think you’re right, Mike, those two tips do go quite hand-in-hand.  Don’t be so serious, and have fun.  It’s something that I have to be cognizant of.  When I’m around other people, obviously it’s easy to have fun, but oftentimes we’re training alone, so I tend to slip into serious mode a little bit too much.  So I’m going to take this advice into my training, not just in racing, and I’m going to make my training more fun.

Andrew:  Well, in Sacramento at IRONMAN California you will have loads of TriDot athletes there, so hopefully they can keep you grounded and keep you from being so serious out on the race course.  TriDot coach John Mayfield has a great piece of advice that he gives athletes.  Mike, you may have heard him say this before.You see so many athletes, when they get to the finish line, they take that finish time so seriously.  They hit the finish line chute, and instead of enjoying themselves down the finish line chute, they sprint with all the energy they have left.  You just spent 13 hours out on the race course, why are you in a hurry to rush that finish line moment?  Don’t take that finish line so seriously that those eight extra seconds on your finish time robs you of the joy of going down the finish line chute, and experiencing it.John always recommends, don’t take that moment so seriously.  Soak it in, enjoy it, have fun.  If you see 11:59:59, and sprinting down the red carpet is what gets you a sub-12:00, or sub-11:00, or sub-10:00, okay, then sprint down the red carpet.  But unless you see 59:59 on the clock, take your time, enjoy that moment, and don’t be so serious at the finish line.

Mike:  It’s funny you mention that.  Of all the times I’ve been interviewed, I’ve never been asked, “Mike, do you have a pet peeve about racing triathlon, IRONMAN?”  And I do.  It’s sprinters coming down the finish line!  I go, “Dude!”I always would make funny comments.Say somebody’s coming in at 11½ hours, and they’re doing a five-minute mile coming down the chute.I say to everybody, “Whoa, if he’d have run that fast the whole day, he’d have won the race!”  I couldn’t understand people sprinting at the finish line.Anyway, we don’t want to get into that.They don’t need to sprint at the finish line.  Enjoy the moment, enjoy the spectators, enjoy that red carpet, and take your time.

Andrew:  Mike Reilly, what is Lesson #5 from the races?

Mike:  Never be disappointed with a finish.

Andrew:  Oh, that’s so good.

Mike:  If you finished what you started – which is one of the biggest lessons in life we can teach our children, teach each other – never be disappointed with a finish.  I don’t care what your time was, if you went an hour slower than you went before, if you missed your goal.  If you missed everything on race day, but you came across that finish line, you are a winner, a champion.  You are someone who inspires others because you did finish.  Don’t be disappointed with a finish, of anything.Even if you handed in a college term paper, and you finished it but you got a C.  “Aw, I got a C, what the heck?  I finished it.”  A lot of people don’t finish what they start, so never be disappointed with a finish.

Vanessa:  I think that’s something that is really key for people who are perfectionists, which a lot of triathletes are.  Something as a teacher that I noticed is that a lot of perfectionists won’t finish, because what they have completed doesn’t seem perfect in their eyes.  So they won’t actually hand in that assignment that they worked so hard on, despite the fact that it was far superior to the majority of assignments that were handed in.  I think this is a really important aspect of every part of your life, as you said.Honor yourself for completing the job and getting it done, even if it’s not perfect.  Who cares if it's not perfect?  You put in the effort, you worked really hard, you got it done, and that’s often what’s most important about finishing something in the first place, is the journey that it took to get to that finish point.  Honor yourself!

Mike:  Exactly.I’ve seen a multitude of professionals in our sport, male and female, some at the very top of the game, not have a great day, and walk to that finish line, and come in 105th or whatever it may be.  They finished the race.  They knew it was important to finish, even though they were probably disappointed with their performance because they’re a professional.  Even the pros can finish what they start, and not be disappointed.So don’t NOT finish.

Andrew:  On to the next one.  That’s the beauty of the sport, there’s always another race around the corner that you can sign up for, that you can jump into.  So be proud of what you accomplished, and if that finish time is eating at you a little bit – cool, just sign up for the next one, and keep building, keep improving.  It’s a journey.  Mike Reilly, Lesson #6, what do we got?

Mike:  Even though we have some of the best coaches in the world in our sport now, and we’ve learned so many things over the years, this lesson is one that’s been taught over and over again, but people still abuse it, for lack of a better word.Don’t do anything different on race day.What I mean by that is, if you trained with this nutrition, if you trained on this bike, if you ran in these shoes, don’t be buying a new pair of running shoes two days before the race and run in them.  But people do!  They figure they want that added edge, so they do something different than what they did through their entire six, eight months, however long training was for the race.They do something different, and it can beat up their day.  So don’t do anything different on race day.  Even though somebody tells you three days before the race, “Hey, if you take this, you’ll have a lot more energy on the swim!”  What, are you kidding me?  You’ve never taken it before and you’re going to take it now?  I don’t care if it’s the simplest powder, or a new flavor of Gatorade you’ve never drank before.  Stick with what you do, and don’t do anything different on race day.

Vanessa:  I had an athlete that I was coaching, he was doing his first sprint race, and in the bag that you get at registration, there were some samples.  He pulled out one of the samples and he’s like, “This is going to be GREAT for race day.”  So he took it, he ate the sample right before his race, he didn’t even read the label.It was not a gel, it was a sample of shampoo!

Andrew:  Noooo!

Vanessa:  So the whole race the shampoo was just coming up and he was burping bubbles, and his stomach was just turning around.  We were laughing so hard about it, and I said to him, “Did you not hear?  You never do anything new on race day! That includes eating shampoo.”

Mike:  You gotta be kidding me!  Okay, that’s a first, I’ve never heard that before!  I don’t know if I should say this, but can you imagine the guy behind him?“Dude, you’ve got bubbles coming out of your bike shorts, what the heck?”

Andrew:  This guy has the best-smelling farts that we’ve ever encountered!

Vanessa:  I think that was the case the next day.

Andrew:  That is so ingrained in the endurance sport community right?  Every coach says it, every podcast says it, and we keep saying it because people keep trying new things on race day, gosh darn it!  Yes, nothing new on race day, heed the wisdom of so many sages who have come before us, and that Mike Reilly is reiterating for us today.  Moving on Lesson #7 from Mike Reilly at the races.

Mike:  Well, we all know our sport is built on three beautiful disciplines, swim, bike, and run.But on race day, the most important discipline is the fourth one, nutrition.  That can’t be discounted.  If you’ve trained with proper nutrition, you’ve got to know on race day that is your fourth discipline.  You stress about the swim, you stress about “I’ve got to this on the bike.I’ve got to do this on the run.”You get your nutrition when you’re training, but on race day it is number four.  Sometimes it should be like number two or three.  Nutrition is the fourth discipline on race day.  Don’t ever forget that, and make sure you take care of it.

Andrew:  Mike, I’ve heard people say that strength training is the fourth discipline.  I’ve heard people say transitioning is the fourth discipline.  I’ve heard nutrition, recovery time.  You’re hearing the vote of Mike Reilly, that nutrition is the fourth discipline of triathlons.  I’ll say this, Mike – your last lesson was “nothing new on race day” – your nutrition should absolutely not be new on race day.  Especially if it’s shampoo, but even if it’s not shampoo.  Don’t try anything new on race day.  We encourage our athletes, in your training sessions leading up to race day, if you’re going to try anything new when it comes to nutrition, try it then.  Whether it’s a new product, a new strategy, a different amount of carbohydrate during a session, a new electrolyte powder, whatever it is, experiment far enough out from the race that you’ve really perfected what you want to do with nutrition before you get to race day.  With that being said, Vanessa, as you prepare for IRONMAN California, are you playing with your nutrition right now so that you're ready for that fourth discipline on race day?

Vanessa:  Absolutely.Every training session I have, I’m consciously thinking about nutrition.  Whether it’s what pre-workout meal I’m going to have and how it affects my performance in that session, or what kind of hydration am I taking, what kind of carbohydrates am I taking, how much can I tolerate?  How far in advance of my session can I eat and feel totally great?I’m testing it all out, and it’s fun.This one swim session, I smashed it, and I said to Coach Ryan, “I smashed my swim session!  I ate a date right before I did it, so it must be the date!Date power!”  But it was just the fact that I’d had carbs right before the session.  So it might not have been the date, but the carbs, so now I try and make sure that I carb up before most of my sessions, which has been really helpful.

Andrew:  The day this podcast comes out, Mr. Mike Reilly will be joining me on YouTube for an episode of the TriDot Triathlon Show later this week, so be on the lookout for that.But another thing we’re going to do is we’re going to watch Vanessa’s IRONMAN training as she starts getting ready.She’s graciously agreed to give us a peek at her IRONMAN training, so every single week on the show she’ll give us a little update on how her IRONMAN training is going, as she gets ready for IRONMAN California.  So I’m sure you’ll have some notes for us on what you’re trying in terms of nutrition, and how you are honing in your fourth discipline for race day, which Mike Reilly is encouraging us is very important.  Mike Reilly, I think we’re on Lesson #8 now.

Mike:  Yes we are.There’s no doubt you’re going to be hurting on race day.  You’re going to go through tough patches, you’re going to doubt yourself, you’re going to be running and feel like you’ve got a couple lead weights on your ankles.When you’re hurting, I tell people you want to disassociate a little bit.  You want to assess your body and make sure everything’s okay, but when you’re hurting, think of your loved ones.  Think of the ones that helped you get there.  Think of your partners, your spouse, your kids, your grandkids, whomever it may be.Because when you think about the ones that love you, cool memories pop into your head, and before you know it you’re four or five miles down the road.  A funny story to this – I was being interviewed at a race one time, and somebody asked me for advice on race day, and this just popped into my head, “Thank your loved ones when you’re hurting out there.”  So I had a guy come up to me after he race, he goes, “Thanks, Reilly!”  I go, “What?”He goes, “I had a great day.  I was hurting, but I started thinking about my kids and my wife, and I started crying.  I’m bawling like a baby, running on the course.  Guys came up to me, ‘Dude, you okay?’  ‘Yeah, I’m fine, I was thinking of my loved ones.’  And one guy says, ‘Oh, you must have listened to Reilly.’”You know, you’re an individual out there, and you’ve done almost everything on your own, but you haven’t.Your loved ones have supported you and been behind you.  So when you think of them, I think they’re going to help you get through those rough patches on race day.

Andrew:  Yeah, for me this always manifests in two ways.  The first way, at IRONMAN specifically, my wife told me going into that day, “I cannot see you bonk.  I can’t see you be one of those people that gets pulled off the course because you’re just absolutely demolished.”  So in the back of my head I’m like, no matter how bad it got, “Keep fueling, keep trucking, keep pacing correctly, because you promised Morgan you would not be one of those people that bonked along the way.”  The other way this manifests for me, ever since I joined the TriDot family, is I know when I do any distance race, there’s people in the TriDot community tracking me on the tracker app. Whether it’s a CLASH Endurance race, or a Challenge Family race, or an IRONMAN race, you can usually track your favorite athletes.  Anytime my bike wheels or my feet go over a timing mat of any kind, I think of the TriDot family, and I think of the people that I know are tracking me and rooting for me.It’s like, “Yes!  They just got an update on how I’m doing!”  I think of them in those moments, and it really pushes me on to that next timing mat.  Vanessa, have you already planned your way of doing this for IRONMAN?

Vanessa:  Yeah.I specifically remember one training run that I had done.  Running is not my favorite thing to do, I have to be honest.  It’s becoming more, I love it more and more the more I do it, but when I first started, it wasn’t something that I really liked to do.  I was doing this one run in a very hot and humid facility, which is not typical when you’re living in Calgary, where it’s dry and cold most of the time.  But it was indoors, and I was just thinking, “Oh my gosh, I have 40 minutes left on this track.  How am I going to get through this?  This is just so brutal.”  So I decided to flip it around and just be grateful.  I decided in that moment, for the rest of my run, to think of all the things that I’m grateful for.  And it’s interesting, because I was able to get through 40 minutes of that run, and not repeat one thing that I was grateful for, and the time absolutely flew by.So I knew this was a really wonderful learning lesson for me, to have that experience of doing this session on the track, and I know that it is something that I will definitely remember to do as I’m on the run in California.  Hopefully it’s not on the bike, I really like the bike.  But I think the run is something where I’ll need that extra motivation, so I’m definitely going to be practicing the gratitude.

Mike:  Number nine, I’ve said this at every welcome ceremony for as long as I can remember.Because we’re out there all day long on the race course, and you need support, and you know where that support comes from.  It comes from people giving you their most valuable possession, their time.  It’s the volunteers.  So I tell everyone, thank as many volunteers as possible on race day.Look them in the eye, and tell them thank you.  If you do that, it’ll bring energy back to you, because you’re going to make their day.There they are, there for you, and you reverse it.  “Thank you very much for the gels!  Thank you, oh my gosh!”  Especially because we have a lot of young adults and children out there handing things.Could you imagine, if they hand something to a Jan Frodeno and he says thanks to a 9-year-old?  That’s forever!  When you thank a volunteer, it’s forever for them.  So don’t discount that, thank as many volunteers as possible, and they’ll bring you energy to help you get to that finish line.

Vanessa:  I think this is amazing.  I love this tip so much.  When I volunteered at the Worlds Championships for St. George, I was in the change tent in T1.  The water was so cold, everyone was having trouble moving their fingers when they got into that changing tent.  I was helping this one girl, and I was trying to stay out of the way but do as much as possible at the same time.  As she was running out to get onto the bike, she passed me an envelope.  It was this card, and inside the card was a note thanking me for being a volunteer and helping her to realize her goals, and she had bought a Starbucks card!

Andrew:  That is just next level.

Vanessa:  There was this Starbucks card inside the card, and I was just crying, of course.I’m almost in tears right now.Just to think that she had taken the time to know that someone was going to help her on that day, and it was going to be so significant that she actually had planned for this.  It is something that I am definitely going to do, because man, she made my day!

Mike:  Yeah, I heard that story in St. George, and I think I might have met her after the race.I heard that story about somebody out there with envelopes, handing out Starbucks cards to volunteers.  Bless her, bless her heart.

Vanessa:  Yeah, and I received one of those!  How lucky am I?!

Andrew:  The triathlon community is just the best.  Hands down, there are so many stories that just reaffirm that time after time.  I love that story, Vanessa.  When we go to the races to cheer on TriDot athletes – not every race, but if our schedule allows – we try to take a volunteer shift somewhere.  The story Vanessa is referencing, our TriDot Ambassador Camp in St. George, all of our Ambassadors were working T1 and the change tents that day.  Sometimes we do T1, sometimes we’ll pop up at an aid station on the run course for a couple hours.  We get to cheer the TriDot athletes going by, but then we get to help all the athletes going by.  I also loved that you mentioned the young kids out there helping, because what’s so cool to me – you might know you’re an average triathlete, or you’re a back-of-the-packer, and you might not think anything special or remarkable about yourself when it comes to half-IRONMAN, IRONMAN, whatever the distance is.  But to those kids at the aid stations, when any athlete on course says, “Hey man, thanks so much!”  Or, “Hey young lady, thank you so much!”  They think you’re an all-star!  You’re one of the athletes!  You’re one of the competitors!  They don’t know you’re a back-of-the-packer, they don’t know you’re a mid-packer, they don’t know it’s your first IRONMAN and the best you’ve ever done is finished 56th in your age group.  They know you’re one of the athletes out there doing it, and it means the world to them when you stop and say thank you along the way.  I love that, Mike.  Closing it down, we’ve got one more lesson from Mike Reilly, all the things he’s learned in his years at the races.  What is Lesson #10?

Mike:  Excuses are invalid.  On race day, a lot of things will pop into your head in the negative vein.  You know we don’t live in the most positive of worlds at all times, whether you’re watching the news, reading the paper, or listening to anybody else.  People want to bitch and moan about things, and usually that stems from excuses in their lives, of why they didn’t do this, why they didn’t do that.  On race day, if anything comes in like, “It’s a little cold out here, maybe I’ll stop at the aid station and think about quitting.”Forget it.  Excuses are invalid.  There are no excuses on race day, and there should be no excuses in life.  But we use them, we use them as crutches.  We’re all guilty of that.  I’ve used excuses.  “I don’t want to do this, because of this,” or whatever.  But on race day you’ve got to live by that, because if you don’t, you’re not going to see that finish line.

Vanessa:  I fully agree with that.  I often try and remind myself, when I’m in that pit of excuses, when you're thinking that everything is against you or whatever it is, own that.  Own the situation that you’re in, be accountable for it, take responsibility for it, and get the job done.  That’s what you’re there to do, you’re there to get the job done.Make it happen.  You’ve got to make it happen, regardless of what happens on your way to that finish line or whatever, just get it done.  Because you put in all of that work, all along your journey, you can totally do it, so just get it done.

Andrew:  Vanessa, before we call it a day, I’m curious to hear from you – you have your first IRONMAN coming up later this year, we’ve referenced that a few times.  You’re about a month away now from starting the race prep phase on TriDot.  The training doesn’t start getting longer super quick, but as soon as you see on TriDot, “Oh my gosh, today is day one of the race prep phase.  I’m no longer in the development phase, I am actually getting ready for this specific race,” that is a very real moment for a lot of TriDot athletes. What was your biggest takeaway from what Mike shared today?

Vanessa:  It might come as a surprise to you which one I think I need to implement more into my training and to the race, but it’s the mental mindset of having fun.  I did mention that I get too serious at times.Sometimes I think that the whole endpoint of that race that I’ll be completing is crossing that finish line and having a certain time.  But that is not the point of the race.  It absolutely has nothing to do with what I’m trying to achieve.  Having fun along the way, and having fun at the race, is something that I really, really want to embody.  So I’m going to start today.  I haven’t done my training session yet today, and I’m just going to have fun.  It’s going to start, and it’s going to be like a snowball effect.  Everything that I do from this point forward, I have to come home after my training session and tell my family what fun thing happened on my training session for that day.

Mike:  There you go.

Vanessa:  Then what’s going to happen is when I get to that race, I will have this bank of all these fun things, and it will just be the way that I’m going to carry forward with the race.  Because how you train is how you race.  That’s how it is.  So I’m going to train with a positive outlook and have fun, and that’s what I’m going to expect of myself on race day.

Andrew:  I love the mention of just caring about your finish time, and recognizing that race day will be about a lot more than just your finish time.  When I started in this sport, I started a Google sheet, and anytime I did a sprint, an Olympic, a half-IRONMAN or whatever the race was, I have a Google sheet where I track what my splits were on my swim, bike, and run, where I track my overall finish time.  I have them color-coded, and I used to be able to recite to you exactly what my finish time was at this race or that race.  When I got to my very first IRONMAN, IRONMAN Waco, that was the first race where the next day, I couldn’t have told you my finish time.  I had no idea.  Now, I went into the day caring about my finish time, and I had a certain goal, but at the end of the day there were so many more experiences that took place in that 12 hours and 40-something minutes.  I still don’t know what it is off the top of my head.So many things took place that made that day what it was, above and beyond what the finish time was.  Great takeaway there from you, Vanessa.  Mike, the last thing from you – as our TriDot athletes are listening to this conversation, they’re about to have your voice, your personality, baked into the TriDot app, into their TriDot training, a lot more than it is right now.  As people are day-in-day-out doing their training, what’s your last word of encouragement in their day-to-day training this week?

Mike:  You are the cause of your own experiences.  Sure, somebody can rear-end you in a car and things can happen.  But if you live by that, that you’re the cause of your own experiences, both positive and negative, you’ll realize you are the one controlling your destiny, not someone else.  Not someone else telling you, “You’re going to do this, you’re going to be great at this.”  Sure it will motivate and inspire, but you’re the cause of your own experiences.  So keep your experiences positive in your daily life and in your relationships, at your workplace, and in your training and racing, and you’ll live the life that you were supposed to live.  Just remember, you’re the cause of your own experiences.

Cool down theme: Great set everyone! Let’s cool down.

Vanessa Ronksley: Welcome to the cooldown, everyone!  I’m Vanessa, your Average Triathlete with Elite-Level Enthusiasm!  Today for the Coach Cooldown Tip, we’re talking to a veteran TriDot coach from way back in the day, when athlete information was collected and tracked on Excel sheets.  It’s crazy how the platform has evolved over the last 15-plus years!John Mayfield has been triathloning since 2010.  He is a ten-time IRONMAN finisher, and an Alcatraz finisher, which may just classify as one of his all-time race experiences.  These days he is a full-time triathlon coach, and specializes in long-course athletes who are busy parents and/or professionals longing to be competitive, even if it’s simply with themselves.  He currently lives in Friendswood, Texas with his wife, three kids, three dogs, and three chickens.  Welcome to the show, John!

John Mayfield:  Thanks for having me again!  I guess I’m used to being on the other end of the podcast, so it’s kind of fun to be here on the cooldown side.

Vanessa:  Yeah, I’m super pumped about this!  But I do have to say, you did tell me – these are your words – that you’re kind of boring.

John:  It’s very true.

Vanessa:  It’s not true!  I don’t believe you for a second, because I’ve met you, obviously.  So I’m going to give you some rapid-fire questions to prove that you’re awesome.  Are you ready?

John:  Sure.

Vanessa:  Okay, so you have to answer as fast as possible, okay?  Here we go.  What is your favorite season?

John:  Fall.

Vanessa:  Who do you text the most?

John:  Probably my wife.

Vanessa:  Aww.Where did you go on your last vacation?

John:  I’ll cheat a little bit, I am going on a cruise next week. My daughter just graduated high school over this past weekend, so we are going on a cruise to celebrate that.

Vanessa:  Do you kill bugs, or take them outside?

John:  Kill.

Vanessa:  What is your favorite dessert?

John:  All of them.

Vanessa:  What were you afraid of as a child?

John:  Needles.Still afraid of needles.

Vanessa:  Okay.Who is your favorite Disney character?

John:  I loved Duck Tales back in the day, so I’ll go with the duck characters.  Huey, Dewey, Louis, Scrooge McDuck, all those guys.

Vanessa:  That’s fun.Introvert or extrovert?

John:  Yes.Both of those two.  Depends, I can very much be both.

Vanessa:  Yeah, that’s good.  I think it’s a spectrum, I don’t think it’s actually polarized like lots of people like to think it is.  Do you think you would make a good spy?

John:  Probably not.It’d be fun, until you got caught and tortured.  I’m not down for the torture or anything like that.

Vanessa:  What about rappelling down the buildings, that would be kind of fun.

John:  Yeah, that sounds fun.

Vanessa:  Cool, okay.What never fails to make you laugh?

John:  Cat videos.

Vanessa:  Awesome.See?  You’re not boring.

John:  Oh, those are bad.  There was nothing in there.  I think all that did was confirm.  Those were pretty bland answers.  Pretty much everyone texts their spouse more than everyone.  Yeah, not a whole lot there.

Vanessa:  Well, I think you’re not boring, and I also think you’re classified as an awesome coach, filled with tons of wisdom.  So let’s hear the tip you have for us today.

John:  All the times I’ve been on the podcast before, I’ve talked about this a lot, and it’s one of my go-to things.  I think it’s very important for all athletes to really appreciate, absorb, follow, and be intentional with training.  I’ve said it a thousand times.  It’s not so much perfection, it’s consistency, and the best way to be consistent is to be intentional.  Really set yourself up for success in having that consistent training, getting in as many sessions as you can, and getting in as much of the session as possible as prescribed.  When we plan for those sessions, do things that set ourselves up for success, like establishing routines.  Plan what time of day you get in your sessions, maybe even schedule a time where that is a priority.  “It’s X o’clock, time for me to do my session!” Whether that’s in the morning or evening or sometime throughout the day, have that time set aside, it’s going to set yourself up for success.  Then just having a certain level of self-grace and self-patience to understand that, even in that intentionality, things are not always going to go to plan.You can have those scheduled times set, and “best laid plans of mice and men”, but it doesn’t always work out that way, and that’s okay.  Be intentional, do what you can to get in as many sessions as you can, get them in as closely as possible to prescribed, and just be okay with that, know that that is still going to produce very good results.  You’re still going to perform very well when you do that.  It’s not so much about the perfection of training, it’s the consistency that is set up and produced through being intentional with the training.  What you do matters.  It’s not just going out and doing random things, or even just going out swimming, cycling, and running.  It’s what you do with the time that you have that is important.  When we train consistently, and train with intentionality, it’s going to produce results.

Vanessa:  Yeah, I think that consistency is such an important aspect of training.  Something that I know has really helped me to implement that consistency is the mindset that my training is non-negotiable.  It’s something that I have put into this part of my brain that it’s something that just happens, like eating breakfast, it’s non-negotiable.  You just do it because it’s part of this bigger plan that you have for yourself, I think that definitely leads into being consistent.  We’ve heard that so many times, that with any kind of goal that you have, consistency is the key to achieving that goal.  That’s a super important aspect of training, that’s for sure.  The other thing that I really like about being intentional with training is that you can be intentional with each session as well.  You can have a goal for each session, and sometimes you have no goal for each session.Maybe that intentionality is having fun.The other day, this was a miracle actually, my husband actually wanted to join me on a training session, which has never happened before.  So I was like, “Forget the plan!  Today’s going to be all about having him come out on my run with me, and have him enjoy it so that he’ll want to do it again.”  So I just scrapped the plan, and I think that’s still being consistent.

John:  Yeah, and that’s one hundred percent the right answer.  I can’t think of a scenario where I would say that wasn’t the right thing to do.  I almost unequivocally would say yes, that was absolutely the right thing to do, almost regardless of what the original session was for the day.  When something like that happens – I remember I had somebody one time almost ask permission, “My son is coming over from an overseas deployment, is it okay if I…” It’s like, “Why are you even wasting your time talking to me?  Of course it’s okay!”  It doesn’t even have to be anything that big or significant.  If your child has crawled up in your lap, just enjoy that time. Like I said, I just had a daughter graduate, and it feels like it was just a couple days ago she was still crawling up in my lap on the couch.  There’s plenty of time for training, and as we said, it’s consistency, it’s not perfection. So go for a run with your spouse, or spend time with your kid, or whatever it is.  If something has a higher value on your time, don’t worry about it, and just know that’s okay.  Like I said before, be patient and have grace with yourself, and know that it was the right decision to do that.  Again, there’s plenty of time for training, there will always be more training sessions.  We’re not running out of those.

Outro: Thanks for joining us. Make sure to subscribe and share the TriDot podcast with your triathlon crew. For more great tri content and community, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Ready to optimize your training? Head to TriDot.com and start your free trial today! TriDot – the obvious and automatic choice for triathlon training.

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