TriDot Podcast .140

Tips to Tackle Pre-Race Anxiety

Intro: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses your training data and geneticprofile, combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence tooptimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewerinjuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire, and entertain. We’ll talkall things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join theconversation and let’s improve together.

Andrew Harley: Hey folks welcome to the show! I haven’t saidthis in a while so you know, I’ve got to do it every now and then. If you areenjoying the show, it helps us out big time if you subscribe on the ApplePodcast App and leave us a rating and review. Those simple actions help us findour way to the ears of new listeners. Thanks in advance. Ya’ll are the best.Crucial show today as two of our esteemed TriDot coaches will tackle race-dayanxiety. We want to help you get to the start line as ready and confident aspossible, so really excited for this chat today. Our first coach joining us forthis is Coach Joanna Nami. Joanna is better known as Coach Jo-Jo and has beencoaching athletes with TriDot since 2012. She is co-founder of Hissyfit Racing,a third year member of the Betty Design Squad, and now has 17 Ironman finisheson her accomplished triathlon resume. Coach Jo has qualified for two IronmanWorld Championships and will be racing Kona here in October of 2022. Coach Jo,welcome back to the podcast.

Joanna Nami: Thanks for having me Andrew.

Andrew: Also joining us is Coach John Mayfield. John isa USAT Level II and Ironman U certified coach who leads TriDot’s athleteservices, ambassador, and coaching programs. He has coached hundreds ofathletes ranging from first-timers to Kona qualifiers and professionaltriathletes. John has been using TriDot since 2010 and coaching with TriDotsince 2012. John, are you ready to talk about race day anxiety with us today?

John Mayfield: Yeah, I will say I don’t have quite as muchanxiety recording this podcast, number what is it? 130, 140. I had much moreanxiety headed into podcast number one. But kind of like my racing career, mylevel of anxiety has gone down both in my race starts and my podcastrecordings.

Andrew: I’m Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of thePeople and Captain of the Middle of the Pack. As always we'll roll through ourwarm up question, settle in for our main set conversation, and then wind thingsdown with our cool down.

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

Andrew: Across all sports there is a huge market forautographed memorabilia with athlete signatures commonly being applied togame-worn jerseys, hats, t-shirts, print materials, photos and whatever else afan might have on hand when they come across a celebrity athlete in real life.In our sport, the pros commonly have autograph signings at sponsor tents or atpre-race events in the athlete village. When we were at St. George for theWorld Championships, TriDot athlete Sarah Burney was showing off her Ben Hoffmanautographed Zoot hat and I was crazy jealous. So John, Jo, if you could scorethe autograph of any triathlon celebrity, whose autograph would you want andwhat piece of memorabilia would you want that autograph on? John Mayfield,we’ll start with you.

John: So my first thought was like a big deal are shoes.

Andrew: Sure.

John: Especially like basketball, football. A lot of those guys have likeindividualized. They have their own shoe with their cause or whatever and theyautograph them and throw them into the stands or whatever. Then I got thinking,like triathlon shoes are really nasty. I don’t know that you would want totouch a professional triathlete’s shoe after they ran a marathon.

Andrew: Particularly after we outlined on the episodewith Coach Jo and Coach Matt just about potty strategies for racing and Mattrevealed how often the pros are peeing in their shoes while they are running.You don’t know what bodily fluid has made contact with those race shoes.

John: Yeah, I don’t think you get that in basketball and football and othersports. But just a little side story to this, something that came to mind.Years ago my kids participated in a youth triathlon that was sponsored by aHouston YMCA and was sponsored by the Houston Texans. This was after JJ Watts’rookie year. I’ve been a Texan fan from the beginning so I knew who he was. Hehad been drafted, played one year with the team, had a couple sacks, had adecent year, but he hadn’t yet blown up. In fact at the time the Texansquarterback was TJ Yates so when they were saying JJ they were confusing himwith TJ and so there was that confusion as to even who he was. So anyway, mykids got an autographed swim cap. So we still have somewhere in the house, it’snot in great shape, it’s quite deteriorated. We have a JJ Watt autographed swimcap. So it’s a little bit of triathlon stuff, a little bit of celebrity. Notnecessarily a celebrity triathlete. As far as I know JJ Watt has yet to do atriathlon, but heck of a guy. Heck of a football player. So we are proud tohave a JJ Watt autographed swim cap.

Andrew: Alright. So that’s got to be rare. I’m sure hesigns plenty of jerseys and football helmets and cleats, but I doubt too manypeople, triathlete or non-triathlete, have a NFL player signed swim cap. Sothat’s got to be a treasured item in the Mayfield household. Coach Jo, if youcould have anyone in the triathlete sphere give you an autograph, what itemwould you want it on and whose autograph would you want?

Joanna: Well, John’s story there made me think of anautograph that I have of the best, the Mary Lou Retton autograph that I have.If I could have her autograph my swim cap that would be awesome. I’m moremesmerized right now with Kristian Blummenfelt and I would probably have—I hadsome good conversations with him when we were in the finishing chute in Daytonathat weekend about Cozumel and he’s a very interesting guy. I would have to sayprobably that see-through tri suit he wore when he won the gold medal would bequite an item that might be very, very valuable on EBay one day if I could getthat autograph.

Andrew: Yeah, so get Kristian’s autograph. He is now theOlympic gold medalist. He’s now the Ironman World Champion and to have hisautograph on his famously see-through white kit from the Olympics, yeah that’sa great pick Jo. I’m going a different direction here. As a podcaster, thereare for sure plenty of athletes in our sport where I would like to have theirautograph on some piece of game worn, or race day used gear item. That would bereally cool. But when I thought about this, I would love to have like eitherMike Riley or Bob Babbitt, if one of them could sign my podcasting microphone.When I just think of my role in this sport and my experience with the sport.You know, my experience with triathlon has just been so enrichened by being apodcaster and being in this space and having these kind of conversations withyou, our coaches, and different athletes at races. When I think about thepeople who make a mark on the sport, sure the pro athletes out there make ahuge mark on the sport, but I also like just kind of picking the brains of thestorytellers of the sport. And for Mike Riley and guys Bob Babbitt who do somuch of the media around the big events, they’re the storytellers of the sportof triathlon and they’re so gifted at that storytelling and having theirautograph on my podcasting microphone would be really special and really uniqueto me where I sit in this sport.

Joanna: Andrew, now I’m like, “How am I going to getAndrew’s microphone in my suitcase to Kona and get Mike Riley to sign itwithout him knowing?”

John: I had the same thought. I was kike, this is a new objective. Jo and Iare on it. We’re going to make this happen. We’re going to get Bob Babbitt andMike Riley. Consider it done at some point.

Andrew: Hey guys, we’re going to throw this question outto you. I’m curious. I want to know from our people. I know ya’ll are fans ofthe sport. If you could have the autograph of any athlete or any just kind ofperson in the triathlon space, whose autograph would you want and what itemwould you want that autograph put on? Make sure you’re a part of the I AMTriDot Facebook group. We’re going to throw this question out to you and seewhat you have to say.

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

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Andrew: Whether you’re taking on yourvery first triathlon or taking on your 100th triathlon, race-day anxiety themorning of a race, the week of a race, a few days before the race can take holdand grip even the most experienced of triathlete. You two are both frequentlyon site with athletes the morning of a race. Sometimes it’s the localshort-course scene. Sometimes it’s an Ironman and I’ve personally seen you bothtalking with athletes, praying with athletes, fistbumping athletes, helpingthem push through those pre-race nerves. From all of your pre-race interactionswith nervous athletes, what moments or what conversations stick out to you asextra memorable?

Joanna: I have a couple, but kind of going back to thelast question we were talking about, Andrew, was I think when I startedthinking about this podcast and the conversations I’ve had with athletespre-race, what really affected me this year was Ironman Texas coming off ofCOVID, having probably my biggest class of athletes the class of ‘22 at IronmanTexas. You know, ten different types of athletes all with different backgroundsand getting to know each of them very personally and kind of understanding whattheir why was. That made me really understand their nervous state before therace and what was going to be needed to be said to calm them, to give them theconfidence to start this race, and to be in a good head space to start thisrace. I think every athlete you have to treat individually and in doing thishas really made me think about different ways of talking with athletes beforethey start their swim. I’d have to say as far as extra memorable conversationsI’ve had with athletes, I think Ironman Florida this year stands out in mymind. Having run the swims for TriDot the two days before I knew how the waterwas. On race day I could tell how rough the water was.

Andrew: And this was Ironman Florida2021 which just had a ridiculous current, a high DNF rate on the swim. JohnMayfield was out there racing himself and it took John I think 20-somethingminutes longer than normal for you to finish that swim just to give peoplecontext of how difficult the currents were on that particular day.

Joanna: Yeah and I had an athlete–I had a couple ofathletes in that race, but I had an athlete, Chastity Jaime, who has been along-time TriDotter and a very successful athlete that came to me years andyears ago and wouldn’t get off the dock at our lake terrified of open waterswimming. So knowing she was about to take on this beast…

Andrew: Wow.

Joanna: …was very scary for me and I had to formulatethe right words to give her the confidence to get through the first loop. Noteven talking about the second loop. So I remember just being very calm withher, but pumping her up and letting her know that she had done some really hardthings in life and this was not going to be the hardest thing she did.

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: Then secondly in that day, it’s always kind ofa role reversal for me because I always have John as my coach talking to mepre-race. Knowing who I am, what I can do versus me looking at him and sayingnot, not conveying that I think this is going to be a really tough swim, but hehad the ability and he had a lot of experience behind him and that he was goingto have a very successful day.

Andrew: Yep and he did have a very successful day. Justa tough swim to get that successful day started. So John, for you just in yourcoaching career with all the times you’ve been with athletes in thosesupercharged, emotional sometimes, anxious moments before a race what momentsand conversations stand out for you from your coaching experience?

John: There are several and a lot of them have to dowith those athletes that have those big goals. As a coach you become veryvested in your athletes and their success. Their success is your success andtheir failures are your failures. You know, it’s a lot like parenting where atsome point you’ve done what you can and then they go on to do what they’regoing to do. It’s all about they have to execute at some point. There’s nothingelse that you can do for them. So it’s just having those last minute reminders.I really enjoy that. Being there in that moment I think just kind of my calmdisposition does well on race morning. I’m not the hype guy. I’m more the calmand I’m going to remind you of the work you’ve done. I’m going to remind you ofyour potential and your ability. Another thing is having been there many, manytimes, to be able to convey that especially for the first timers, it’s likethey don’t know what they’re in store for, but I do. It’s your first time beingthere, but I’ve been there lots of times. So I think both for them and for me,that is a calming thing and you have confidence in that. A fun story, thissticks out was a couple years ago when Elizabeth James was racing. It was 70.3in Waco and she was set up in a parking lot kind of near the swim start gettingher wetsuit on. It was a humid morning. It was early. It was dark, and she wasjust struggling to get the wetsuit on. So I was helping her, her husbandCharles was there helping her. It took the three of us ten minutes or more to getthat wetsuit up on her legs.

Andrew: Sure.

John: And we were all sweating; good warmup for herand like it was a struggle. It was like we finally got it on which when awetsuit fits properly it should be difficult to get on. So it was goodconfirmation that her wetsuit fit. Got it on. She went to pull it up over herhips and put it on the top and realized that it was inside out. So–

Andrew: Wow!

John: All of that work and it was just like. Like itwent a really long way to just kind of deflate that anxiety and all thatbecause we all just laughed. Like it was just one of those just like one ofthose situations where you just put up your hands and just laugh at it becausewhat else are you going to do. So we got it stripped off and flipped right sideout and struggled again to get it put on. So that was one of those moments thatstands out as a pre-race memory that was really good. Where there was justsomething like that that she could have stressed over it, she could have gottenworked up and mad or whatever, but everybody just laughed and that was actuallythe race she on to qualify as a professional. So it just proves that everythingdoesn’t have to go perfectly race morning, but it’s all about how you respondto it.

Andrew: Yep. No that’s a great point and just know thatwhatever you forget to do or neglect to do or do incorrectly or have to re-doon race morning, just remember that if Elizabeth Jaqmes can put her wetsuit oninside out and have to correct it and still go on to earn her pro card thatday, you can overcome whatever you need to overcome on race morning as well. Sogreat antidote there John. I enjoyed that. I remember that. I wasn’t therepersonally, but I remember hearing about that story later on in the day. Butyeah, you’re right John. Just being with you at the races I’ve seen athletesleave stuff in transition and have to run and grab it real quick or I’ve seenathletes that they had their bike computer with them at the swim start andfailed to put their bike computer with their bike so they gave it to us and wehad to get it there. I’ve seen athletes have things go wrong on race morning.You know, we’re always able to work the problem, solve the problem and get themto the starting line ready to go.

Fromya’ll’s experience with athletes before a race, is it normal to have somepre-race jitters or is that something that goes away over time? What percentageof the field at any given race is standing there on the edge of the waterfeeling nervous?

Joanna: I would have to say I think it’s near 100%. Ithink it’s totally normal. Kind of the fear of the unknown. Something verystrenuous you’re about to take on especially a half or full Ironman. Always thewhat ifs. Can I do this? What if I can’t do this? What if this happens? So I’mstill mega nervous when I start. The one line I say to my athletes over andover again is that there is a fine line between anxiety and excitement. Whatare you going to choose today? You can choose to be anxious or we can framethat as excitement. So that’s just a flip of negative versus positive. Soinstead of saying “Hey, I’m really nervous. I’m really scared.” Can we say“Hey, let’s push that away.” Like I say to my kids, “Let’s put those negativethoughts in a bubble. Let’s blow that away.” We want positive thoughts and thenwe’re going to frame this as excitement. But I would say that that’s probablystill on the table for every athlete that toes the line and that’s very normal.

John: The nerves are proof that you’re stillinvested. That really when we go out and we do these things we’re taking onrisk. We’re risking uncomfortable pain. We’re risking failure. A lot of it isself imposed. We have these self imposed expectations that we may or may notmeet and there’s no guarantee regardless of how well prepared we are and Ithink when you can consistently get to the start line and not be nervous either1) you’re not setting ambitious enough goals, you’re not taking on enough riskor maybe it’s just time to get out because at some point you’re just goingthrough the motions and there’s just– this sport is too expensive, too timeconsuming to just go through the motions on any of those races.

Andrew: Yeah.

John: You know there are some that are higherpriority than others. Some races are more just fun and others are very serious.I have one single goal here. This is going to be success or failure. So again,kind of the priority of the race is going to dictate how much anxiety or hownervous we are before those. But again, there should be something there. Thereshould be some butterflies. If the butterflies aren’t there then you’reprobably not there either.

Andrew: I know for me at the middle and long coursedistance, the nerves are usually just some– it’s some form of okay, it’s a longday. There’s a lot that I need to go right. There’s a lot that could go wrongand I’m just kind of anxious about that on race morning. When it’s a shortcourse whether it’s a sprint or Olympic, I still have some nerves and thosenerves it’s less so much of okay, I want this to go well. There’s so much thatcan go wrong and the nerves are more a result of– for a sprint or Olympic I’mabout to have the pedal to the metal for one to two hours. I’m about to put myfoot on the gas and I’m about to hurt for one hour to two hours whether it’s asprint or Olympic and there’s some nerves there because you know what thosesprints and Olympics feel like late into the run when you’ve had the pedal tothe metal for an hour or two and my nerves kick in and I’m like “Oh man, thisis about to hurt for a little while.” That’s kind of what it is for me. Formost athletes as you talk with them, as you interact with them, what is usuallythe root cause of nervousness before a race?

John: It really is what you alluded to there. One is“What am I in store for?” And again it’s going to be a little bit differentdepending on the experience of the athlete. So for the first timers we don’tknow what we don’t know. All we know is there are people who collapse at thefinish line and they look like hell when they finish the race and it’s like,“My God, what do these people put themselves through and what am I about to putmyself through?” Yeah, and then every time you take on a new distance as a rulewe’re almost doubling every time we distance up it gets twice as far as theprevious one.

Andrew: Yeah.

John: The Olympic is almost or about twice as far. The70.3 is twice as far as the Olympic and obviously the Ironman is twice as faras the half. So it’s like that last one hurt. The sprint hurt. How much is itgoing to hurt when I double that Olympic or go onto the 70.3? One thing Ialways say is you can’t think about doing the 70.3 twice. Fortunately Ironmanis not two 70.3s. They’re just different. Because 70.3s are tough and they hurtand there’s no way you could successfully execute a 70.3 and then start allover. I think it’s that. There are several things that play into it. I think alot of it is just that it really comes down to those self imposed objectivesand goals that we’re afraid we may not meet.

Andrew: Jo, for you with your athletes what have youfound to typically be the root cause of nervousness before a race?

Joanna: Well, I’ll get to that, but I just had athought when ya’ll were talking about from beginners to pros and Laura Siddall,a pro female posted before St. George World Championship a very honest,transparent post where she said “I’m scared, but I guess if I wasn’t scaredthere wouldn’t be an opportunity to be courageous.” and that has really stuckwith me. It stuck with me all through my week before St. George was that nomatter how bad 17 of these, no matter how many years I’ve been here, why am I’mfeeling nervous? I’m confident. I can do this distance. I’ve done it lots oftimes, but those nerves and anxiety are not controllable. Your feelings areyour feelings. They wash over you and you can’t control those. Getting back toyour question of the root cause of the nervousness, I think it’s totallynatural and normal all based on the things John was saying, but our mindnaturally goes to the what ifs. What if I wreck? What if I have a flat? What ifI don’t make the cut off?

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: All of these normal things and now we’ve goteven more. We’ve heard lately about swim induced pulmonary edema, differentthings that are happening to athletes in every race. We saw a lot of that atWorlds and so all of these things prep you to go “What if I do this? What ifthis happens to me? What if I fail? What if I fail today?” I’ve talk with myathletes quite a bit on “How do we reframe that?” The moment you have thatthought as to what if I don’t make the swim cut off? And I’m like what if youhave an awesome swim? What if you PR that swim? What if you have a reallycomfortable swim? You know, learning to reframe your mindset. We do that in allaspects of life sometimes. Work, family, whatever. It can be reframed.Sometimes you just need to do that way before the race not standing at the racestart. But, yeah, I think when we say the root cause of nervousness I thinkthat that’s something that really, really naturally happens to all of us and wejust have to work on ways to deal with those nerves.  

Andrew: So anxiety doesn’t always set in on racemorning. Sometimes it can set in the day before, set in the week of. So for theathletes out there who know they might struggle to relax in the days leading upto their race, how can we stay loose and in the right frame of mind the daybefore and even the evening before our big race?

Joanna: I think John and I talked about this before.He’s talked about it with me before big races and I’ve talked about it with myathletes. You know, you need to do what’s natural. Do what you enjoy. We talkabout hey go see a movie the day before Ironman Texas. For me, watch a serialkiller show all the time. Yes, that’s needed. I mean, the funniest thing isthat renting this condo in St. George and whoever owned it had the kid lock onall violent TV which did not lend itself to me having my serial killer show inprep for being relaxed to race the World Championship. So all of these things.I’m big on easy yoga, ocean breath night before the race. All these things tokeep the heart rate down, nerves down, anxiety down. I’m going to talk probablyfive times during this podcast that’s a technique I use with my athletes. Whenanxiety reaches it’s ugly grip on you, high heart rate, sweating, can’tcontrol, you’ve got these waterfall thoughts. They go from what if to what ifto what if. I talk about box breathing with them. This is something they get ahandout on. This is something that I require them to practice as much as theypractice a transition or a swim start or transitioning to the bike. They haveto practice this box breathing technique. It’s been very successful for themfor about five to ten minutes before entering the water. So please Google boxbreathing and I think it is something that is a tool that is very, veryeffective and must be practiced before in your OWS training as well as racing.

Andrew: I’ve never heard of boxbreathing so as soon as this recording is over I’m going to go on Google myselfand Google “box breathing” and see exactly what Coach Jo has her athletes dobefore they hit the race-day waters.

John: One thing with that is just setting yourself upfor success. Oftentimes especially like a long course race there areopportunities to go down and spend time at the check-in area in the village. Alot of times those atmospheres are stressful, they’re high energy, and somepeople will thrive on that and others will just somewhat have the life suckedout of them in those. So it’s kind of knowing your personality, knowing what isgoing to give you energy as opposed to what are those things that are going tostress you out and steal your energy and from there just having a plan. This isone reason I always recommend athletes to take care of things early on. Sothings like checking in early, if there’s mandatory bike drop the day beforethe race, take care of all those things early on so that you can removeyourself from those situations especially if you are one that being in thatsituation is going to increase your nerves or anxiety. So take care of thosethings. Taking care of them early also provides you those opportunities to fixanything. You know if you show up to bike drop early and you’ve got a flattire, now you’ve got plenty of time to fix that flat as opposed to showing upin the last 30 minutes and now you’ve got to scurry to do it and that’s justgoing to increase the nerves and anxiety. So it’s about setting yourself up forsuccess.

Andrew: So race morning is the most common time to havethe anxiety levels ratchet up. You’re kind of awake, the music is blaring, theemcee is getting everyone going, the body of water that you’re about to jumpinto is right there beside you. It’s calling your name. Talk me throughembracing the race morning electricity instead of letting it be a point ofnervousness.

Joanna: You know, I think this goes back to me talkingabout the box breathing again.

Andrew: Sure.

Joanna: Positive thoughts create more positivethoughts. They lead to more positive thoughts. So I talk a lot with my athletesabout in practicing that box breathing, it’s a form of meditation. It allowsyou to kind of control the thoughts you are having. If you start off with anegative mentality, very nervous disposition, you can’t get outside of that.But in doing the box breathing you start to think about these positivethoughts. Everyone who has raced for me or raced with me has heard me talkabout the importance of training and racing with a grateful heart. So beforethe race, thinking about everything you’re grateful for–who has helped youreach this epic day? Who has helped you in reaching milestones in your life?Then flip it. Who are you going to help today? I tell my athletes before therace start, “Be bigger than yourself today.” That’s something that I try to getmy athletes to focus on right before that start time. Who am I going to helptoday? I’m going to be bigger than myself. I’m going to help five people outand I guarantee them– I look them straight in the face and say “You are goingto be called on to help somebody else today and be ready. This is one day, onerace, an important day, but this one day does not define you. Do not forget whoyou really are. Don’t let your nerves be so big that they allow you to forgetwho you are.” So it really focuses, that morning right before race starts, tothink about how grateful you are and that you’re going to care for others. I’veoften mentioned on the podcast before that in those moments that you’re calledto be brave, those are often the greatest days of your life and so those areall things I try to remind my athletes of as the nerves kick in race morning.

Andrew: I know for me personally in that zone, kind ofrace morning, everybody’s getting their stuff together. You’re getting yourwetsuit on. You’re about to get in the water. What usually helps me is justkind of being a part of the scene. Like find a couple of people and chit-chatwith them. Just connecting with another athlete or two or three or four it’sjust a reminder that I’m not doing this alone. Dozens and dozens and hundredsand hundreds of other people are about to jump in that same water and we’re allgoing to come out just fine. We’re all going to be fine. We’re all going tohave a good day and just having verbal interaction with other athletes on racemorning kind of reminds me of that. So I normally like kind of chit-chattingwith a few people. Not a crazy amount of conversation. Just a little bit. Justenough to kind of settle my head and get my head out of the race-day and thenervousness feel. The one race where I did not want anybody talking to me wasIronman Waco. I think I was just knowing it was going to be a long day, it wasgoing to be a long race. I was kind of inwardly trying to just as an introvertkind of protect my energy levels, right, and not expend any energy before therace that I had to. So I went through the motions of getting ready for therace. I hit the porta-potties. I got my wetsuit on. I talked to my wife alittle bit and I was totally fine until I got like in the swim corral chute.Then all of a sudden it was like, “Oh my God! I am minutes away from getting inthe water for an Ironman.” And at that point I didn’t want anybody talking tome. So I lined up right around the hour and 20 minute swim start sign and I’mjust standing there and I could see this guy next to me. He kept looking at melike he was wanting to have a conversation and I was just trying to give offlike this “do not talk to me right now” kind of vibe because I just didn’t–forwhatever reason I normally am chatty. I did not want to talk to anybody beforethat race started and thankfully right before I was about to get in the water Isaw John Mayfield. I saw Elizabeth James and my wife. I walked over to whereyou guys were on the edge of the starting corral and it just so happened thatTriDot Coach Kyle Stone and his wife Terri were also standing right there. Theywere racing that day. So it actually turned out really, really good because Igot in the water right after Coach Kyle and right before his wife Terri. I wasright in between them and that just gave me somebody that I knew that I wasgetting in the water with.

Joanna: That’s a comfort.

Andrew: Yeah, to comfort. Just afamiliar face. Even though I hadn’t talked to anybody else it was that momentof I’m doing this with somebody I know. I’m doing this with other athletes.Kyle is going to be fine. I’m going to be fine. Terri is going to be fine. Andthat was really helpful to me. So shout out to Coach Kyle and shout out toTerri. They are just great people that I’ve gotten to know the last couple ofmonths at the races.

Joanna: Andrew, that reminds me, this last Saturday inSt. George Terri had had kind of a rough practice swim, the water being like 57degrees when we got in on Tuesday.

Andrew: Sure.

Joanna: So she struggled a little bit. I came out. Imade her get back in, but another thing that has helped me I think with mynerves is I tend to want to comfort the people around me in the swim corral. Itend to do a lot of hugging of people I don’t even know, but with Terri– It wassuch a memorable moment that I’m probably never going to forget is that hernerves, she was about in tears as we both were, but I wasn’t scared of the swimat all, but holding her hand walking all the way being almost the last two toget in the water because women 45-49 were last again at St. George. So in that,holding her hand and walking in, in any other circumstance would have been sostrange for two grown women to just walk down to the swim course holding hands,but it was like so comforting to her and it was comforting to me too knowingthat I was helping her out and that we were doing this together.

John: So a great thing about the water in a triathlonis almost without fail, the water washes away all those nerves and all thatanxiety.

Andrew: Wow.

John: So that’s something I always remind people isthat yes, you’re nervous and you’re peaking here minutes or seconds away fromthe start. Oftentimes that anxiety and nerves can crescendo as you approachthat swim start, but the great thing is you just hit that water and you startswimming, the nerves just they disappear. They dissolve in that water. Sothat’s just something great about the triathlon swim is that water is going todissolve all those nerves and anxiety because at that point you’re like you’vegot to swim or you’re going to drown. So you’re focusing on swimming andstaying alive and not drowning and yeah, those nerves and anxiety justimmediately disappear. So if you can make it to the water, you’re going to befine. Even as those nerves crescendo there at the end, it’s a great reminderand a great confidence to say “Yes, I’m feeling this now, but I’m 30 secondsaway from jumping in this water and I’m going to be fine.”

Andrew: I’ve never heard it put like that before John.I love that phrase. Like the water dissolves all fear, all anxiety. I’ve toldthis to athletes before before an Ironman, “Whether it’s a 300 meter swim at asprint or whether it’s a 2.4 mile swim in an Ironman, you know how to swim.You’ve done the training. You’ve gotten in the pool, you’ve gotten in the lake,you’ve got in the ocean. You’ve put in the work. So yes you’re anxious and yesyou’re nervous standing on that dryland, but once you’re 50 to 100 yards out inthat water, like, you know how to swim. You know how to clock out thosehundreds. You know how to put your head down in the water and get it done.” Andjust to remind yourself of that. To get 50 yards, 100 yards out there and Johnin your words, let that water just dissolve that anxiety away because onceyou’re 100 yards in you know how to swim. It’s familiar. Swimming is familiar.Putting your head down in that water is familiar and if you can embrace thatwater it can absolutely help take those fears away. But I think with the swimstart that is just the source of anxiety for a lot of triathletes. We oftencan’t see very well in the water. We’re often bumping into each other. We oftenhave–we’re wrapped head to toe in neoprene, silicon, and latex. We have to turnour heads to the side just to breathe. So what do you guys say to athletesspecifically that are anxious about the opening leg of the race?

Joanna: I spend a lot of time with my athletes and I’veworked with other TriDot athletes about preparation for a long open water swimwhether that’s a 70.3 or the full Ironman. I tell them over and over again,“Practice, practice, practice.” Exposure equals comfort in the water. Howfamiliar are you with your environment? I talk about at least two open waterswim sessions per week if that’s plausible where you live. That will benefityou ten times more than multiple pool sessions. We can work on our form. We canwork on our speed. We can work on our strength in the pool. That doesn’ttranslate to the open water experience. That is like, I think I mentioned toyou before Andrew, it’s like riding on a trainer okay and now I’m going to ride7000 feet in St. George climbing hills. Different. Very, very different. Sothat changes our whole perspective. It changes our feelings, our anxiety, allabout being in open water. What makes you more comfortable with open water?Better sighting, better breathing, better drafting skills. How do we acquirethese skills? Practice, practice, practice. I talk about hiring a swim coach orsomebody that’s familiar or specializes in open water swimming and someone whodeals with open water anxiety and not being afraid to say “Hey I’m experiencingthis. I’m having panic attacks when I get out there. I’m having troublebreathing. I don’t like the cold water.” I think one of the best things you cando is establish a pre-race, pre-swim routine and follow it to the T. What do Ido ten minutes out? What do I do seven minutes out? What are my focus points? Aschedule and something that you follow is going to provide familiarity andcomfort. Getting ready in a certain or exact way you’re going to put on swimsuit, ear plugs, swim cap, goggles. Sticking to a time schedule. I’ve got thisdown to 12 minutes before I get in the water. I’m going to repeat boxbreathing. Learning to control your breathing that five to ten minutes. Whenyou do that your heart rate is going to stay lower. You are shaving energy. Youare using less effort. Another thing I have my athletes do at our lake by ourhouse. We’re going to simulate a swim start. We’re going to practice exactlywhat you’re going to do that ten minutes before and as you enter that water. Ifyou’ve practiced it over and over, it’s not going to be as scary on race day.

Andrew: Yeah, yep. That’s a greatpoint.

Joanna: It seems kind of silly when I do that or whenI’m out there at the lake and I take away their goggles and make them swim 300yards because, ha-ha, you may lose them. All things that can happen that you’regoing to be prepared for when it comes to race day.

Andrew: Well and then even having the confidence ofknowing that “Hey at practice you know what, I got in a lake and I swam 300yards just in my wetsuit with no goggles. If I can do that then I can do raceday with my goggles.”

Joanna: Yes.

Andrew: I think that’s great Jo and just, I’ve seenpeople get that wetsuit on and get their swim cap on, they get their goggles onand 100 yards into the swim they start panicking because they haven’t wornthose items enough in training and they’re just not familiar with that feelingof being constricted. So yes, get in the water. Get practicing those elements.If you think having your wetsuit on in the open water could be a point ofnervousness to you, do it over and over and over again in training until you’recomfortable and ready to rock and roll. Jo, I think all of that is so, sogreat. I will say this though. Anxiety on race day is not exclusive to the swimexperience. We normally think of race-day anxiety as being first thing in themorning, we’re about to swim. Those two are kind of connected, but depending onwhat you’re good at or a lot of different factors really. The bike course orthe run course can also be intimidating and get in your head before you can getthere. For me, especially long course, I get a little anxious that over thecourse of a 56 mile or 112 mile bike ride even if my fitness is ready and I’vedone the training, you know a lot can go wrong out there that could derail myrace. So for me personally, once I hit the run course my anxiety levels aremostly gone at that point. I feel like I’m much more in control of what’s goingto happen to myself out on the run. But what can athletes do to handle bike orrun related anxiety?

Joanna: You know, Andrew it goes backto again, we have this fear of the unknown. All these what ifs and it’s easy tobe anxious when we do not know what to expect during the bike and run. Youknow, we can get familiar with the bike course and run course and that helpsus. We feel anxious when we feel out of control. So it’s another repeatedmantra that I have with my athletes is we’re going to control everything thatwe can control. Everything that’s within our power we’re going to plan andcontrol. What I’m really referring to is nutrition which I believe is more than50% of the equation when it comes to these long endurance events. So I givethem examples as, what if I get a flat on the bike? What if that stalls me by45 minutes? Answer: Practice changing the flat.

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: Take away the fear of it. Practice it over andover again then you’re not going to have that fear anymore. You’re going tothink, “You know what, I can change a flat in nine minutes or six minutes.”With familiarity of something comes less anxiety. So if I get a flat I’ll knowwhat to do. Another example: What if I have GI issues on the run? I experiencedthat one time. What if I have GI issues? What am I going to do? What if I getout of control? How can we be less apprehensive about experiencing GI issues orpotty breaks during the run? Answer: Practice your nutrition plan. Have thatperfected. Work with a professional who can create a nutrition plan for youthat’s going to be fail proof. Practice it for four months on long rides, longbikes before an Ironman.

Andrew: Yeah. Absolutely.

Joanna: And doing that you’re going to have fullconfidence going into that day and that’s going to eliminate the anxiety thatyou’re experiencing. Your confidence will override any anxiety because you knowwhat’s going to happen with the things that you can control. Then the lastthing I like my athletes to do is when they’re very scared, very nervous of aday, I talk about I want you to write down every occurrence you can imaginethat you’re afraid of that’s going to happen on race day. I don’t care how sillythey are, you know, I want you to write down everything you’re scared of andthen we’re going to talk about a plan on how you would respond and what youwould need to do to fix that situation. How would you stay in the race? Whatwould you do? And when we talk about it, and talk it out, plan ahead, they feelmore prepared. They feel less anxious because they know what they’re going todo if any of these scary things happen. And as you hear me talking, this istruly what you’re talking through with kids in a household too. You’re talkingabout I’m afraid of this at school. I’m afraid– or even a husband or wife. I’mafraid of this at work and then we talk it out and say, “Hey, what if thishappens what are we going to do as a team? What are we going to do?” and thenit just all becomes less scary when you’ve had those conversations.

John: One thing I always recommend is putting eyes onwhat you’re in store for. So we do those race recon webinars headed into everyUS based Ironman race and that is a tip that is included in every single one ofthose webinars, fulls, halves especially. Because like you said, you’re outthere for a long time. I could look at an elevation chart, but that could bevery deceiving. That doesn’t give me the whole picture of what I’m in storefor.

Andrew: Yeah. Absolutely.

John: Same thing like where are the aid stations?Good thing is Ironman races typically three, four, five days out of the racethose aid stations are going to be marked with brightly colored duct tape onthe road. They’re hard to miss. So where are those aid stations? I’m going tobe relying on those. Are they at the bottom of a downhill with a 90 degreeturn? You know, those kinds of things. What do I need to prepare for? What arethe road conditions? How long are the climbs? How steep are the climbs? Samething with the descents. How technical is the course? Or if there is a sectionof the course that is technical I want to know that so I’m not caught offguard. I’m not thrown on race day. I can plan for it. I can strategize for it.I know exactly what I’m in store for. So to what Joanna said, it’s that.Oftentimes you’re fearing the unknown. So the more you know, there’s less to beafraid of.

Andrew: A good amount of athletes will have some sortof jitters, slight anxiousness, maybe a little nervousness, but in most cases Ithink it’s usually manageable. I think most of us have a normal amount ofanxiety or nerves. It’s not enough anxiety to probably compromise our abilityto start the race or find our groove early on, but when you have an athletethat has a more intense anxiety and it will affect their ability to start therace in a good headspace. What do you say to athletes who are extra nervous themorning of a race?

Joanna: Yeah, I think this kind of goes back to all thedifferent types of athletes I had at Ironman Texas this year looking at eachathlete individually. If I can tell that their extreme anxiety stems from fearof the water, that’s usually where we get them thinking about their pre-raceOWS protocol. That’s something I provide for each of them and they’vepracticed. So I’m like, “We’ve practiced this. We’re going to go back to where–we’re not going to get off routine here. We’re going to stick to the schedule.Start with the box breathing for five minutes before entering the water.” ThenI start to question them, what is your first stroke focal point? What are yougoing to do for the first 600 - 700 yards? What are you going to do the momentyou enter the water? Breathing every stroke to relax. What are you going tofocus on next? When go through their focal points of a long swim, it divertstheir attention often. It gets them thinking about what they’re going to do inthe next hour or so of swim and they’re not overwhelmed by the emotion of themoment and the day. Other athletes, their anxiety, the tears, all theseemotions bubble up and have really not as much to do with what’s about tooccur, but more about the journey that they’ve just been on or the journeythey’ve been on in life that’s come to this point. And so often me just leaninginto that and talking about kids or lost friend, lost mom, somebody. Somecatastrophic or traumatizing event in their life and talking about how this isthe day of healing, the day of redemption. You know, really, really embracingthe emotion in that moment is very helpful to some athletes. Then lastly, it’sreinforcing strengths. We all doubt ourselves so having them repeat– I’m known,I’ve done it many races to have them repeat “I am brave. I am strong. I amloved.” When they say those things to themselves it’s kind of like John said,it washes over them that there’s nothing to be afraid of this moment, thatthey’re ready. And if all else fails, make them run. Make them run. Five, tenminutes get going. I don’t care if you’re barefoot. I don’t care if you’re inthat skin tight wetsuit. I don’t care if you can barely move in that wetsuit.We’re going to shake these nerves out. Doing that little five, ten minutes willkind of bring down the heart rate, bring down those nerves. And lastly as weknow, I’m known to pray with TriDot athletes, with my athletes, with anyathlete in the vicinity, when I start to pray to remind them that I’m going tobe there the moment they come out of the water. John’s going to be there tolock eyes. It’s one small step at a time. We’re going to get through the dayand in reality they’re never alone in that day.

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: They’re surrounded by people that are alsoscared, but they’re surrounded by people that are a community that are going totake care of them throughout that day. So those are things that we often talkabout.

Andrew: So like I said, for me it’s usually some sortof unknown variable that causes my anxiousness before a race whether it’s myfirst time at a new distance or my first time at a new venue and it’s an A raceI really care about. I’ve met plenty of athletes and had plenty ofconversations with athletes before a race that I can tell they are nervousbecause they have some sort of doubt that’s entered their minds. Maybe theydoubt their ability to swim well that day. Maybe they doubt their ability tohandle the weather or the heat or to climb a certain hill on the course thatday. Maybe they doubt their ability to make the cut offs at some point alongthe way that day. Maybe they doubt their ability to finish the race at all. Ifwe’ve let doubt creep into our minds and it’s causing us to be nervous beforethe race, how can we best put that doubt aside and go out there and do whatwe’ve trained to do and have a great day?

John: So in that moment there’s nothing you can do toprepare yourself more physically. You can’t gain any fitness. You can’t gainany strength or anything like that that’s going to help you overcome thosethings. The tip or the advice here is kind of two fold. 1) Do what you can tohave someone there in that capacity. Someone that is great at that, have themthere at your start line. That’s going to be huge. Like for me, it’s Jo. Shementioned that Ironman Florida start, she said some things to me in that momentthat were huge and really started my day off well. So have someone there thatis able and willing to speak those truths to you. Then on the flip side, bewilling to be that person. Know that either if you are in the corral withsomeone or if you’re on the sideline with Sherpa duties for the day, know howpowerful that can be. Know that that probably is the most beneficial thing youcan do for someone that you are there racing alongside or someone that you’resupporting. Be there in that moment and just speak truth to them. Remind themof who they are, the work they’ve done, and help eliminate and get rid of thatdoubt.

Andrew: So at this point in your triathlon journey,when you are the one on the start line, do you still get anxious and how do youdeal with it?

Joanna: Well this will be funny. I’d say beforeSaturday I’m good. I’ve got this. You know, I’m familiar. I’m confident. I’vedone this a long time. I’m an expert at this. The moment I finished SaturdayWorld Championship, terrified. I’m completely terrified! I’m not doing Kona!I’m terrified. It’s so funny how the mindset can change in one day.

Andrew: Yeah.

Joanna: That anxiety from the trauma of Saturday hasworn off a little bit over this week and now I’m in a better head space, butlike John talked about before, each race is very, very different. Each trainingcycle is very, very different and I think there’s factors in life that you’redealing with, all lead up to it being a very unique experience each time youtrain for a big event. So I think nerves lend themselves to be present at everyrace you undertake. You do get more familiar with the Ironman setting and I dothink that that provides some comfort. But like you said, you’re not reallyinvested if you start to get bored and get really, really complacent in racing.So I think they play a good role in some respects to keep you invested and tokeep you wanting to make gains.

Andrew: I think for me, I definitely still get anxiousbefore races. Like I said earlier it’s always for different reasons at thispoint. But for me, I wouldn’t say I get nervous, but I definitely have somenerves and definitely a little anxious because you want the day to go well. Youwant to perform the best you can. You’ve put a lot of work in. So for me Ithink the way I’ve found to deal with it the best is kind of like I saidearlier; to go through the motions with other people whether it’s athletes thatyou know, whether it’s athletes you’ve met that morning. But chat with a couplepeople, have some conversations, remind yourself that you’re not doing thisalone. You’re not the only one with some emotions. I think back to doingAlcatraz with John Mayfield and Coach Jeff Raines and my buddy Paul Wolfe whois a TriDot athlete from the Dallas area. Going through that morning on theferry ride with you guys, getting our wetsuits on, that calmed a lot of mynerves of jumping in the water because I was doing it with you all. At IronmanWaco, staying in the same rental house with some other TriDotters and havingbreakfast that morning with Coach Jo. Coach Jo and I ate breakfast togetherthat morning and didn’t say a word to each other. But just going through themotions of race morning with somebody was very, very helpful for me and sowhether that’s just chatting with another athlete at a local sprint or whetherit’s sharing the race morning experience with somebody you know at an Ironman.Doing it together with someone else always goes a long way in helping mypersonal anxiety before a race. John, for you, do you still get nervous and howdo you deal with it?

John: Yeah, as I mentioned before and it really hasto do with the priority of the race, but yeah even those that I can roll up ona local sprint that I’m not super overly vested in and I’ll be alright. Butyeah those big ones, but even still I raced 70.3 Texas a couple weeks back andit was not a super high priority race. It was more of a– it was a race that hadbeen deferred through 2020 so it was one that I was just largely doing becauseI had the registration for it. But yeah, sure enough I also was in the startingcorral with Coach Kyle Stone and I remember telling him, “Man, I wish I knewhow the day was going to go.” And that’s really it. I had a great day and Itold him afterwards like, “Man, had I known that the day was going to go aswell as it did, I would have been fine there on the dock.” But yeah. It’sdefinitely still there. So yeah. I’m still setting goals and still settingmyself up for the potential to fail so there are still nerves.

Cool down theme: Great seteveryone! Let’s cool down.

Andrew: So as Coach Jo alluded to right there toward theend of the main set, at the time we’re recording this podcast or the time whenwe’re publishing this podcast, Coach Joanna Nami just raced the Ironman WorldChampionships. Now it was the 2021 Ironman World Championships held in May of2022. We’ve been talking on the podcast about Coach Jo qualifying for that andearning that spot, being excited to race it. So that was very cool, Jo, to seeyou on course racing as a part of the Ironman World Championships and I justwant to take a few minutes here on the cooldown and you know, folks get to hearfree wisdom from you. They get coaching from you here on the podcast. I justwant them to have a chance to hear about your race; doing the Ironman WorldChampionships for the very first time in St. George, Utah. So your experiencewith the Ironman World Championships didn’t start on race day or race weekeven. You’ve kind of had some unique adversity thrown into your preparationsfor this race. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about the adjustments you hadto make to your training to even get to the start line of those WorldChampionships.

Joanna: Yeah, about seven weeks out I had beenexperiencing what I thought was some muscular quad pain while running– none onthe bike, none swimming– for quite a while. Multiple doctors, multiplechiropractors. Finally kind of demanding an MRI and discovering that I had apretty severe stress response to the mid femur. That’s not the word– you don’tever want that bone to be mentioned.

Andrew: Sure.

Joanna: So after a lot of soul searching, a lot ofopinions, a lot of unsolicited opinions, I came to a conclusion with my coachand my husband that I wasn’t going to give up. Not yet. That’s not in myvocabulary. So even in tough decisions where most people would say there’s noway you can get this done, I reformatted training which I talk to my athletesabout pivoting. We’re going to pivot. We’re going to change this up. We’regoing to get you to the start line healthy enough to get through race day andthat often means taking running off the table. So no impact training. Lots ofbiking, lots of swimming, and an amazing amount of aqua jogging which I gotawarded a G.O.A.T. trophy from two of my athletes this week on the aqua joggingendurance champion of the universe this week. I challenge Tim O’Donnell to thisday to see who can aqua jog faster because I think I would win. But that led upto being able to get to the start line and to be as much pain free in thatfemur area to start, but also with absolutely no knowledge or certainty ofwhether I could run because I hadn’t run one step before race day.

Andrew: You were in a very unique position to get torace two Ironman World Championships in the same year. Kona is obviously thedream and the goal for you, but to do the Ironman World Championships for thefirst time in St. George was obviously a very cool experience as well. How didrace day and kind of race week go? What were the takeaways for you? What stoodout from just the experience of racing your first Ironman World Championship?

Joanna: The beauty of the week was to be with Terri andKyle Stone, to spend time with a lot of TriDot Ambassadors, my coach. I say theTriDot people are my people. The most love and support I could imagine.Probably just one of the best weeks of my life leading up to. A lot of laughs.A lot of fun. It took a lot of that anxiety and nerves off the table because Iwas just so grateful for the experience. Race day itself, probably one of themost humbling experiences of my life. My mom jokingly with me, “Girl, do notget too big for your britches.” And I may have gotten a little too big for mybritches over the last couple of years and it has put me in a place to say thatmy race, my World Championship, my Kona experience, my St. George experiencewas no more valuable or no more important than somebody doing Sylvan BeachOlympic or a local sprint.

Andrew: Yeah, absolutely.

Joanna: What it means to them, the hurdles they’reovercoming, the journey they’ve been on is– My experience in triathlon, it’sbeen so much a part of my life, I am very, very grateful for all of it. I justknow that Saturday put a lot of things in perspective for me. I’m going to getout there. I’m going to give it my all. I’m never going to give up unless theydrag me off the course and I didn’t give up and it was my slowest Ironman todate and that’s okay because I got to that finish line. I ended up kissing MikeRiley which I don’t have really any memory of. I apologize.

Andrew: In the picture that you sent us a picture ofthat and it’s one of the professional pictures from FinisherPix and it’s anamazing picture of you giving Mike Riley a nice kiss on the cheek there at theend.

Joanna: I think you have such expectations of yourselfover the years and what that finish is going to look like or what that time. Weget so fixated on what that finishing time is going to be or what type ofathlete I am and then in the realm of it, as the week progressed I kind of hadthis vision of what the storybook ending would be in that maybe it was a near16-17 hour finish and maybe when I came through Daniella Ryf would put themedal around my neck or whoever won that day. Then you have these premonitionsand then I come through the finish line and this sweet volunteer says, “And nowDaniella Ryf is going to medal you.” I mean you can’t write that. You know,with all the years I’ve raced that’s going to be the highlight. Kona will bewonderful. I’ve told a lot of my friends that I think God made St. George sovery, very, very difficult so that I can enjoy Kona more and maybe it won’tseem so difficult.

Andrew: Wow.

Joanna: But, in reality there’s a lot of lessonslearned. Very, very humbling experience. I am really glad that I took thechance. I’m really glad that I chose to be brave. It wasn’t on Saturday, butover the last seven weeks and gave it a shot because you never know what’sgoing to happen.

Andrew: Well that’s it for today folks. I want to thankcoaches John Mayfield and Joanna Nami for talking to us about pre-race anxiety.Shout out to DeltaG and UCAN for partnering with us on today’s episode. If youwant to experience the stable energy UCAN’s LIVESTEADY products can provide foryou, head to UCAN.co and use TRIDOT to save 20% on your order. I’ve got to behonest, a lot of the time when I’m drinking my UCAN I have DeltaG Ketone Estermixed in there as well. If you want to get the recovery benefits of ketonesfrom your nutrition head to deltaGketones.com and book a call with one of theirexperts to get started with DeltaG. Use code TRIDOT20 for 20% off your ketonedrinks. We’ll have a new show coming your way soon. Until then, Happy Training!

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

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