A tale of two World Championship events

 

The picture is from the Kona, Hawaii. On nine separate occassions for almost 2 weeks, between 2007 until 2019, this was our view in early October. The Ironman World Championship has a very special place in our hearts. I have had the privilege of racing 5 times on the Big Island and Karel has raced 4 times. At Ironman Lake Placid this year, we both earned a slot to race in Kona again. Had we accepted, we would have been heading back to the Big Island to participate in the IM World Championship. 

This is a picture from Molveno, Italy. A place we've never been to before. On Monday, we will be flying (back) to Europe for the Xterra World Championship. Karel qualifed at the 2021 USA Championship in Ogden, Utah. Originally I was planning to bring my mountain bike and make the trip an epic train-cation while supporting Karel but I unexpectedly received a rolldown slot after participating in the Xterra European Championship in Czech Republic and I accepted the slot for my first Xterra World Championship. 

Two completely different World Championship locations.
Two completely different races.
Two completely different weather conditions.
Two completely different expectations.

In Kona, I always felt tremendous pressure to perform at my best. Every year I requalified for the Ironman World Championship, my expectations for myself got higher and higher. Sadly, I never performed to my potential. I let the pressure get the best of me.

For my first Xterra World Championship, I am going to apply the lessons learned from several past World Championship experiences and I will go into the race with no expectations. This isn't to be confused with low expectations. No expectations means no dissapointments. Karel and I are there to learn, to enjoy the experience, to take in the scenery and to give our best effort on the day.

You don't have to participate in a World Championship event to find yourself trying to forecast how you want things to go. Career, moving, school, the weather, a relationship or special occassion - trying to control an outcome can lead to tremendous stress, pressure and frustration.

So does this mean that we should lower our expectations in order to avoid dissappointment? Should we stop dreaming big so we don't have to experience a let-down if we don't succeed?

It's great to have goals. It's good to strive for more. It's fine to have high-standards for yourself. But your expectations should not affect your self-esteem, well-being or happiness. Be reasonable with yourself. There will always be things out of your control. Living with high expectations can be associated with burnout, sadness, depression and low self-esteem.

Here are a few signs that you may be expecting too much from yourself:

• Perfectionism - feeling that you are never good enough, setting unrealistic standards.
• Not allowing yourself to make mistakes.
• Being hard and overly critical on yourself, focusing too much on your imperfections.
• Setting goals to other people's expectations, not based on your own needs, interests and abilities.
• Trying to please everyone and putting the needs of others before your own.
• Focusing too much on what other people are doing.
• Not being able to say no.
• A constant need for achievemet and praise for sense of self-worth.
• Expecting to always be at your best. 

Here are some tips to help you stop expecting so much from yourself (remember, no expectations is not low expectations): 

• Stop comparing yourself to other people (or a past version of yourself). Your self-worth should not be based on other people. Focus on your own strengths and abilities and your journey in life.
• Set goals that are realistic. Strive for "good enough." Let go of the need to be perfect.
• Allow yourself to fail. Be ok with making mistakes. You don't have to be great at everything.
• Live within your own moral code and personal values. Make sure your goals are in line with your own needs, not to please others.
• Set boundaries for yourself. Know when to say no, ask for help and give yourself rest.
• It's ok to have rough patches. This does not mean that you are not going to be successful. Everyone has bad days.
• Enjoy your journey without the need for constant applause or achievement.
• Challenge the bully in your head. Address the negativity to focus on the positives. Be kind to yourself. 

When you learn to stop expecting too much from yourself, you may find that you are much happier, succeed more often and recognize the positives in what you have.

Meeting your coach's expectations

With only four weeks left until we kick-off our 2019 triathlon season, I have been thinking a lot about the athlete-coach relationship. With nearly five solo, music-free hours of swimbikerun training spread over Saturday for me, let's just say that I had a lot of time with my own thoughts.

Coaching is a mutual commitment. The athlete expects the coach to be professional, experienced, encouraging and communicative. But coaches have expectations of their athlete in order to optimize performance, maintain optimal health, to get the most out of the athletic journey and to get the most out of the coaching relationship.

When I think about the expectations that my coach has for me, I believe she wants me to be honest, responsive and engaged. I also believe she wants me to stay in good health - never restricting food or compromising sleep, or jeopardizing my ability to perform well in training and recover quickly from training sessions. Instead of trying to impress your coach with your ability to handle a high training load (and have data that shows that you are improving), training only works if you are able to positively adapt to training sessions - without compromising your health. Therefore, coaching is much more than checking off workouts.

Thankfully, my training has been strategically and systematically designed for gradual progress, without compromising my mental and physical health. With my personal feedback from each training session reported immediately into Training Peaks, she is able to keep me on the right track.

Trust in the coach-athlete relationship takes time to achieve. If you don't completely trust your coach, you may find yourself constantly training with a sense of doubt, always questioning workouts. This doesn't mean that you can't ask questions, express your concerns or make suggestions. If a coach is invested in you as the athlete, she/he will keep an open mind and adjust training as needed/appropriate to foster growth in the sport.

When it comes to coaching, I feel that many athletes and coaches see training as an entity unto itself - simply check off workouts and fitness/race readiness will improve. The attitude is "get it done" - often while in a chronic state of being physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted.

As an athlete, I want to stress that training is a piece of your life. Therefore, if you want to perform well in sport, you need to make decisions that contribute to sport enjoyment and improvement. In other words, when you aren't training, your eating, sleeping and lifestyle decisions play an important role in your response to training stress. Training is so much more than just checking off workouts.

As a coach, I want to stress that you (and your coach) need to have reasonable expectations for sport-related decisions that also work well for the rest of your life. Communication is key. For driven individuals, it's easy to set very high expectations for yourself as an athlete, often feeling a tremendous amount of pressure to perform to achieve a certain result. Be realistic with the time you can devote to training. By focusing on quality over quantity, you'll achieve much more than trying to function with an overworked mind and body.

Remind yourself that expectations influence thoughts and thoughts influence behaviors. This relates to training, racing, body composition. Being overly ambitious with your expectations can easily cause you to make extreme or unhealthy choices that negatively affect your fitness and health. More so, if your expectations are too extreme, you'll quickly lose your passion for the sport, destroy your athletic experience and negatively affect your self-confidence.

Do the training/racing expectations that you have for yourself align with the expectations that your coach has for you?

Athlete expectations during the holidays

For athletes, there are many challenges to navigate around during the holidays. It can be difficult to stay consistent with training because you are off your normal regime and your healthy diet is sabotaged by so many oh-so-good family tradition eats and treats. While some athletes have no trouble skipping workouts and indulging in sweets during the holidays, it's common for athletes to feel anxious about the many changes in the normal routine. While your frustration is not understood (or supported) by your non-athlete family members, you still feel that it is important to meet your expectations during the holidays. 

So what's an athlete to do? 

Do you say good bye to all good habits and let loose until the New Year?

Do you refuse to change your routine because you need the control and stick to strict eating and structured training?

Because every person should dedicate time to exercise for health on a daily basis and should focus on eating for nourishment, it's not necessary to avoid your family in order to get in every minute/mile of your prescribed workout and to avoid the occasional indulgences that come with holiday eating. The holiday season offers a few great opportunities to enjoy a little downtown and change up your normal training and exercise routine without anxiety or guilt. 

Here are a few tips to make the most out of your Thanksgiving break. 

MINDFUL EATING TIPS

1. Create a better internal dialogue in your head when you are eating, especially as it relates to your body and food.

2. Trust your body. Tune into your true signals of hunger and satisfaction as a way to guide you through your holiday feast.

3. Treat yourself to family, don't make the holidays just about food. Enjoy your time around your loved ones or if you are alone, call up an old friend or volunteer and help out those in need.

4. Slow down and taste your food. Appreciate the aroma, presentation, flavor and texture of your food - real food and store bought. Share a story if a dish reminds you of something happy.

5. Love what you eat. The first few bites of anything should always taste amazing. If you don't love it, don't eat it. 

WORKOUT TIPS

1. Get it done early, but not too early. Enjoy waking up without an alarm but if you can squeeze in a workout before your day gets busy, you'll find yourself energized and you won't have to deal with the guilt that comes with removing yourself from family time, just to train. 

2. Loosen up. It's ok if you have to modify a set or reduce the volume. Don't feel guilty if you have to miss a workout. Prioritize the workouts that give you the best return for your investment at this phase of training. A few modified workouts over the holidays will not affect your race performance in September.

3. Keep training fun. Participate in a Turkey Trot, exercise with your kids, go for a hike or set up a local group workout. Do something each day that is good for your mind and body.

4. Be efficient with your time. Indoor workouts are great for time management as you can get in a quality workout with minimal distractions.

5. Communicate. Now more than ever is the time to communicate with your family. You may be surprised that if you tell your family/kids that on Friday you will be gone from 8:30-10:30 for a workout, they won't care about your absence. But if you tell them last minute, they may be upset that you are suddenly leaving them, which then leaves you with guilt, if you even leave for your workout. 

NUTRITION TIPS

1. Don't skip meals throughout the day. Excessively restricting calories or an entire food group (ex. carbohydrates) will likely lead to overeating at your upcoming feast. Instead, focus on small meals throughout the day, eating every few hours. Prioritize nutrient dense foods like fruits and veggies at your meals. Don't forget to stay hydrated - with water, of course.

2. Do not go into your big meal with a starving belly. Plan a healthy snack around 45-60 minutes before your meal. Options like apple slices and pistachios, deli meat and lettuce wraps, celery sticks with cheese or a few almonds with figs should take the edge off so you don't eat with your eyes when serving yourself.

3. Fuel your workout. Seeing that there is a good chance that you will workout in the morning, restricting calories around/during your workout is not a permissible strategy to indulge (or to eat more calories) at your upcoming feast. It can actually backfire on you as you will likely be so famished by meal time, that you may eat beyond a feeling of fullness - stuffed and very uncomfortable. Treat your workout like any other day. Fuel smart and hydrate well. And be sure to eat a healthy breakfast after your workout (or Turkey Trot).

4. Choose wisely. Create a healthy plate of a little of everything.

5. Indulge wisely. You are not forced to eat everything at your feast but you are allowed to indulge. Choose your favorites and say "no thank you" to the unappealing or familiar options. Share, split and limit yourself to just one. 

It's very easy for athletes to remain rigid around the holidays because a change in the normal routine (training or eating) can bring anxiety or feelings of loss of control. 

When you think about the big picture (your entire season ahead), a few days away from your normal routine may be a good thing. Don't stress about what doesn't get done. The holidays are a wonderful time to give thanks to your body, to your friends and to your family.