Lessons learned from Kona - beat the urge to quit

I have never had an easy Ironman race. I've wanted to quit every Ironman that I have completed. But through it all, I've crossed every Ironman that I've started. That's 16 140.6 mile events of my mind battling with my body. 

Triathletes spend many months - if not years - preparing for a 140.6 mile event. You learn a lot about yourself when training for a long-distance triathlon. But the most learning happens on race day....often when you are so close to giving up. 

As an endurance athlete, being fit gets you to the start line. Knowing how to battle when you are close to failure is what gets you to the finish line. 

Here are a few tips to help you keep going when the going gets hard:

• You are not suffering alone. If it's hard for you, it's hard for others. If others can handle it, so can you. 
• Tough times don't last. For every low moment, there's a high moment around the corner. 
• Remove the pressure to achieve a certain outcome. Let go of any goal paces/watts and don't worry about your final results. 
• Take it one mile (or destination point) at a time. Make deals with yourself to keep yourself moving forward. 
• Don't give up, be smarter. Remove emotion (or judgement) from the situation. 
• Work through the problem with skill and focus. 
• Repeat a mantra in your head. A few of mine: Never quit on an uphill. You didn't come this far to only get this far. It's not supposed to be easy. You trained to feel this way. 
• If your health is compromised or you could endanger your well-being by continuing, the right decision is to stop. It takes great courage and strength to stop when it's the right thing to do.

Don't make these Ironman race day mistakes

On Saturday, I'll be racing my 17th Ironman. It's also my 5th time racing at the Ironman World Championship.

When I completed my first Ironman distance triathlon at IMFL at the age of 24, I was very young, stubborn and naive. Over the past 13 years, I've had many race day successes, failures and lessons learned as a long-distance triathlete. With growth and development (athletically and personally), comes maturity and integrity. Many years of coaching triathletes has also taught me important lessons that can make or break a race day performance. Because your current fitness level can only take you so far, there are certain qualities that can separate you from your competition. The decisions that you make before and on race day have rewards and consequences. Since your race day performance outcome is built from many decisions, here are some common Ironman race day mistakes and how to avoid them before and on race day.

• Body image - Sadly, we live in a society that focuses on competitive leanness. Many athletes are under the mindset that the leaner or more defined you are, the better you will perform in sport. Some athletes even care less about performance and more about achieving the "look" of an athlete. Rather than seeing the body as the vehicle that allows you to do the incredible in sport, many attempt to achieve a "race weight" through strict eating, fueling and dieting only to become injured, burnout or sick. Successful athletes come in all shapes and sizes. To be successful, you need to be healthy and strong. You need to be consistent with training and you need to take care of your mental health, just as much as your physical health. Restricting food, eliminating food groups or overexercising does not make you a better athlete. It makes you weaker and more fragile. Recognizing that there is no perfect body image (or level of body fatness) that is required for athletic success or optimal health, the way your body looks to perform or function at its best may not match up to the way you think you are supposed to look and this is ok.
  
• Comparison - It's often said that comparison is the thief of joy. In other words, comparison is a big part of how we see ourselves - our self-worth. If you find yourself in a daily competition with the achievements, looks, results of others, it's time to direct your energy elsewhere. While you may envy over someone's highlight real, you never know what the behind-the-scene moments look like. You only have so much energy to spend before and race day - why waste it on others. Have less comparison to others and more compassion toward yourself. Although it is inspiring and motivating to see the success stories of others, do not let the triumphs of someone else trump your own personal accomplishments and achievements. Never stop believing in yourself and your own training.
  
• Chasing an outcome - We can not control the future but you can control the current moment. Rather than putting all your energy into the results, focus on the present. Let's be honest - many times, life does not turn out how we expect it to. This can be good or bad.
  This isn't a negative way of thinking but don't let your race day success (or happiness) be tied with a specific outcome that you simply can't control or predict.
  Create success now. Learn to be happy with the effort, your decisions and your ability to bounce back from obstacles.
  Trust that with every best effort that you give in your process, you will experience small changes that will bring a favorable outcome. One of the most liberating experiences about racing is having no expectations about the outcome. This doesn't mean low expectations but no expectations. When you have expectations, you become attached to these preconceived outcomes of how things are expected to go. This can create fear and a tremendous amount of pressure. But as any athlete knows, racing is unpredictable. There is absolutely no way that you can expect certain things to happen in a certain way or in a certain time. Things "come up" on race day and you just can't plan for everything. Additionally, when you have expectations and big goals, it's easy to feel defeated and disappointed if you don't meet those goals. Racing is a reward in and of itself for it shows that you put in the work and got yourself to the start line of a race and hopefully, made it to the finish. The last thing you want is to beat yourself up for having a "bad" race because you were so heavily focused on the outcome. While big scary goals help us all get out of bed in the morning and train when there are many distractions in life, it's important to not get attached to an outcome when you are racing for the outcome will fall into place, in the right way, by simply remaining in the present moment and constantly taking care of what needs to happen during each mile of the race.
  
• Rigidity - To work out at any cost can do more harm than good. To have to stick to a precise nutrition plan can be risky. A smart approach to training allows for positive adaptations. If you have become a bit obsessed with rules, strict schedules and a perfect plan, I encourage you to become more mentally flexible and less of a perfectionist. I'll share a secret with you - you can still have a "perfect" training session or race, even if everything doesn't go as planned. If you find yourself racing at an intensity that you did not train for and cannot sustain, be prepared for nutrition-related problems. Unfortunately, consuming extra energy gels, sport beans and high-calorie drinks at the aid stations will not give you energy to maintain an unsustainable/untrained effort. Sadly, we can't blame everything on nutrition.
  
• Fear of failure - When you don't reach your goals, an effort feels harder than it should or things don’t go as you planned, the disappointment from your performance can easily be interpreted as a “failure.” Once you hold a negative image of yourself and you beat yourself up for lack of success, it's easy to feel less of yourself and doubt your ability to improve.  Fear of failure can be detrimental to your athletic success. Regardless of fitness ability, successful athletes will push themselves out of their comfort zone and take smart risks. While this doesn't mean being careless or making bad choices, it's important to recognize that sometimes your decisions will pay off and sometimes they won’t - but that is part of racing. Taking too many risks is not necessarily a good thing but it is a fundamental component of working your way to success. For many athletes, the thought of making a mistake or having a bad workout or race is so terrifying that they would rather stay in their comfort zone and do as little as possible to avoid the risk of embarrassment or failure. As an athlete, there will be times when you will be challenged. There will be times when you give your best effort and the result will not what you had hoped for. There will be times when you struggle and question why you are doing what you are doing. There will be times when you are in the shape of your life but life gives you a scenario that is far from ideal. When things don't go as planned, welcome this as an opportunity to learn and grow from the experience. You learn by making mistakes. If you want to become better, you need to remove the fear of failing. 

What not to say to an Ironman triathlete

I love the Ironman distance.
2.4 mile swim. 112 mile bike. 26.2 mile run.
As taxing as it is on the mind and body, there is something so uniquely special and extreme about moving the body over the distance of 140.6 miles.
It's a distance that should be respected and not taken for granted.

It's often said that race day is the easiest day, compared to training, as you are supported by volunteers, friends and family, with thousands of other athletes, to keep you motivated and inspired as you move from the start of the swim to the finish line of the run.
Race day is the day when you can look back on the many months, if not years, of accumulated fitness, endurance, strength, speed and power, with excitement in your belly and a deep hunger inside to put it all that training to good use as you earn your Ironman finisher medal and t-shirt.

However, race day can bring a variety of emotions, as it's a day full of unknowns, even for the most prepared or experienced athletes.

Knowing that most Ironman athletes will experience some type of obstacle on race day, whether it is dealing with unforeseen weather, a cramp, GI issues, fatigue, a mechanical, sore muscles, etc. it's important for any Ironman athlete to stay mentally strong before the race in order to help reduce all pre-race jitters, anxieties and nerves that may sabotage performance.
While it's ok to be nervous, it's very important that you spend your time around energy givers as it can be difficult to surround yourself with people who suck away the energy that you are bottling up for race day. 

As a 11x Ironman finisher, including 4 Ironman World Championship finishes, as well as a coach and board certified sport dietitian who specializes in endurance triathlons, I put together a list of all the things that "us" Ironman athletes do not want to hear on race day.

1. Are you ready?
2. What will be your finishing time?
3. Are you going to win the race?
4. Did you know that ____ is in your age-group again? Didn't he/she beat you at the last race?
5. Are you worried about getting a flat tire?
6. Have you ever crashed on your bike before?
7. The water conditions don't look good.
8. It's going to be so hot on race day.
9. It's going to be so cold on race day.
10. You are going to eat all of that?
11. The swim looks so long.
12. Doesn't your butt get sore riding that far?
13. How much do your legs hurt after you get off the bike?
14. You actually enjoy doing this?
15. What do you do when you have to pee on the bike?
16. It's going to be really windy today. Don't blow off your bike.
17. Did you see all the hills you have to climb?
18. You look tired.
19. I'm feeling sick.
20. Can we sight-see after you check-in your bags and bike?
21. You are boring to be around.
22. We/you have to wake up at what time on race day?
23. Try to finish by ____ so we can go to dinner. 

24. Did you get to your race weight?
25. Are you still injured? 

Many times, the best thing you, the supporter, can say is nothing.
As athletes, we may not always say it or show it but we appreciate the unconditional support - always. Although it is an individual effort on race day, it takes a team approach to get to the finish line.
Just being there means so much.
It's a big commitment to train for an Ironman and race day is never easy.
So while it may be hard for a supporter to find the right thing to say to calm down a nervous, anxious or overwhelmed Ironman athlete, just know that an Ironman journey wouldn't be the same without the support of our close friends, family and teammates.

26. You are almost there (at mile 1 of the run).
27. You look great (at mile 24 of the run).