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#508 Late Season Grit
102 Plays12 days ago
Episode 508: 9 Coach-Approved Strategies to Finish Your Season Strong
It’s the last weekend of September, and while the calendar says fall, the racing season is still going strong! Whether you're heading to Kona, IRONMAN California, 70.3 Worlds, Cozumel, Florida, or another big race, this is your moment to lean into the grit and finish the season with purpose.
In this episode, Rich shares 9 coach-approved strategies to help you stay mentally and physically sharp for your late-season push. From mindset shifts to training tweaks, these tips are designed to help you show up strong and finish proud.
What’s inside this week:
- 🗞️ Announcements & News – Rich covers the latest updates and happenings in the endurance world.
- 🧠 Ask A Coach – How do you stay mentally and physically prepared for late-season races? We break it down with practical advice you can apply right away.
- 💥 Get Gritty Tip – Fuel your drive with hope and optimism to stay focused and inspired through the final stretch.
- 🏊 TriDot Workout of the Week – “Broken 1500s” is the featured set—learn how it builds race-day resilience and sharpens your swim performance.
- 🎉 Fun Segment: Random Rapid Fire! – A lighthearted round of quick questions to wrap up the show with a smile.
Whether you're racing, training, or cheering from the sidelines, this episode will help you tap into your grit and finish the season strong.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Theme
00:00:23
Rich
Welcome to episode 508 of the 303 Endurance Podcast. We're your hosts, coaches Rich Soares, April Spilde, and Lauren Brown. Thanks for joining us for another week of coaching questions, get gritty tips, workout wisdom, and a little fun.
00:00:37
Rich
It is the last weekend of September, and we know there's still plenty of racing left this year. If you are racing one of the end of season world championships like Kona or 70.3 worlds, or you've got a big race like Ironman, California, Cozumel, Florida, 70.3, or any other big race this year, we have the gritty goods for you to be mentally and physically prepared for your late season push.
Hosts' Thoughts and Sponsor Shoutout
00:01:04
Rich
April and Lauren, how are you guys doing today?
00:01:07
April
Okay, the gritty goods, that's that's rich, Rich.
00:01:11
Rich
I like that. I like that.
00:01:13
Lauren Brown
great
00:01:13
April
Oh, it is awesome to be here with two of my favorite people.
00:01:18
Lauren Brown
I am always, always thankful that I get to be here with you guys. So I'm excited to to jump into today's episode.
00:01:26
Rich
Wow, we've got a lot of great stuff coming. Let's first give a shout out to our show sponsor, Vespa Power. These guys fuel our podcast and they fuel our workouts. Vespa Power Endurance helps you tap into steady, clean energy so you stay strong longer strong and focused and in the zone longer.
00:01:46
Rich
Vespa is not fuel but a metabolic catalyst that shifts your body to use more fat than sugar as your fuel source. Vespa comes in CV25 Junior and Concentrate.
00:01:57
Rich
less sugar, higher performance, faster recovery. We have a link here in the show notes for your first order. You can save 20% off using the code 303ENDURANCE20, 303ENDURANCE20 for off of your first order
00:02:11
April
That is such an awesome discount, I just got
Strategies for Late-Season Races
00:02:13
April
to say. Let's get into today's show. We're going to dive into how to stay mentally and physically prepared for our late season races like Kona, Ironman California, and 70.3 Worlds.
00:02:26
April
You'll get nine coach approved strategies to sharpen your edge. Our get gritty tip on fueling your drive with hope and optimism. And coach Lauren's going to bring it in our tri dot swim workout of the week, broken fifteen hundreds Wow.
00:02:43
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:02:44
April
It's the perfect mix of grit, guidance, and inspiration to help you finish this season strong.
Birthday Celebrations
00:02:49
April
But first, Rich is going to bring us our announcements for the week.
00:02:53
Rich
I am going to bring us announcements and news. we are going to have a new segment, I think here, which is going to be our birthday segment. We need to like, you know, give our birthday shout outs and wish happy birthday to the following, ah ah ah belated happy birthday to Alice Kostovich, a birthday today for Sarah Barr.
00:03:13
Rich
And in just two days, coach Lauren, happy birthday. got anything planned for the weekend?
00:03:20
Lauren Brown
Well, I did an early birthday celebration last week and I went to Atlantic City with my mom, my twin sister, and my older sister. Tomorrow night I'll be doing dinner and then Sunday for my birthday i have an hour and 40 minute long run, which I'm actually really excited about.
00:03:38
Lauren Brown
And then I'll do cake at my sister's house.
00:03:43
Rich
Ooh, that sounds awesome.
00:03:44
Lauren Brown
Yep.
00:03:44
April
Okay, Lauren, what is your birthday cake? What's your favorite type of cake?
00:03:49
Lauren Brown
Oh man. I mean, i will always be okay with a good old fashioned ice cream cake, actually ah but I do, I love red velvet cake.
00:03:56
April
Oh, yeah.
00:03:59
Lauren Brown
And I think part of the reason why I just love it because I love it, but also I know my nephew loves it. So I'm always like, if they're going enjoy it, then I'm super happy to, but I think you cannot go wrong with an ice cream cake.
00:04:11
April
Mm. That's what I grew up with. Dairy Queen ice cream cake.
00:04:15
Lauren Brown
Exactly. Yep. So,
00:04:17
Rich
Oh, man, I can't wait to get off the podcast go eat an ice cream cake. dey queen Dairy Queen's got to be open, huh?
00:04:22
Lauren Brown
Okay. Thank you.
00:04:25
April
I saw somebody's birthday somewhere. We're going to go get one.
00:04:27
Rich
Exactly.
00:04:28
April
Yeah.
00:04:28
Rich
know um were We're just going to have one for you. you know if you know
00:04:31
April
yeah
00:04:32
Rich
I'll just have it here. That's awesome. Happy birthday, Lauren. Happy birthday, team. How exciting. All right.
Upcoming Webinar Announcement
00:04:39
Rich
This is pretty cool. Our webinar, our live webinar series is returning in October, October 21st, 6 p.m. Mountain Time. We have ah live webinar, Staying Resilient for Late Season Races. It is going to be the live version of what we are talking about today.
00:04:57
Rich
We are really looking forward to, really you know, we're going to package this up a little differently for the webinar. We're really excited to have you join us,
USA Triathlon Nationals Discussion
00:05:04
Rich
ask questions, make it very interactive. So please put that on your calendar. There's a link here in the show notes.
00:05:10
Rich
And if you follow us on social media and you get, and you subscribe to our newsletter, you are definitely going to know about this. So we can't wait to see you. We'll see you on the 21st.
00:05:22
Rich
Also really exciting. USA Triathlon has now rolled out officially the USAT Nationals.
00:05:30
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:05:30
Rich
And I think though it's kind of a soft rollout of the multi-sport festival locations and dates. The official notification in email hasn't quite happened for the multi-sport festival. However, it is on their Facebook page.
00:05:45
Rich
with a location of South Haven, Michigan, May 13th through 17th, 2026. So that is the multi-sport festival where you've got things like AquaBike, you've got a Duathlon, you've got Aquathlon.
00:06:01
Rich
It's got the standard distance, the sprint distance, the super sprint distance.
00:06:04
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:06:06
Rich
They've got mixed team relay, really exciting. This was in Omaha this past year, now moving to Michigan. The other big announcement, notice that there was a little bit of an omission of one of the races, if you were really tuning in and you're familiar with multi-sport, there was one race I did not announce, and that is because the draft legal sprint has now moved to the official USA Triathlon Nationals that weekend, August 7th through the 9th, 2026.
00:06:37
Rich
Big news here, and this is again in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, same course, What's new draft legal sprint nationals and mixed team relay nationals? Ooh, I actually missed that.
00:06:47
Rich
Both of them have moved. Both of these races are now a part of the weekend celebration of racing.
00:06:52
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:06:52
Rich
No qualification is required for either mixed team relay or draft legal sprint nationals. However, draft legal sprint nationals is the qualifier for worlds, which is also draft legal.
00:07:07
Rich
Also that weekend on Saturday is going to be the Olympic distance nationals. And by the way, I'm already qualified. um And we'll also that's also when the mixed team relay is. And then Sunday will be the sprint and paratrathlon nationals.
00:07:22
Rich
Hopefully that happens in 2026. It got canceled 2025. But it's nationals.
00:07:29
April
Yeah. How cool is that? i I've never personally seen a draft a legal race.
00:07:31
Lauren Brown
personally see
00:07:34
April
I think it'd be so cool to to not only see it, but do it.
00:07:39
Rich
Yeah, well, Rubina is going to be doing it. I'm going to be doing it. I am can definitely going to play GoTo.
00:07:44
April
I bet Ruth is doing it, too. i bet you she's going to do it.
Mental Strategies for Race Preparation
00:07:47
April
Yeah.
00:07:48
Rich
Well, there you go.
00:07:49
April
Yeah, I think it's happening.
00:07:51
Rich
All right. Well, there you go. There's your news for the week.
00:07:54
April
Thank you, Coach Rich. Let us bring in our sponsor for our Ask a Coach section, and that is Grit to Greatness Endurance Coaching. Triathletes.
00:08:05
April
multi-sport athletes off season doesn't mean off track at grit to greatness coaching. We use tri-dot and run dot to keep your training purposeful, efficient, and fun.
00:08:15
April
Even when racing feels far away with personalized workouts and cutting edge analytics, you'll build a stronger base and come back sharper than ever.
00:08:17
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:08:25
April
You can try it for free for two weeks, then for as low as 14 99 a month after that. Sign up today through our coach links in the show notes and let's make this your strongest season yet.
00:08:38
Rich
Love it. Love it. Love it. All right. Well, here we go. we let's roll into our ask a coach section. Now topic today, question of the day is how do I stay mentally and physically prepared for late season races?
00:08:51
Rich
We have athletes that have been racing all season. They race the beginning the season and they are racing here at the end of the season. Several folks, Lauren, you're racing the 70.3 world championships with Sasha.
00:09:05
Lauren Brown
too.
00:09:05
Rich
We've got three athletes that are going to be Caroline, caroline Stephanie, and Paul, all racing Ironman California. And we've got Chris, who's doing 70.3 Florida.
00:09:18
Rich
So a lot of people are like, you know, still have these big races ahead of them.
00:09:21
April
Yeah, Ruth has worlds as well in Australia.
00:09:24
Rich
That's right.
00:09:25
April
Yeah, big time.
00:09:25
Rich
So. Big time.
00:09:28
April
Mm-hmm.
00:09:29
Rich
So what we want to do, it's the last weekend of September. While we you know this calendar says fall, race season is still going on here, but we want to give you nine coach approved strategies for staying mentally and physically sharp in your late season push here.
00:09:43
Rich
So I'm going to pitch it to you, April, to talk a little bit about some of the mental preparation. And then I'm going to ask Lauren to talk about the physical preparation and I'll bring us home with some strategic preparation and some
Physical Preparation Advice
00:09:55
Rich
final thoughts.
00:09:56
April
Yeah, as I was looking over our notes for tonight, I was just thinking I wrapped up my final race of the year at the Banana Belt. And i it was bittersweet because this year has just been so fabulous with all of these amazing races and getting to do four of them with you, Coach, which has just been a dream come true.
00:10:16
April
But it's also like I am looking forward to...
00:10:17
Lauren Brown
So that's. Thank
00:10:19
April
stepping away for a little bit and kind of re-censoring on my next set of goals and and also celebrating how awesome this year is. So I want to share that too, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If you feel like you're getting close to burnout, we definitely understand that.
00:10:35
April
That's why we're going to help you with some mental tools to help get you to this journey. Whether it's your last race of the season or you got a couple more, we want you to feel connected to it and have a strong why.
00:10:47
April
So just like we talked about last week with reigniting your why that is absolutely one of the most important things you could do to mentally prepare. So we want you to reconnect. Late season fatigue is absolutely real.
00:11:01
April
revisit the reason why you signed up for this race. You put hard-earned money on this race.
00:11:04
Lauren Brown
on this race.
00:11:05
April
You probably had to spend some money to get to this race and a coach and food and all the things, right? So we want you to re-anchor your mindset in the purpose as to why you signed up, whether it's personal growth, it's qualifying goals, or proving something to yourself.
00:11:24
April
Start with your why. And then we want you to visualize your race day success. I mean, we all train um and participate oftentimes for that moment when you have this almost like
00:11:41
April
a celebration or combination of all the work that you've put into getting you to this point. So we want you to stay in that moment, savor the moment. Think about what that looks like when you do succeed on race day. And that could be completely different from what you thought you would be doing. Right? So we want you to think about it, spending five to 10 minutes daily, visualizing your race, picture the swim start who's around you. How do you feel? What's exciting you?
00:12:06
April
How are your transitions set up? How are you moving through each obstacle as it presents itself on the day? Aid stations. What's the best way that you can execute? Picking up your nutrition, your fueling as needed. And then, of course, crossing the finish line.
00:12:22
April
Are you going to be that person that crosses the finish line stopping your watch? No, you're going to be that person that's got their arms up in the air, the biggest smile on their face.
00:12:34
April
I want you to visualize that because it already just fills you with that hope and optimism, which we're going to talk about later when we get into our get greedy. So. Mental rehearsal absolutely builds confidence and reduces anxiety.
00:12:47
April
And then last but not least for your mental preparation, control the controllables. Focus on what you can control, your attitude, how you're taking in your nutrition, pacing, and your preparation.
00:12:59
April
Let go of the weather. Obviously, we can't control that. Any competition, you should be focusing on what you can do versus what others are doing around you or unexpected changes.
00:13:12
April
This mindset really keeps you grounded and is highly adaptable. And it's one of the things that creates resilience. So those are your three mental preparedness tips. Over to you, Coach Lauren.
00:13:24
Lauren Brown
I i have to say though, I freaking love the the mental side of it and hearing it. I'm like, I am soaking it all up because I'm reminding myself, like there are so many things that are out of our control and focusing on what is in your sphere of control is super important.
00:13:31
April
Mm.
00:13:33
Rich
Yeah.
00:13:41
Lauren Brown
So I love those shifting gears to the the physical preparation. So we are at the tail end of the season. so Not that gains cannot be made at this point in the season, because of course you can still be making gains, but a lot of the volume, a lot of the work that you have done up to this point is done. You've probably already gained a lot of fitness. So while again, you can still make progress, you really, really, really want to prioritize recovery over volume at this point.
00:14:17
Lauren Brown
You've put your body through a lot You're getting through this final stretch. So at this stage, more training absolutely does not mean better performance.
00:14:28
Lauren Brown
You want to make sure that your sleep is on point. You want to make sure you're staying hydrated. Mobility work. I am always, always, always talking to athletes about the importance of mobility. And that comes in from a physical standpoint, as well as a mental standpoint to give yourself some calm or reset your nervous system.
00:14:49
Lauren Brown
You really want to let your body absorb all the training that you've done over the past months and months and months of the season. So prioritize recovery over volume.
00:15:01
Lauren Brown
The next thing I want you to focus on is fine tune nutrition and hydration. I'm gonna say I've personally been experiencing this where I'm like, oh, dang, I need to make sure that my nutrition is on point right now because it's like you might start to feel a little bit lax with it and you're still, your volume is up there. You need to be recovering. You need to make sure you're getting enough protein. So your body's repairing itself, make sure you're getting the right amount of carbs based on what you're specifically doing. And of course, hydration. And I will say also hydration, if it's getting cooler by you, because it is a little bit later in the season, sometimes that
00:15:43
Lauren Brown
becomes a little bit harder to monitor or to sense. So stay on top of your hydration. You want to know your calorie, fluid, and electrolyte needs.
00:15:54
Lauren Brown
And we've said this before, either on the podcast or in conversations that you do not want to be experimenting on race day. So please dial all of that in at this point as well.
00:16:07
Lauren Brown
And then the last thing is sharpen, don't smash. So use race specific workouts to build confidence and maintain sharpness.
00:16:17
Lauren Brown
So do those race rehearsals to again, dial in what you're going to do on race day and, and just pick up on like, what feels like it's working? What feels good? It's not about how much more fitness can I gain? It's how much more prepared can I be and how safely and how strong can I get to the starting line of these late season races? So think know, short intervals at race pace, brick sessions, open water swims.
00:16:49
Lauren Brown
It does not have to be long, exhausting days. So those are some of your physical prep tips for those late season races. And I'm going to pass it back off to you, Coach Rich, for strategic preparation.
Simulating Race Conditions
00:17:03
Rich
Love that. What I heard was sharpen up buttercup.
00:17:07
Rich
I am going to, yeah, let's talk about some strategic preparation. So what the first thing that we want to talk about here with respect to this is simulate race conditions. And by that, i like to start with mimicking the race day scenario.
00:17:24
Rich
So, you know, on the race day, right, you're going to have all your gear already packed up the more the morning when you wake up, and you're going to go straight to the race. And you're going to have to have a routine, right? You're going to have a, you know, ah certain amount of calories in a pre-race breakfast that you're trying to eat.
00:17:44
Rich
When you do your race rehearsals, I really recommend that you follow the same exact thing, you know same schedule and you know steps that you're gonna take on race day.
00:17:55
Rich
Do this on your race rehearsal morning. It might mean like literally plan to get up, plan the night before to go through your race checklist. put all your stuff in your race bag the night before a race rehearsal. So you're familiar with going through that checklist. You've done it a few times.
00:18:13
Rich
Exactly. And then, you know, you might learn that there's something that needs to be revised in your checklist, but you'll also be in the habit of putting, so you know putting the checklist together, getting the stuff in the bag, checking it off.
00:18:26
Rich
You'll actually get more efficient and it'll be less stressful than the day before your race. If you've rehearsed that a few times. Plus you'll have a, you know, a better tuned checklist. You'll know exactly how long it takes to go through it and get everything in your bag. So you're, you know, you know how much time to budget, lot of benefit to doing in that.
00:18:43
Rich
Gear, of course, just like Coach Lawrence said, you you know you don't want to be changing things, so hopefully the gear is going to stay consistent here. Pacing, if you're using RaceX, you know what your pacing strategy should be.
00:18:56
Rich
You should be rehearsing just like that pacing strategy. If you are going to have terrain, if you're going if it's going to be a flat course, a really flat course, you should be doing a lot of flat work. If you're going to be doing a rolling course, you should be doing a lot of rolling hills. If you're going to, you there's going to be 5,000 feet of climbing, you should be getting 5,000 feet of climbing.
00:19:17
Rich
Practice those transitions. This is a, this is such an easy thing to practice, but so many people just don't, they just neglect it because they think it's just, you know, they'll figure it out on race day.
00:19:28
Rich
It's like anything else. If you rehearse it, you're gonna get faster. It's going feel more natural. You're going to feel less stressed about it. You're going to know exactly what to put down in your transition and exactly what you don't need because you've rehearsed it. A lot of people just like you know pile stuff into their transition area because they're afraid they're going to miss something or you know they might need it.
00:19:47
Rich
You've practiced this enough times. You probably know what you really do and don't need. If you're racing in the heat, make sure you're training in the heat.
00:19:53
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:19:53
Rich
If you're racing in humidity, make sure you're training in humidity. Yes. Yes. Turn up the heater in the room. Turn up the humidity in the room. Put on another layer if you need to, to stimulate, simulate how hot it's going to be.
00:20:08
Rich
yeah You want to be prepared for it as uncomfortable as it might be to do it in a race rehearsal. You want to be prepared on race day. so go through, go through the preparation early, plan your logistics. I really encourage people to create a, an hour by hour schedule of their race weekend from the you know, work from the time that you're going to be flying into the, you know, let's say you're flying to a race like Ironman California, you should have every hour plotted, but start with the big rocks first.
00:20:40
Rich
You know, think about, you know, how you want to work back from race day to make sure that you're setting yourself up so for success. One of the things I love to do is have my athletes and for myself personally, check my bike in the day before as early as I can so I can get off my feet in the afternoon.
00:20:59
Rich
Well, how do you set that up, right? So that's got to be the first thing that goes in the calendar, right? Big block that says, check bike in early. All right. So that means you got to have your bike all put together and ready to go the day before. So then that becomes a big rock and making sure that you've picked up your packet in time to put your bike together, to check it in on time.
00:21:20
Rich
i you know, find out when the, the athlete briefing is, you know, try to time that if you can around like the swim, the swim rehearsal so that you're, you know, you're not having to make multiple times into the race village, right?
00:21:34
Rich
Try to, you know, combine some of these things so that you can, you know, you don't have to you know be a slave to the to the to the race village. Sometimes that can really kind of, you know, there's a lot of energy that could be lost in the race village. So, you know, be tactical about oh when you when you're there and and how much time you're going to be there.
00:21:55
Rich
Big thing is to get off your feet the day before the race. So plan that into your logistics. Involve your family or whoever your Sherpa is in that planning. Make sure they know what the schedule is. Like, for example, you probably want to have a pretty early meal the night before an Ironman or a big race.
00:22:13
Rich
Make sure everybody knows that you're trying to get dinner out of the way at five so you can get to bed at seven or eight or whatever your target time is. Don't let that time slip away from you. If you needed to make reservations, make those reservations really early. All of these little logistics really make a big difference on how smooth, how rested, and how ready you will be on race day.
00:22:35
Rich
And then learn sorry lean on your support system. So not only educate them like on what your schedule is, But really, make sure they understand what your goals are. you know Make sure that they understand what your needs are as an athlete, that you know you you might not be able to be their Sherpa and there you know theyre you know the person who gives them all the direction.
00:22:56
Rich
Help them understand, help them get oriented know around the race so that they don't have to lean on you too much the weekend of the race. Make sure that they're kind of prepared ahead of time.
00:23:07
Rich
And if you've got the money, you know, get them an MVP pass. So ah you've trained hard all year. Now it's time to trust your preparation. But part of trusting your preparation is doing the preparation. So stay mentally engaged here at this point. I know it's getting close.
00:23:23
Rich
Race with your heart. You've got the gritty goods. Go finish strong.
00:23:26
April
then That was good, Coach Fritch. That was actually ah really... a good reminder of all the things that we can do to that we can control.
00:23:33
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:23:38
April
Right. When we talk about our schedule, we talk about our meals, our preparations. These are all things that are going to help us be successful.
Role of Hope and Optimism in Training
00:23:46
April
And it's perfect because our get gritty tip is also about using two things to help you be successful in training, racing, and in life. And that is,
00:23:57
April
Using hope and optimism to fill your drive. And a lot of people confuse these two or think they're the same. They're not. So we're going to break down the difference between them and how we can use them to effectively drive us forward.
00:24:11
April
So they also play a big role in our athletic pursuits. You have to have some optimism to feel some motivation to go after the goals that you've set for yourself, especially when we talk about big, hairy, school harry scary goals.
00:24:27
April
And then hope is the the the understanding that we can find something to look forward to. so Optimism says things will turn out okay.
00:24:41
April
It's the belief that circumstances will improve, even if we don't know how. Optimism keeps us moving forward when setbacks hit. hit But hope is different.
00:24:53
April
As author and coach Steve Magnus puts it, hope isn't blind optimism. It's the skill of seeing possible paths forward and trusting you can take them.
00:25:04
April
Hope is active, not passive. It's the moment you hit a rough patch in training and instead of saying, huh, this just isn't my day, you ask, what adjustments can I make right now to still get something out of this moment?
00:25:19
April
It's a choice to see options when others only see roadblocks. So as athletes, we need both. Optimism helps us keep our spirits up. It helps us bounce back.
00:25:29
April
Hope builds resilience. and gives us the agency to take action today that will shape tomorrow. So every time you find another way forward, whether that's adjusting pace, modifying your training, or just simply showing up, you are strengthening your hope muscle.
00:25:46
April
So I want to share a question with the coaches because I think this can help inspire the audience to understand how to use hope to build resilience. And just share kind of a peek into your daily life here. Because as we talk about resilience isn't built necessarily from big adversity, it's built in the daily things, the struggles, the choices that we make to better ourselves.
00:26:11
April
So my question for you both, what small steps do you personally take to strengthen your sense of hope during hard times?
00:26:16
Lauren Brown
Do
00:26:21
Lauren Brown
you want me to go first?
00:26:21
Rich
Coach Lauren, do you want to go first? I don't, you know.
00:26:24
Lauren Brown
I will go first.
00:26:25
April
Same wavelength right there.
00:26:26
Lauren Brown
a
00:26:26
Rich
All right.
00:26:27
Lauren Brown
I know you asked if I wanted to go first and I said, do you want me to go first? So there go.
00:26:30
April
but
00:26:31
Rich
Perfect. Yeah.
00:26:32
Lauren Brown
So i will I will take it.
00:26:32
Rich
yeah
00:26:34
Lauren Brown
So one thing I do every day and I do it in the morning and in the eveningve now in the evening, thanks to both of you, is i always start my day with gratitude.
00:26:47
Lauren Brown
So i have my journal and I will always map out my day. so what I'm planning on doing for that day, what my three big tasks are, what will make today a great day and you know, what, what are, I'll always list out as many as I can fit in of things that I'm grateful for.
00:27:08
Lauren Brown
When I end my night, now I'm very, fortunate because i share with you, Coach Rich, Coach April, gratitude wins for the day, wins for tomorrow.
00:27:21
Lauren Brown
i also in my journal will put like positive affirmations about myself that remind me of my beliefs in myself.
00:27:32
Lauren Brown
So regardless of if my day went the way I expected it to, if I had to pivot, I'll always you know, just make sure that I'm reminding myself of of who I am and who I believe that I am. And this can correlate with training. It can correlate with hardships that we face in life. For me personally, I have found that when I'm grateful, when I share my gratitude with others, when I continue to have the positive beliefs in myself, regardless of the noise and the things that are going on around me, such as, you know, it, it could be a workout that doesn't go your way. it can also be loss that you've experienced. It could be something not going your way at work. It could be with family and relationships, but I will always just try to dial it back to what, what am I grateful for no matter what?
00:28:26
Lauren Brown
And who am I no matter what? And if I'm looking at it from an athlete perspective, I'm still an athlete that shows up to the best that I can. I'm still an athlete that wants to bring other people into this sport. I'm still an athlete that will find multiple things to be thankful for at the end of a race or at the end of a workout, even if I didn't hit my like top goal. So for me, finding hope is finding gratitude and believing that I still have value no matter what's happening in the world around me.
00:28:59
Rich
I still think that somehow you and I are the same person. Cause like sometimes the stuff that comes out of your mouth is like the stuff i'm like Oh my God, that's exactly what I would love to say. i wish I could say that.
00:29:08
Lauren Brown
I'm sorry.
00:29:08
Rich
i know you just did it all off the cuff. So, i'll but I'll say something little, I'll make up something completely different here. I, for me, I, you know, I always find hope in adversity. i you know, it's, I think it's a little bit just, maybe it's in my DNA. Maybe it's just a little bit of the, you know, resilience, uh, resilient skills I picked up as a, uh,
00:29:31
Rich
as a you know Gen X a latchkey kid, I don't know. but ah you know and But I really do think that one of the things that really framed this, you know solidified this belief for me was the gap and the gain, um book, The Gap and the Gain.
00:29:40
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:29:44
Rich
I really found that to be, you know just being able to recontext instead of like, you know you're you you've got this challenging day ahead or this adversity ahead that you just know and you need that hope.
00:30:00
Rich
But starting with, look how far we've come, like or look how far you know I've come and and you know kind of use this in a and mastermind discussion just a few weeks ago.
00:30:13
Rich
we were talking about some of the adversity and challenge and you know you know there's a few people on our team that need some hope around you know building their websites and that sort of thing. And I'm like, but look at how far we've come and now imagine what we are going to be six months from now.
00:30:21
April
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:30:30
Rich
know And and i if I do that personally, you know yeah, this might be a rough spot, but imagine what could happen if I did this, or if I just hung in there a little bit longer, or if i just, you know, got a little more sleep or a little more recovery and then, you know, did the last push.
00:30:48
Rich
So I think it's the
00:30:51
Rich
re reframing the gap, starting with a gain, and then using that gain to give you a match give you the momentum for the imagination of what's possible.
00:31:04
April
Yep. That is always measure backwards. I love that. That principle is probably one of the most resounding of that book and one of the most practical yet magical things that you can walk away with. And I love how you frame that, Rich. I think that was awesome. So my answer to this is I'm very similar to Lauren as well. I love affirmations.
00:31:29
April
One thing that my mom taught me in that coach Lauren has, reaffirmed in me as saying I love you to myself. So that's one of my daily statements.
00:31:39
April
I also learned this really cool trick from the Mel Robbins podcast. And it's it's eight statements to help you through your day and you say it in the morning.
00:31:50
April
But I'm going walk you through it and I'm going to say it in a way that's kind of conversational. The first statement is, it's going to be a great day.
00:31:58
April
Something cool is going to happen to me today. No matter what happens today, I can handle it.
00:32:06
April
An exciting new chapter in my life is beginning. I need to give myself more credit for how hard I'm trying. Sorry, I might start crying thinking about this.
00:32:17
April
I am allowed to be a work in progress. If I keep showing up, life will reward me.
00:32:22
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:32:24
April
And number eight, I have something important to contribute to the world.
00:32:29
Rich
Beautiful.
00:32:29
April
And if you need something, yeah, if you need something as a hope and optimism builder, eight simple statements is something that can really change how you view how you view yourself and how you view the world.
00:32:42
Rich
That was wonderful. Wow. Thank you, April, for sharing that and for holding keeping it together there.
00:32:47
April
yeah
00:32:48
Rich
i wasn't sure how you were going to transition that to the workout of the week, but I guess this is my futile attempt to do it.
00:32:55
Lauren Brown
no So we're
00:32:57
April
Yes, yes,
Swim Workout Introduction
00:32:58
April
yes.
00:32:58
April
And that is also a part of hope and optimism is looking forward to your workout every day. so over to you, Coach Lauren.
00:33:06
Lauren Brown
going to lighten it up a little bit
00:33:07
April
Yeah.
00:33:08
Lauren Brown
like yeah that was That was amazing. that I love that, April. Thank you for for that segment. That was wonderful. And now we're going to shift gears and talk about training and the workout of the week, which is a swim set that I did today, which is the Broken 1500.
00:33:24
Lauren Brown
And I actually, I love this workout. Today, I wasn't sure how much I loved it. It felt a little bit hard today for me, but all good. So the broken 1500 doesn't mean it's a busted workout, right? It just means that we are literally breaking down 1500 meters or yards, whatever length you're swimming in, into smaller chunks to train your body and brain to handle the demands of race pace swimming,
00:33:51
Lauren Brown
maybe a little bit faster pace than race pace swimming, depending on the distance of the race that you're doing. So for me, when I do these, I think of it also like these pieces are start of the swim when you're trying to get out to where you need to be. And also at the end of the swim, when you're trying to dial in and kind of get to that, swim exit, but it really, overall, I'm going to go into a little bit more about why this is a great workout. So going to break it down for you between the warmup, the main set and the cool down.
00:34:20
Lauren Brown
So with the Broken 1500, like every good swim set, you're going to start with 10 minutes of drills and builds. Because I've done TriDot Pool School and in my app, I'm going to always have the drills that we do in pool school to make sure that our form is on point. So you're going to start with some drills and some builds. It's not like splash around and just warm up your body. You know you want to prime your body.
00:34:47
Lauren Brown
You want to make sure your technique is on point. You're gradually built bringing your body up to speed. The drills are going to refine your stroke so you're swimming smarter and not just harder.
00:34:59
Lauren Brown
And again, the builds are going to wake up your heart rate and muscles without going full gas right away. You need to save something in the tank for the actual work that's going to come. So think of it like you're fine tuning your instrument in the warm up.
00:35:16
Lauren Brown
You want everything to be smooth and in sync before your big performance of your broken 1500. So the main set, it can look a couple of different ways, right? So you you know, newer to swimming, you might have a different type of breakdown.
00:35:32
Lauren Brown
This is an example of what my workout looked like. So you'll start with four by 50 descending. So one through three, you're going to pick up the pace on your fifty s And then at that fourth set, you're going to hold that top end cadence around a Z4 effort.
00:35:52
Lauren Brown
You'll have about a 20 second rest in between. You're going to have a 200 easy zone to swim. And then this is where the fun part comes in. So if you're doing seven hundred it's going to be ah ah potentially on.
00:36:10
Lauren Brown
so you're going as fast as possible you're going to be going for the fastest average possible on a specific point. So for example, my, if you it might be for two minutes and 40 seconds. So I had two minutes and 40 seconds to finish a hundred yards as fast as possible on that two 40, you start again with the goal of hitting that pace as quickly as possible.
00:36:34
Lauren Brown
Does that make sense? Coach Rich, coach April, we're good.
00:36:38
Rich
Totally.
00:36:38
Lauren Brown
Okay.
00:36:39
Rich
We're breaking a 1,500 into smaller chunks.
00:36:39
Lauren Brown
Just
00:36:40
Rich
I love it.
00:36:42
Lauren Brown
Yes, that's it. So you're going to seven by 100 and then you're going to get a little zone one recovery and then you're going to finish it up again to finish out the hundreds.
00:36:54
Lauren Brown
So unpacking this a little bit, the descending 50s at the start are going to teach you control, right? With pacing, because the same thing within a race, you do not want to blow up too quick.
00:37:07
Lauren Brown
I've done this plenty of times in the past. You go out too fast, You can't maintain it. You're not hitting that speed at the end. So it's going to teach you to have some control without blowing up. You're going to have that 200 to just give you enough recovery so that you're reset for the big push.
00:37:27
Lauren Brown
When you're hitting the seven 100s at your fastest possible average pace, that is the meat of the workout. This is about discipline. It's not about sprinting out and going out and doing 120 on the first hundred and then dying and hitting it at, you know, 150 for the next, right? So you don't want to, the goal is that you want to hold the best average pace that you can across all of the efforts.
00:37:57
Lauren Brown
So you're going to bang out seven one hundred and then you're going to get two by 100 at zone one to just actively recover, clear out some fatigue, keep your body moving, and then you're going to finish it up. And you're going to go right back to those one hundred fastest possible average. And this is really where that mental toughness kicks in with this workout, right? Because now you're like, okay, I got through seven one hundred I had a little bit of a recovery and now I have to do it again and maintain that pace. And I'm going to tell you today when I was doing my workout, I was like, oh gosh, I don't know if I blew up too quick. And you have to really mentally dial it in. And you really need to focus on form on this one. I got to tell you, I realized I'm like, shoot, this is where my form form is starting to falter. Like reach Lauren. don't Don't like dip your hand in too soon. Really reach and pull, reach and catch.
00:38:54
Rich
Thank you.
00:38:54
Lauren Brown
And so it's It's a great workout for cardiovascularly, obviously, but that mental toughness, you you know, like your fatigue, your arms are tired. You want to prove to yourself that you can hold the form and the pace.
00:39:08
Lauren Brown
And then you're going to wrap it up with 250, easy zone one flush it out. And then the cool down, of course, you always want to end your workout with a little bit of a cool down, balance of time in zone two, maybe repeat some of those warmup drills.
00:39:25
Lauren Brown
You don't want it to be wasted yardage. You want to make sure that as you're cooling down, when your body's fatigued, that you're still keeping in mind, what does good form look like right now? Focus on your breathing, right?
00:39:37
Lauren Brown
Be in your rhythm, calm your breathing down. And yeah, that's that's the whole set. If you got time at the end to get out of the pool, stretch a little bit.
00:39:50
Lauren Brown
And yeah, I love that workout. I mean, I think overall warmup primes your body, you focus on pace and you really, that sustainable speed and mental grit, I love it.
00:40:05
Lauren Brown
How do you guys feel about the Broken 1500?
00:40:08
Rich
First of all, what I really love about what you said was really how you position this around the purpose of this workout and what its practicality is in racing. right you right What you're trying to teach yourself and your body is that resilience later when you're fatigued.
00:40:25
Rich
Right. I mean, you're pretty fatigued when you get to that seventh, that second set that's, you know, of six one hundreds.
00:40:29
April
Mm-hmm.
00:40:31
Rich
And you said, i am focusing on my catch. I'm focusing on my pole. I'm focusing on my high elbow. Those, you know, those, those, you know, try not pull school drills, right? The Things that are going to keep you from getting overly fatigued. that are going to slow you down.
00:40:48
Rich
what you're What you're really doing is preparing for a race and learning the skills that you need in a race. So loved it.
00:40:55
Lauren Brown
yeah
00:40:56
April
Yeah, I totally agree. It's easy at that point to phone it in. lot of people feel like, oh, I just did the work I needed for this set. Is it really that important to do this back half, this second round?
00:41:10
April
I feel tanked and can find every reason work.
00:41:12
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:41:15
April
push the interval forward.
00:41:18
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:41:18
April
So, this is absolutely where you, you get that that metal, right. That, that toughness.
00:41:23
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:41:25
April
so I think that I agree completely. This is a great one and you broke it down beautifully. Coach Lauren.
00:41:32
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:41:33
April
Okay.
00:41:34
Lauren Brown
Move on.
00:41:35
April
Nah,
00:41:35
Lauren Brown
Fun segment.
00:41:36
April
now yeah Now that we have climbed the mountain of emotions here, we're going to bring it home with our classy fun fun segment.
Light-hearted Segment with Random Questions
00:41:47
April
And this one is, I am dubbing it the random rapid fire because these are some random questions. But it's always super fun. So...
00:41:58
April
It is our brand new segment we're calling Random Rapid Fire. These are questions no one asked for, but everyone wants to answer. The rules are simple. I'm going to throw out a ridiculous question and you tell me where you stand and we can see how far down the rabbit hole we go. You ready?
00:42:15
Rich
Oh, no.
00:42:17
April
Okay. right. Don't read ahead. Don't read ahead.
00:42:20
Lauren Brown
Rich, you want to go first?
00:42:20
April
Okay. Question number one. Would you rather take a nap in a giant burrito or between two pieces of French toast?
00:42:32
Rich
sure.
00:42:33
Lauren Brown
but
00:42:34
Rich
Is it a is the burrito like got a lot of hot sauce in it?
00:42:41
April
Let's say it's a bean and cheese burrito.
00:42:42
Rich
is
00:42:44
Rich
Bean and cheese burrito, like like a Taco Bell bean and cheese burrito, nice and squishy?
00:42:45
April
Yeah, nice and squishy and soft.
00:42:48
Rich
No, I think I'm going to go with French toast. Thank you.
00:42:52
Lauren Brown
yeah Yeah, I don't think there's any way you could sway me to the bean or any burrito.
00:42:54
April
Coach Lauren?
00:42:59
Lauren Brown
Like French toast is, it's like two pieces of bed.
00:43:04
April
Yeah.
00:43:04
Lauren Brown
it' smells delicious.
00:43:06
April
m
00:43:06
Lauren Brown
And I could definitely like wake up in the morning and wanna just eat the French toast that is surrounding me.
00:43:12
April
Yeah, you're breakfast in bed.
00:43:14
Rich
Coffee in bed. Yeah. Bring the coffee to me.
00:43:16
Lauren Brown
Like no question.
00:43:19
April
That was also my answer. we are all on the same page. Definitely sign me up for French toast, please. That's like a perfect blanket. Okay. yeah
00:43:30
April
How would you spell the sound of a hairdryer?
00:43:35
Lauren Brown
o um so
00:43:40
Lauren Brown
a Oh man.
00:43:43
Rich
Oh, it's easy. easyc It's just, it's ZS, ZS, ZS, back and forth.
00:43:48
Lauren Brown
Okay. I'm like ZSH, ZSH, ZSH, ZSH. I'm like,
00:43:53
Rich
There you go.
00:43:54
Lauren Brown
this I don't know, that might have to be another language or something.
00:44:00
April
Yeah, yeah. i was like.
00:44:01
Rich
yeah Actually, they might think there might need to be a V in there too.
00:44:04
Lauren Brown
No vowels.
00:44:05
April
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.
00:44:05
Lauren Brown
I'm going to say
00:44:06
Rich
yeah
00:44:07
April
voosh yeah Oh, goodness.
00:44:07
Lauren Brown
about about ah no vowels
00:44:10
Rich
That's awesome.
00:44:13
April
ah
00:44:13
Lauren Brown
i'm going to say What do you say, Rich?
00:44:17
Rich
I think I'd be less afraid of them.
00:44:18
April
She's speechless.
00:44:19
Rich
i you know, i guess it would sort of, you know, i don't know, anthropomorphize them a little bit, you know, i don't know.
00:44:26
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:44:28
Rich
Spiders freak me out. So
00:44:30
April
Yes, I know they do. That's why I had to ask this one.
00:44:31
Lauren Brown
What is that?
00:44:33
Rich
like so look at this. i have
00:44:37
Lauren Brown
what is that
00:44:38
Rich
For those of you who are listening to this and not watching this, I have a bug catcher.
00:44:41
April
Oh my gosh.
00:44:43
Rich
You put this, you can see it's got magnifying glass on this side.
00:44:46
April
What?
00:44:48
Rich
And like, here's the bug, here's the bug. And you put it over them and then you slide. It's got a little thing to slide under them.
00:44:57
April
This is crazy.
00:44:57
Lauren Brown
Wow.
00:44:59
Rich
so that way you don't have to touch them.
00:44:59
Lauren Brown
That's very animal friendly. I mean, very but friendly.
00:45:01
April
Yeah.
00:45:02
Rich
I rescue them. I take them outside.
00:45:04
April
Oh, wow.
00:45:05
Lauren Brown
I know.
00:45:05
April
Such a kind soul. Even with things you're scared of.
00:45:07
Lauren Brown
Seriously.
00:45:08
April
Yeah.
00:45:08
Lauren Brown
You're the best, best human.
00:45:11
April
Yeah.
00:45:11
Lauren Brown
get You get that award for this show today.
00:45:12
April
Let's love it. yeah yeah
00:45:14
Rich
And I can look at them through the magnifying glass and see how big and ugly they are, even though they're like...
00:45:14
Lauren Brown
but
00:45:17
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:45:18
April
Yeah, see them playing their guitar.
00:45:21
Lauren Brown
Yeah. See, I, I think that, I don't know if this would just make me more scared of myself because I'm like, what is, what is going on?
00:45:21
Rich
Exactly.
00:45:26
April
but
00:45:29
Rich
wrong with me?
00:45:29
Lauren Brown
am I okay right now? Why are I playing a good guitar?
00:45:32
April
i see.
00:45:34
Lauren Brown
But I think I'd be less scared of them because like, how could you be scared of a spider playing a guitar?
00:45:40
April
I think I would be less scared too, unless they were playing some kind of evil music.
00:45:45
Lauren Brown
Oh yeah. Yeah. like Annabelle like bell music or something.
00:45:46
April
Throwing it down like, yeah, yeah, yeah, no.
00:45:49
Lauren Brown
on
00:45:52
April
I guess it depends on their music choice, that whether or not I'm afraid of them. But I i love the thought.
00:45:56
Lauren Brown
yeah
00:45:57
April
I really do. okay question number four. If all of your furniture came to life Beauty and the Beast style, which piece would you would scare you the most?
00:46:10
Lauren Brown
Well, I literally just watched Beauty and the Beast. So that was funny that that came up. I literally just watched it. You know what it made me think of though when was thinking of furniture, not Beauty and the Beast style, it made me think of Beetlejuice instead and like the chair.
00:46:23
April
Oh yeah.
00:46:24
Lauren Brown
So if I had some chair that was like wrapping around me and like suffocating me, that would be my like piece of furniture that I would not want to be like attacked by.
00:46:27
April
B.
00:46:34
April
No.
00:46:36
Rich
If I woke up and my bed had come to life, I don't think I would like that very much.
00:46:38
April
Oh.
00:46:42
Rich
so I'm going to go with bed.
00:46:43
Lauren Brown
Oh, good answer.
00:46:44
April
I'm going to go with toilet.
00:46:47
Rich
Well,
00:46:48
April
The ultimate revenge.
00:46:52
April
Seen some bad days, y'all.
00:46:54
Rich
I didn't really think of the toilet as furniture, but yeah, now that you mention it.
00:46:54
Lauren Brown
are going to turn out.
00:47:01
April
It's a throne. It's a throne. So the porcelain throne.
00:47:03
Rich
It is a throne. It is a porcelain throne.
00:47:06
Lauren Brown
like the most important people from now
00:47:08
April
Oh, you guys, I'm sorry. I'm falling deep into the ah gutter. Okay. Number five. What? Okay, i'm going to set this one up a little bit.
00:47:19
April
So you know how you sneeze and someone says, bless you, or gesundheit, right? So thinking about this in that context, what traditional phrase should we inex explicitly inexplicably say after someone yawns?
00:47:35
Lauren Brown
Don't let the bed bugs bite.
00:47:40
April
Explain, Lauren. that That is not what I thought.
00:47:43
Lauren Brown
know. It makes me feel like somebody's tired, so I'm like, sleep tight.
00:47:46
April
Oh, okay.
00:47:47
Lauren Brown
Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite. I don't know.
00:47:49
April
Oh, goodness. Goodness gracious.
00:47:51
Lauren Brown
that
00:47:53
Rich
andlic inexplicably, right?
00:47:56
April
I know, that's a hard word.
00:47:58
Rich
Yeah, but and the the inexplicably in this makes me think like it should sound odd, right?
00:48:04
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:48:05
Rich
Like, you know, it almost should sound like that that's not an appropriate thing to say when somebody knows.
00:48:11
Lauren Brown
You're welcome.
00:48:12
Rich
and so And so I'm just, yeah, well, yeah, I was going to say that or, you know, take luck.
00:48:14
April
seriously that's a good one
00:48:18
Rich
Yeah. you know
00:48:19
April
uh okay i'm thinking here i don't know um i guess you were that hungry huh
00:48:19
Lauren Brown
one
00:48:30
Rich
There you go. Okay. Yeah.
00:48:31
April
That was lame. but Thank you for indulging me.
00:48:34
Lauren Brown
if and That was the hardest question today.
00:48:35
April
I'll have to think about that one a little bit more, but yes, yes. Well, that is our random rapid fire. Thank you for being such willing and amazing participants. Remember, this isn't just for us, folks.
00:48:48
April
We want you to jump into our comments, share your answers, and we might highlight you or some of our favorites in a future episode. So after all, you know, life is too short.
00:48:59
April
not to argue about burrito beds and guitar playing spiders. So that's your fun segment. Back to you, Rich.
00:49:07
Rich
Whoa, that was awesome. i'm I'm still trying to, you know, yeah i like, I want to I want like redo my answers for some reason. I don't know why.
00:49:16
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:49:17
April
Well, when this comes out on Facebook, you can.
00:49:18
Rich
Just, just because it was, it was so fun the first time around, you know?
00:49:22
Lauren Brown
you.
00:49:22
April
Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:23
Rich
Yeah, I can't wait to see what people have to say about these. That was fantastic. Folks, what a great show, by the way, guys. I just, you know, we're having such a blast. I can't wait to do this again next week with you.
00:49:35
Rich
Folks, thanks for listening this week. Be sure to follow us at 303 Triathlon and at Grit to Greatness. And of course, go to iTunes, give us a rating and a comment. We appreciate it and you. Stay tuned, train informed, and enjoy the endurance journey.