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#549 Race-Day Mistakes That Cost You Hours
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Race day is supposed to showcase your fitness—but too often, it exposes execution gaps instead. In this episode, Coaches Rich and Lauren break down the most common race-day mistakes that sabotage performance, from pacing errors to fueling missteps and mental breakdowns. You’ll learn why execution beats fitness, how early discipline sets up a strong finish, and practical strategies to protect your race from avoidable disasters. If you want to race with confidence, stay in control, and finish knowing you gave your best effort, this episode gives you the framework to do it right.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Episode 549
00:00:20
Rich
Welcome to episode 549 of the grit to greatness endurance podcast. We're your hosts, coaches, Rich Sores and Lauren Brown. And we are on a mission to help endurance athletes just like you train smarter, race stronger and build the grit it takes to build greatness.
Avoidable Race Day Mistakes
00:00:36
Lauren Brown
Yes, and race day should be the celebration of all your hard work, but for many athletes, simple and avoidable mistakes end up costing not just minutes, but sometimes even hours. So in this episode, coaches Rich and I, Coach Rich and i are going to break down the most common race day errors that derail performance. So from pacing disasters to fueling fails. we've We've all been there and we're going to give you practical a practical framework to protect your PR, execute with confidence, and schedule the finish.
00:01:16
Lauren Brown
If you've ever walked instead of run, bonked hard, or if you've ever finished knowing that you had more in the tank, this episode is for you.
00:01:26
Rich
Absolutely. And my goodness, yeah, we've all learned these lessons and we are going to try to help you not learn it firsthand. So here we go. And before we actually get into the main thing, like we want to really take a time out.
00:01:34
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:01:38
Rich
This is something we do every week now.
Community Achievements and Shoutouts
00:01:40
Rich
We want to celebrate our amazing grit to greatness community and what they are getting after this weekend. We've got Marcy D doing the Leadville Silver Rush 50 mile journey.
00:01:52
Rich
ultra marathon got Mike Murphy. i was just checking in on him doing the festival of speed track race in Pennsylvania. Guys. Amazing. And we've got Paul Hunziker doing the late Whatcom sprint in Bellingham, Washington.
00:02:07
Rich
Guy's recovering from a you know back injury, and he's crushing it. Everything's coming together. And we've got Coach KO and Lindsey Holmes and Ann Manning doing the Litchfield Hills Olympic this Sunday.
00:02:21
Rich
So, Coach, why you want to?
00:02:23
Lauren Brown
Lots going on. We got even more.
00:02:24
Rich
Yeah.
00:02:24
Lauren Brown
We got Cheryl Tracy.
00:02:25
Rich
Yeah.
00:02:26
Lauren Brown
She's doing Ironman 70.3 Muscleman Geneva. That's on the 12th. We've got Alice Kosterich doing the tri-boulder sprint on the 17th.
00:02:39
Lauren Brown
So pushing into next weekend. As well on the 17th, Greg Castro is doing the Olympic, of the tri-boulder Olympic. And then Chris Shodan and Kevin Cole are doing...
00:02:52
Lauren Brown
Iron Man, Oregon, 70.3 on Lastly, we've got Denise Hiller doing the Vermont 100K Windsor race on the 18th. And I do have to say, we have a team WhatsApp chat. So if you are one of our athletes listening to this and you're not in the WhatsApp chat, you better get in there. Let let us know because it is so freaking fun hearing everyone celebrate the races they've got going on this weekend or even just the training. So i love it.
00:03:23
Rich
It's blowing up.
00:03:25
Lauren Brown
Yep. And then one more special shout out we have to give is a belated birthday to Lucy Zate. She turned 21 July 1st.
00:03:35
Lauren Brown
So yeah, and it was really fun because we were all together in Lake Placid 4th of July weekend to do our race rehearsal. She was there. She's going to be doing Lake Placid with me as well. And we got to celebrate her 21st birthday. She drank some non-alcoholic beer.
00:03:52
Rich
Good for her. Well, yeah, I mean, you know you turn 21, that's usually what you go to, right? We got to go celebrate and go drinking, not if you're an athlete, right?
00:04:00
Lauren Brown
Yeah, with an Iron Man. your first It's her first as well, so yeah.
00:04:06
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:04:09
Rich
you know Speaking of celebrating, listen, we love celebrating you guys. So you know our athletes, we're sharing your journey, share your results
Joining the Community for Support
00:04:17
Rich
with us. We can't you know get your pictures, send them in.
00:04:21
Rich
We can't wait to share your journey with our Grit to Greatness community and everybody who's watching what's happening. And if you're one of those that's watching what's happening here, and you don't need to be coached to be a part of this community. that's you know Not all of the athletes that are part of our team are being actively coached. Some are just using our training plan. If you're looking for support, inspiration, and a group of athletes who truly understand what it takes to balance life, work, endurance, sport, we would love to meet you. Come look at come to our page, read what our athletes say about our our culture and about our team and about the experience that they have with us. There's a link right here in the show notes.
00:05:03
Rich
Find your grit and explore the G2G community for yourself.
00:05:07
Lauren Brown
Yes, the more the merrier in our community. So um ask a
Key Takeaways for Race Day Success
00:05:13
Lauren Brown
coach. So today's topic that we're going to be diving into is race day mistakes that cost you hours.
00:05:22
Lauren Brown
So you've done the training, you've put in the work. So why do races sometimes just fall apart? The truth is most race day struggles, they're not about fitness. It's actually about execution. And our goal today, like we said earlier, is to fix that.
00:05:41
Lauren Brown
The key takeaways that you can expect to get from today's conversation, execution beats fitness on race day. Discipline early prevents collapse later on.
00:05:56
Lauren Brown
The next is that most mistakes are predictable and preventable. And lastly, a strong finish is always planned. It's never accidental.
00:06:08
Rich
Love that. Yeah. Well, let's dive in. We've got 10 race day mistakes that are pretty common out there. And we're going to talk you through how to fix them.
00:06:18
Rich
So I'm going to lead us off here with number one in the list of 10 is, man, you're just starting too fast. Listen, adrenaline will lie to you, right? you're you know you You get all caught up and you you know you feel like you know you know you feel great at the beginning of the race, so why not you know start strong?
00:06:40
Rich
Your pacing plan is going to tell the truth when adrenaline is lying to you. So you know i you know I'll tell you a quick story. i My very first triathlon, very first triathlon sprint distance pool triathlon.
00:06:55
Rich
And I was actually using a road bike for the very first time. I mean, the first time in a race and You know, I wasn't a great swimmer. So I'd already spiked my heart rate really high in this sprint pool, you know pool swim. But then I got on that bike and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is a bike race.
00:07:13
Rich
And I was racing it like it was a bike race. Now keep in mind, I had been, like, I was up to like mile 16 training for a marathon. I thought a 5K run, piece of cake. I got off that bike. I could not, I mean, i ran the first mile. I was walking the last two
00:07:30
Lauren Brown
Wow. Yeah.
00:07:31
Rich
A sprint distance that cost me like way more than it needed to, if I just slowed down a little bit earlier on, would have been in control and I could have complete competed late.
00:07:38
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:07:42
Lauren Brown
Yep. You burnt all those matches on that bike.
00:07:46
Rich
Young and dumb.
00:07:47
Lauren Brown
Yeah. But that leads into not just starting, right? So it's, you know, we can go out really fast, but then, Mistake number two is that you're actually not just going out fast, but you're also ignoring your pacing plan, right? So you want to trust the work you did before race day and really try to resist emotion overriding your strategy. so you know you think about it, your adrenaline is pumping, you're starting the race, you might go out fast, but sometimes, you know, like you're still feeling pretty strong. And maybe if you're, especially if you're doing maybe a 70.3 or a full distance, and you know that your pace should be x y Z on the run, but you're thinking, i know, but I feel good. I want to go fast now. And you're not thinking about how long the day actually is. And you really need to
00:08:39
Lauren Brown
Trust and believe that the reason you have a pace plan is because that pace is what's going to get you through the entire race. A race is not just what you're feeling in that moment. Your emotions are what you're feeling in that moment.
00:08:53
Lauren Brown
And you need to be able to be the, um, have that, uh, you know, high, uh, we'll say here a little bit on race day and be mindful that you have a plan.
00:09:07
Lauren Brown
you gotta stick to it because it's better to finish strong than finish with like barely pulling yourself through that finish line.
00:09:16
Rich
Love that. And think about like, you know, know what your triggers are, you know, for what might make you go too fast. The crowd, right? Coming through transition. Sometimes it's like, boy, you get so caught up because there's people cheering for you and you're like or you're coming through a section with a bunch of crowd.
00:09:32
Lauren Brown
Yeah. You know what always gets me? the ah
00:09:34
Rich
Check it.
00:09:35
Lauren Brown
The slap here for a power up. I always hit those and I like, it's it's so mental, but I instantly am like, who I feel good.
00:09:41
Rich
Jet.
00:09:43
Lauren Brown
I think I almost like hurt a child by accident. One slap hitting that. It's so hard. I hit it so hard. I look back. Oh my God. I'm sorry if I knocked your kid over.
00:09:54
Rich
So we we know Lauren's trigger here, right? So you see the power up. What's Lauren going to do from now on? She's going to go look at the pace on her watch.
00:10:03
Lauren Brown
Yeah, I'm going to say that
00:10:05
Rich
Power up and she's going to walk.
00:10:08
Lauren Brown
like you didn't actually get more power from that sign. Calm down. But it I feel it. I don't know.
Fueling and Hydration Strategies
00:10:41
Rich
But it it is really wise to be fueling right from the start at any distance. Listen, at any distance, if you're fueling right from the start, you're helping your body not get into distress. Even, you know, you know we say at shorter distances,
00:10:57
Rich
A 13 mile bike ride and 5K run, if you are not fueling before that, during that, and immediately after, you're putting your body in a stressful situation it doesn't need to be in.
00:11:10
Rich
Now, where is it going to really cost you hours? It's going to really cost you hours, probably on those longer efforts where you're more likely to bonk. And so if you are getting waiting until you're 45 minutes into the bike before you start fueling,
00:11:27
Rich
you're making a big mistake, right? The moment you hit that bike, you should be eating.
00:11:31
Lauren Brown
Yeah. It's like, if you're even feeling remotely hungry, you're definitely behind the mark.
00:11:39
Rich
Yeah, totally, exactly.
00:11:40
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:11:40
Rich
And if you need to schedule it, you know, have an alarm on your bike or on your watch.
00:11:41
Lauren Brown
Don't wait for that.
00:11:44
Lauren Brown
Yeah, absolutely.
00:11:48
Lauren Brown
Yep. So super important. would say you can't out, you can't out train a bad diet. You can't out race a poor feeling strategy.
00:11:55
Rich
Right.
00:11:55
Lauren Brown
and' That'll be the new thing.
00:11:57
Rich
You can't run you can't run a half an Olympic fast enough or a half Ironman fast enough, you know?
00:12:01
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yep. All right. So number four, overreacting mid race. So one bad mile doesn't define your race.
00:12:12
Lauren Brown
Again, like going into the whole emotional side of things, there's, there's a lot of emotions that can come up on race day. And because, especially again, this is looking at, I'm going to say more longer distance, but just because you're having maybe a 30 minute stretch on the bike or a, you know, a one mile stretch on the run that isn't feeling so hot, that doesn't mean that the whole entire race is, you know, going to be downhill. You have to, I mean, be smart, don't be emotional, be, you know, um, level headed
00:12:49
Lauren Brown
recheck your, of recheck your fueling strategy, revisit your hydration because things can shift back, right? So you could be just having a tough stretch after maybe a hard climb, or maybe you were,
00:13:04
Lauren Brown
you know, trying to catch somebody ahead of you. Right. So there's different things that can maybe make it feel like a bad mile, but stay steady. Don't chase perfection. Yes. In the ideal world, maybe, maybe you have a negative split, maybe you're staying consistent across the board on your paces, but it doesn't have to be perfect. It needs to be steady and stay calm through the race, right? It can always shift.
00:13:33
Rich
That's sage advice. And, you know, you my motto is always slow down for yellow lights. If things seem off, if you feel like maybe, oh, geez, boy, I'm just not feeling right for whatever reason.
00:13:46
Lauren Brown
yeah.
00:13:46
Rich
Maybe I feel like I'm overdoing it. Maybe i feel like. Settle in, you know, just you know deep breathe, you know, just take some deep breaths as you're going along here. Maybe back off just a touch and just start to take a five minute, you know, assessment of how things are going.
00:14:01
Rich
you know, wind the watch, wind the watch, as they say, just to slow things down a little bit and think so that you can make a good decision.
00:14:01
Lauren Brown
yeah
00:14:10
Rich
You can start to take the time to look at, okay, what is my heart rate relative to my power or heart rate relative to my pace? You know, ah you know, start to do a little bit of troubleshooting or, you know, and maybe it turns out in the time that you're doing that analysis, all of a sudden you're like, oh, wait a minute, I feel fine. Heart rate and pace are just fine.
00:14:29
Rich
I just needed, I was just foggy headed there for a second. Okay, fine.
00:14:34
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:14:34
Rich
Great.
00:14:35
Lauren Brown
There was, um, oh sorry.
00:14:36
Rich
Hitting the, just saying hitting the panic button just sends your adrenaline through the roof and that's going to help. That's going to you make things worse, make you burn through your glycogen even faster.
00:14:48
Lauren Brown
Yeah. When, uh, we were in Lake Placid doing the race rehearsal, Lindsay is one of coach KO's athletes who's done like Placid multiple times and she's done a lot of, um, full distance and half distance. And she was saying, cause we're talking through the the run course and she was trying to give me pointers and things. Cause she's done it before. And she was saying, she's like on the run, she's like, the one thing I always remind myself is like, slow down ah until you're at like mile, like 18, 20, like,
00:15:16
Lauren Brown
you know you're probably better off just like, if you're feeling good, don't go faster. If you're not feeling good, just slow down, right? Like you've got a long day ahead of you. Things can shift in either direction, but you know, it's better to see how you feel at mile 18 or mile 20 before you decide to start really shifting into that high gear and pushing, you know, pushing things harder.
00:15:38
Rich
Yeah. And that's a great go back to, to tip number two and, and mistake number two, ignoring your pacing plan, having that pacing plan. And making sure that pacing plan makes sense, as you said, right? The pacing plan isn't like maybe the pacing plan probably is not the same pace all the way through.
00:15:56
Rich
it is probably starting the first, and this is what Mark Allen likes to say or coaches, p do the first third. The first third should be your easiest third. The second third, you're building up from there.
00:16:07
Rich
And then last third is kind of where you're finally building you know and racing at, but you build into it.
00:16:11
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:16:14
Rich
All right. No practice execution, man. What do we have? We have race rehearsals in our plans, right? We have race rehearsals, not just a long training day. We are calling this a race rehearsal. It is you're practicing everything that you're going to be using. I even tell my athletes practice getting up when you're going to get up.
00:16:37
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:16:37
Rich
Practice having like pack packing your bag the night before or, you know, exactly how you're going to handle like your logistics. Same thing with your nutrition. Practice what you're going to eat, the timing when you're going to eat it, you know.
00:16:53
Rich
Yeah, race day is going to start at 7 a.m. You're going probably try, if you're trying to get out early for your training, you're probably trying to get out early anyway. Get used to the timing. Get used to knowing how long it takes to pack up those final things. Eat that breakfast, right? All of those things become...
00:17:10
Rich
you know, part of your routine. And then on, as far as the the practice, that the the race rehearsal itself, when you're actually executing it, you are trying to do it in the, in the gear, with the gear, in the kit, on the bike, everything, exactly how it's going to happen on race day, including practicing the nutrition on the timing at the intensity. Everything is, you know, been rehearsed a number of times before you show up on race day.
00:17:39
Lauren Brown
yeah I may have shared this before but this was definitely my first year of racing triathlon and it was a sprint so it wasn't like ah it wasn't a long swim but I had never practiced without my wetsuit on in the open water and I got down to the water and I was looking around and it looked like nobody had on wetsuits and I was like oh gosh, I don't want to be the only one without ah with a wetsuit on. I feel silly. So I went back, took my wetsuit off, and then I came back and it was like everyone had their wetsuits back on. And I was like, it was too late for me to go get my wetsuit back on.
00:18:13
Lauren Brown
I panicked so hard in the open water and it was wetsuit legal. I should have just worn my wetsuit regardless of what everyone else was doing. I was like back floating.
00:18:23
Lauren Brown
was All sudden I was like, my legs are sinking.
00:18:23
Rich
Oh no!
00:18:25
Lauren Brown
I can't get my legs to stay up high on the water. I want almost wanted to be like, help me, someone, come get me. I didn't, but i it was a short swim, but I panicked because all of a sudden I was like I don't know how to swim without my wetsuit.
00:18:38
Lauren Brown
Even though I swam in the pool a bunch of times, not the same in the open water. so
00:18:43
Rich
You know, and and let's kind of go, i love this, right? Because you're, you know, this is a little bit of a go back again to the starting too fast. This applies in the swim as well.
00:18:53
Lauren Brown
Yeah. yep
00:18:53
Rich
And like you just said, right? You know, you go out of there in that open water, right? And you go too hard and I'm, this a public service announcement. um you know I actually did my typical, I like to start out hard. um It just so happens that I am actually now taking a prescription that actually caused a little bit of a CO2 crisis.
00:19:17
Rich
for me in my last swim. So I got into a place where I was hyperventilating. This is a place where you could actually end your swim, not only make it take hours longer than your plan you planned, you could actually end your whole race because you went out so hard.
00:19:33
Rich
So be make sure that you're you're executing as you have rehearsed and that you you know you're not doing anything day.
00:19:42
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:19:42
Rich
on race day
00:19:44
Lauren Brown
All right. So next mistake is inefficient transitions. So transitions are so, so easy for some people to overlook practicing, but when you're looking for free speed,
00:19:58
Lauren Brown
Transitions can be your place to get some free speed and you want to practice it enough so that when you're coming out of the water or coming off the bike and coming into transition, it feels smooth. It doesn't feel rushed, right? Like even this came up on one of our team calls. Coach April gave this advice to one of our athletes, to Farron, where it was like, you know, even thinking about the mindset of practicing coming out of the, when you're coming out of the water, going through in your mind, how things are laid out. So even getting in the habit of, if you're practicing your transitions and pretending you're coming out of the water, start visualizing as you come out of the water, how are things laid out by my my transition area? Where's my helmet? Where's my shoes? Where's my sunglasses, you know, and having everything in order. So that way,
00:20:50
Lauren Brown
you practice it. We actually, for my the Jersey Shore Tri Club, we just had a transition clinic this past week, actually. and you know everyone Everyone brought their towels, brought their helmets, their bikes, and it was being able to go through the process of how are you laying it out? Are you putting your helmet on your bike? Are you putting your helmet on the ground? Where does it feel more natural for you? Do you like to You know, make sure you put your sunglasses on first, then put your helmet on, then put your socks on, then put your shoes on. Right. So it's like, you just do it over and over again and then just go loop around the block, come back, take your shoes off, put your run, your run gear on.
00:21:27
Lauren Brown
Because we take it for granted that it's like, oh, it's just the transition. But when you come out of the water and you're like dizzy from swimming and you haven't practiced it, all of a sudden you're like fumbling to try to remember how to put a shoe on.
00:21:39
Lauren Brown
Right.
00:21:39
Rich
yes Exactly.
00:21:39
Lauren Brown
Right. So if you always do it the same, like I know I always set up my transition the same way. So I just, by default, I'm very used to just grabbing my helmet. So you want to practice it and treat it just as important as, you know, you treat your nutrition. I would say when people are like, Oh, what's the different disciplines of triathlon or like swim, bike, run. And then everyone's like the fourth discipline is nutrition or the fourth discipline is, you know, strength training or the fourth discipline is mobility. Also the fourth discipline is your transitions. So Practice it, practice it, practice it.
00:22:12
Rich
I've seen people advance two or three places on the podium or in results because they had a faster transition than the people around them.
00:22:19
Lauren Brown
yeah
00:22:22
Rich
You know, I mean, imagine that.
00:22:22
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah. Some people, you look at them, you're like, are you like making a sandwich in transition? Are you doing like wardrobe change, getting your hair done?
00:22:35
Rich
yeah Yeah. And, you know, and, and simplicity is the key. Right. The fewer things that you have in transition, the fewer things you need to be looking at, the fewer, you know, the simpler and the more straightforward, the process you can make it the better. And I'll tell you, here's another thing that I think could actually cost you, you know, maybe that cost you could cost you the race. If you're not careful in transition, not buckling your helmet.
00:23:03
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:23:05
Rich
get you dq'd especially in a usat sanctioned national championship or or or anything that is um you know uh world triathlon for sure running with your bike holding the saddle it is a really tempting thing to do it looks really cool right here you are you got your hand on the saddle and you're steering your bike through transition
00:23:06
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:23:15
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:23:24
Lauren Brown
Gotcha.
00:23:28
Rich
When I went through my certification program at the Olympic Training Center, Ken Axford, who is one of the development coaches for the US national team, he showed us video after video after video of world triathlete, triathlete, like pro triathletes Doing that reel after reel after reel of the tire catching the carpet and, or they just, you know, they look, know, they lost focus and the tire turned.
00:23:53
Lauren Brown
and
00:23:53
Rich
They go tipping over and now two or three people that were right behind them are all like, there's a big pile up in the middle of the blue carpet.
00:24:01
Lauren Brown
Yeah. It's crazy.
00:24:03
Rich
Imagine now you do that and maybe you, you know, you you you cut your leg with the chain ring or, you know, just, you know, any goofy thing could happen.
00:24:10
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:24:12
Rich
So, all right.
00:24:13
Lauren Brown
Yep.
00:24:15
Rich
Hydration mistakes is number number seven on our list of big mistakes is hydration mistakes. Again, you know, this This is one of those things that's going to affect you at any distance, more than likely on more so on hot races, more so on longer races.
00:24:33
Rich
You really want to stay on top of this. And it all is so preventable with a little bit of preparation, a little bit of assessment and testing. You can learn what your own sweat rate is. Real simple.
00:24:45
Rich
Before a one hour workout, take everything off. Weigh yourself on a digital scale. Put everything back on. Do your one hour workout. Take everything back off.
00:24:55
Rich
Dry yourself off. Weigh yourself again. That difference in weight. Use a tenth of a pound to convert yourself into ounces. Consider how many ounces you drank during that period. Do the math on that. you'll And by the you divide by the number of you know minutes of your race. There's a We could actually put the formula in here too, by the way, is it maybe as a download.
00:25:14
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:25:17
Rich
um if ah folks wanna come to our website and download, that will make that a download. But yeah, so you know knowing how much you sweat so you can make sure that you're you're keeping up with your hydration needs and and test it at different intensities on the bike and the run and at different temperatures.
00:25:36
Rich
have a Have a spreadsheet with a portfolio of Okay, I'm going to be on the bike. It's going to be 70 degrees. i'm going to filter from all my bike activities at around 70 degrees. And you'll see a clumping of what your sweat rate is at that intensity on that activity.
00:25:54
Rich
on that activity
00:25:56
Lauren Brown
And something that's not even as technical as your, like knowing your so sweat rate, just a little quick story again from the Lake Placid race rehearsal that we had.
00:26:06
Lauren Brown
So Lucy, who had her her birthday on the bike, she brought, she had her bottles with, electrolytes and carbs and no regular water.
00:26:17
Lauren Brown
And she did not feel well on the bike ride. So she made it through the first loop and it had to take a little bit of a break. And Coach K.O. got her water. she Coach K.O.
00:26:27
Lauren Brown
came on the course and brought all of us fresh bottles of water, which was like a godsend.
00:26:31
Rich
Oh,
00:26:31
Lauren Brown
I was like, i didn't realize how thirsty I was. It was one of those moments where you drink the water, where you like can't stop yourself from drinking because you're so thirsty.
00:26:40
Lauren Brown
It was like a godsend to be able to have this fresh, plain water. And thank goodness we did that race rehearsal because for Lucy now going into Lake Placid is very aware that she needs to make sure she has, yes, of course, her electrolytes and her carb fuel in her water, but she needs to also have a bottle of plain water also.
00:27:04
Lauren Brown
So good that good lesson to learn on your your race rehearsal and not race day.
00:27:10
Rich
Exactly. Yeah. And, and yeah, and you know, hydration and nutrition, both kind of deal with those separately, right? Because not the, the pairing of all like carbohydrate and sodium products might not be the right ratio for you or for your distance of race.
00:27:30
Rich
Right. So trying to solve those two things separately is usually advisable.
00:27:30
Lauren Brown
Right.
00:27:34
Lauren Brown
Yes. So, all right. Next one. This is a, this is a
Mental Strategies for Racing
00:27:37
Lauren Brown
big one. And I know, um, coach K will say this a lot of times that it's like the the space above your neck or the space between your ears that is going to,
00:27:46
Lauren Brown
play a huge role in how you do, especially the longer the races get, right? So negative self-talk can be extremely detrimental to your race performance. So your thoughts drive your performance. So thinking about, you know, if you could have cues or mantras that help you stay focused. So this isn't this is another thing that has come up a lot with with swimming. This isn't negative self-talk, but this going to be my little tip to anyone who is thinking of ways to keep their mind, their noise a little bit quieter on the swim. So this was a tip that was given to me when I first started doing like Olympic distance. I was at the race, the start, and a woman there was like, what I do when I get like nervous or even just when right when I get in the water is I start singing 100 bottles of beer on the wall.
00:28:39
Lauren Brown
And it's honestly like I know when I would be swimming, the second my mind would start going places where I was like, I don't know how to swim. I'm nervous. I'm scared. I would just start singing a hundred bottles of beer on the wall. And eventually you get to like 96 bottles and you're like, you forgot what you were even giving yourself the negative talk about. So that for me was like a little distraction, but it's like, if you say something enough times, you believe it. And if you can, if you can just as easily say, I don't think I'm going to finish this race. I don't think I can do it. To flip the switch and say, i' am a badass athlete. I know I can do this, right? So there's, it's the the power of positive self-talk can turn things around and negative self-talk could really derail your your performance. so
00:29:30
Rich
I love that. I mean, we are the programming of our environment.
00:29:35
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:29:35
Rich
it seems like it seems like no way could that actually work, right? But it does. It really does. I mean, if you feel like you were just saying, like you're starting to feel so you know feel and anxiety in the water, tell yourself, I am safe.
00:29:53
Lauren Brown
here
00:29:53
Rich
As long as I do this, I am safe. Something that you've practiced in the water, right? As long as I get on my back, I am safe. As long as I breaststroke, I am safe.
00:30:03
Lauren Brown
here
00:30:03
Rich
Yeah, you bet you are.
00:30:04
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:30:05
Rich
you will And and you and you you will want to hear that from yourself. Yeah.
00:30:10
Lauren Brown
Yes. Yes. And even again, like on the run, when you're feeling like if all you're thinking about is that, oh, I'm not a strong runner. I'm not, this is, this is the hardest discipline for me. I always fall apart on the run. Like, if you're, the more you say things like that, the more they become your belief. And it's like, you have to just, even that, like, I am a strong runner. I chase people down on the run.
00:30:32
Lauren Brown
This is where I come alive. Like, and it's, it's funny when I was Marbella, my friend Kathy and I were racing and I felt like I didn't, I did not take enough nutrition and on the bike. And I was really nervous on the run. And I saw my friend Kathy and I'm a little bit stronger a runner than her. And it was like, when I caught up to her on the run, she was like,
00:30:50
Lauren Brown
this is where you like, said something along the lines of like, this is where you come alive, go get them. And I was like, oof you know, like I, that was when I was like, you have to remember your pacing strategy. But I was like, damn, she's right. This is where, this is where I come alive. And it was like, my whole mindset shifted from being like, I don't know if I'm going through this. This is going to be a long 13 miles to all of a sudden I was like, damn right. This is my, this is my leg. Like, you know, so it's powerful.
00:31:17
Rich
Love that. Bike for show, run for dough.
00:31:20
Lauren Brown
Yep.
00:31:20
Rich
There you go.
00:31:21
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:31:22
Rich
Tip, this is this is race mistake number nine, and this a big one. Not having a clear strategy. Like, why would you go in? Like, this is team no guessing, folks.
00:31:34
Rich
when When you're doing a race, any race, any distance, have a strategy for each race. Think through it, you know even like write it out, narrate it out, have something you can react to, and talk it out you know into your phone and you know do voice to text into a ah notepad or note and just and talk it through and reflect on it.
00:31:58
Rich
Have an idea of how, what pace or what effort level rate of perceived exertion, stroke rate, whatever you want to use, you're going to use for your swim.
00:32:11
Rich
How are you going to you know How are you gonna pace the bike? what are What are those target powers on the run? What are those target paces? How are you building in?
00:32:22
Rich
Is it the first, third, second, third, third, third strategy? Is it binary?
00:32:26
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:32:27
Rich
First half is gonna be this, second half is gonna be that. Where is the nutrition happening? Have all of this out in a spreadsheet. i I'm a nerd. I create a crazy hour by hour plan.
00:32:40
Rich
What you are eating, what you are taking in in terms of ounces of fluid, how much electrolyte, how many. Have a plan going into it so that you're not guessing and that you've rehearsed it.
00:32:53
Rich
Like, you know that you've done this plan like two or three times. It's like, you know, it's going to go fine.
00:32:58
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:32:59
Rich
Your confidence level goes up so much.
00:33:01
Lauren Brown
Yeah. And I definitely don't have as fancy like spreadsheets and things that that you have, but I always need to write things out. It's like, I can't just think through it. I have to have things written out so I know, and I have my, like my notes bullets and you know, it's just, you have to, it's the same thing as even like practicing transitions. It's like, you have to have it all dialed in. So yeah.
00:33:24
Lauren Brown
All right. We've made it to the final number 10, which ties into a little bit what we already spoke about, but quitting mentally too early. So not just the negative self-talk, but literally like most athletes, and we still have more in us and we just stop accessing it. So if you, I this i say this in my, like when i'm teaching spin, I always say this. I'm like,
00:33:49
Lauren Brown
a like ignore your mind listen to your body because a lot of times it's your mind saying that your body is done when really it's like i don't know if all of a sudden a bear started chasing you I'm sure you would dig deep and run your freaking heart out but so it's it is always our our our minds give up a lot quicker and I always like I'll I'll cue to this too where I'm like listen like If you feel like you're you've got to stop, just try to go one more minute or just try to go to the next lamppost or just give me 30 more seconds and then reassess, right? So it's like you have to just, if you feel like you need to stop, really check in And is this that I'm just uncomfortable being uncomfortable? Or like, is there really red flags that you need to listen to? You also need to be dialed into podcast.
00:34:41
Lauren Brown
you know, the feedback that your body gives you. But the reality is that, you know, you know, you don't want to be the athlete that looks back and goes, i know that that was my mind and not my body.
00:34:52
Rich
Right. Exactly.
00:34:55
Lauren Brown
Yep.
00:34:55
Rich
Yeah. Well, folks, there you have it. There is your, you know, we've got a execution, not fitness determines race day success, early discipline unlocks late performance and every decision should protect your finish.
Tools and Resources for Athletes
00:35:13
Rich
We have a download for you. If you go to our website, grit to greatness, endurance.com, go to the free download page and you will find this. All you got to do is just you know submit your email and we will make sure that you get a copy of this thing and it will be part of bulletproofing your race strategy for your very next race.
00:35:37
Lauren Brown
Love it. All right. Are you ready for the fun segment?
Interactive Race Day Preferences Game
00:35:40
Rich
We're going to this. Are we going to do that?
00:35:42
Lauren Brown
It's going to be a little bit of race day, this or that.
00:35:46
Rich
All right.
00:35:46
Lauren Brown
that
00:35:47
Rich
I love it.
00:35:48
Lauren Brown
All right. So like we said, it is time. It is race day, this or that, the game where we find out whether you're a calm, calculated racer or one minor inconvenience away from rethinking your entire life.
00:36:02
Lauren Brown
So play along with us. We're going to be answering and you guys play along. We're going to give you two race day choices. You're going pick one and you're going to defend it.
00:36:14
Lauren Brown
All right. So I'll kick it off with number one, start line style. Would you rather be 90 minutes early with everything perfectly organized or five minutes early, slightly panicked, but somehow ready to go?
00:36:30
Rich
Oh my God. For me, this is a no brainer. I am, um my other phrase is there's no penalty for being early. So I will be there 90 minutes early with everything perfectly organized, maybe even a little earlier.
00:36:44
Rich
ah
00:36:45
Lauren Brown
like How early can we get here? its i I am with you. i am a 90 minutes early. I've raced two races with my friend Phil and we raced to Haines City together and Eagle Man together.
00:36:59
Lauren Brown
And I got to tell you, he always forgot something where he was having to go back. Like he forgot his helmet in his car, had to take the bus back. He forgot all of his gels at the house we were staying in Florida in Haines City. i was like,
00:37:15
Lauren Brown
I didn't go back with him, but i'm like, you're going to give me a freaking panic attack because he literally got back to transition both races, like right before they were closing. I was like, how are you doing this? This is making me so stressed out. So for me, i like to be there 90 minutes early. If you're my partner in crime on that race day and you're not able to be there 90 minutes early, you're alone.
00:37:36
Rich
I mean, I've seen, you know, I volunteer a lot and I've seen so many people that are, you know that are panicking, struggling to get out. The transition captain is kicking them out. You know, they've got people hovering You don't need that.
00:37:51
Rich
It's kind of stress.
00:37:52
Lauren Brown
Yeah. yeah
00:37:53
Rich
Set your alarm, get there early. don't ah Don't underestimate how long it's going to take for things to happen. if there's a shuttle involved or, you know, you've never done this race before, man, plan for the worst.
00:38:06
Lauren Brown
Yeah. So stressful.
00:38:09
Rich
All right. You ready for your this or that?
00:38:13
Lauren Brown
Yes.
00:38:14
Rich
Okay. Audience play along here with law. Here we go. Fueling choice. Would you rather have all of your favorite race nutrition, but it is just warm? I mean, it's warm. It's been sitting in the sun or have ice cold nutrition that you've never tried before.
00:38:31
Lauren Brown
Oh, I mean, I'm going to go warm nutrition that I know. i know that's gross. And, um, but I just, I've had other gels and things in the past, not during races. Actually, no one race. I did have a gel that, but it was at mile like 11. So I knew I only had like two miles to go, but i just, I like my tried and true. And if it's warm, it's, it's going to be warm.
00:38:57
Rich
Yeah, I'm kind of with you. Yeah, I am with you. If I've never tried it before, i don't care how cold it is.
00:39:04
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah. It depends on, I mean, I guess it depends on how late in the race it is, but like,
00:39:09
Rich
It's true. Yeah, that's true. I mean, if you're like in the last 30 minutes or something, I don't know.
00:39:13
Lauren Brown
yeah. All right. Transition situation. Would you rather have the slowest transition in your age group, but never forget anything or have the fastest transition, but realize halfway through the bike that your nutrition is still in transition? Yeah.
00:39:29
Rich
ah for philosopher As much as I hate to say this, cause like, i like I, like I go out of my way to like really have smoking fast transitions.
00:39:39
Rich
but So for me to say that I would rather have the slowest transition in my age group is like really painful for me, but I would rather do that than have something I really need nutrition wise on the bike.
00:39:53
Lauren Brown
Yeah, I'm with you. Agreed.
00:39:55
Rich
I mean, it kind of depends on the slowest transition. i mean, come on. I mean, if it's like 15 minutes and thirty I don't know.
00:40:03
Lauren Brown
Yeah, and I mean, I'm with you.
00:40:04
Rich
Within reason.
00:40:07
Rich
All right.
00:40:08
Rich
Here's your, would you rather race day weather? Number four, race day weather. Would you rather race in a steady rain for the entire event or unexpected heat that shows up halfway through?
00:40:21
Lauren Brown
So like can i ask a clarifying question? Steady rain.
00:40:25
Rich
Uh-huh.
00:40:26
Lauren Brown
Does it mean steady like rain?
00:40:29
Rich
good All right. Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I like this. i like the clarification.
00:40:33
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:40:34
Rich
If it is raining like a drizzly rain, let's just say it's a drizzly rain for the entire event.
00:40:40
Lauren Brown
I'll take the drizzly rain. I'll take the drizzly rain because that like if I know it's going to be that way, i already know my, i probably have all my hydration properly planned and I know what to expect. So I just, I know that that's what it's going to be. Um, and I would then just be mindful of paint lines, stopping all those things. But if it's like, I do okay in the heat, but again, if you're not prepared for it, that could totally like ruin your run as well too. So
00:41:16
Lauren Brown
Yeah. And I don't mind the rain too much if it's like a little rain.
00:41:19
Rich
If it's a little rain, I agree with you. In fact, I love that for the run. Oh my gosh, please give me a light drizzle rain. I love that.
00:41:26
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:41:28
Rich
But I'll tell you what, from my, would you rather, i'm going to use the scenario of Ironman Cozumel.
00:41:35
Rich
I was two miles into the run, maybe even, ah maybe not even. And all of a sudden I looked down the road and I could not see past a certain point. I'm like,
00:41:46
Rich
mean, I should be, mean, that's just going toward the airport. I should be able to see why, why can't I see anything is like something wrong with my vision. Like what is going on? And then I realized, Oh crap, that's a wall of water.
00:41:59
Lauren Brown
My God.
00:42:01
Rich
It was such a downpour that for the entire marathon, I kid you not, law we were running like it, there's like road curb,
00:42:13
Rich
And it is a river. Like you were like, you were literally just running in water at this deep all.
00:42:15
Lauren Brown
okay
00:42:20
Lauren Brown
Yeah, that I don't want.
00:42:22
Rich
It was horrible. Like I even changed my socks at, you know, like I, I had socks and special needs just because they were slightly drier and fresher than what I had on.
00:42:33
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:34
Rich
And they were soaked in a second. I mean,
00:42:36
Lauren Brown
No. Yeah. See that I would say I'd rather heat if it was like rain, that was like rain, wind and like heavy, I'll take the heat. I'm not, I don't do too bad in the heat, but if it's like a drip, if it's like a calm rain, definitely not your Cozumel rain.
00:42:48
Lauren Brown
No, absolutely not. All right. You're up with mental game. Would you rather have a flawless race plan, but terrible self-talk all day or great confidence, but no real pacing or fueling plan.
00:43:09
Rich
This is so hard. ah All right. I'm going to go with
00:43:14
Rich
Okay. Because i have done this a little bit, I probably have, you know, some race plan memory and fueling pant plan memory.
00:43:30
Rich
So I'm going to say, and I'm going to say, I would rather have my good self-talk feel confident and really just try to like, maybe not having like the most dialed in plan, but going by field, knowing I've got some experience that's guiding my effort.
00:43:51
Lauren Brown
Yeah. I'm a thousand percent confidence over the pacing or fueling plan because like I said, mindset can totally override, you know, like as long as I know that there's fuel somewhere to be had.
00:44:05
Lauren Brown
and I like to believe my gut is so much strong. I'm with you. We just it.
00:44:08
Rich
Yeah.
00:44:09
Lauren Brown
Mental game, man. Everything.
00:44:11
Rich
Love it. All right. Well, here you go This or that the mid race decision, would you rather slow down for two minutes to reset and save your race or push through the rough patch and risk blowing up later?
00:44:26
Lauren Brown
This is going to be my, I'm going to go back to this, I'm sure in a week where I'm going say, I'm going slow down for two minutes to reset and save my race because it could be a long, long day if you blow up.
00:44:39
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:44:40
Rich
Love it.
00:44:41
Lauren Brown
That is my, that is my final answer.
00:44:43
Rich
I agree 100%.
00:44:46
Lauren Brown
Yep. All right. Finish line feels. Last one. Finish line choice. Would you rather finish knowing you paced perfectly but had a little left in the tank or finish completely empty knowing you gave everything but may have overcooked it early?
00:45:04
Rich
I'm going to go with pace perfectly and had just a little bit left in the tank so that I am really finishing strong. I want to be able to have that reserve. If there's another military age male coming up on me to be able to kick it into gear.
00:45:18
Rich
Okay.
00:45:19
Lauren Brown
Yeah. I mean, uh,
00:45:23
Lauren Brown
I usually have a little left in the tank. And so I know that that's how I like to end. Like I'm probably somebody that people look at and they go, well, she finished a little too fast.
00:45:33
Lauren Brown
Like where i you know, like i'm like sprinting down the freaking thing at at age group nationals. Um, not last the year before i sprinted, i think, to the end. And we all started together, so I must have been just, and i didn't I didn't even realize that this girl was in my age group. I think I beat her by like two seconds.
00:45:54
Lauren Brown
I was like, she was probably looked at that those results and was like, man. So I probably had a little bit too, I mean, I'm happy I had that little extra in the tank.
00:46:03
Rich
You bet, right? Because it came in handy, right?
00:46:06
Lauren Brown
Yeah, it came in handy. So yeah, i'm with you though. I'd like to pace it perfectly and and have that like, Cause it it feels so good running fast through the finish line too. Like it just feels good to be able to like, I mean, good, good ish we'll say.
00:46:20
Rich
Well, and you know, listen, there's there's a lot of photos that are happening at the end of year 70.3 or Ironman folks. You know, ah yeah there's a couple of ways to come across that finish line. You can come across hobbling and barfing and all those things.
00:46:36
Rich
Or you can come along with a big smile on your face, two arms pumped into the air because you're finished strong.
00:46:41
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
Smart Decision-Making and Sponsorship
00:47:01
Rich
So before your next race, know your answers before your race day arrives, build this plan, practice the plan, and then trust yourself enough to execute it. Don't forget to download, come to our website and download our guide.
00:47:14
Lauren Brown
Yes, and also part of your race rehearsal strategy and your racing strategy should include a little something from our show sponsor, right? So this episode is brought to you by Vespa Power Endurance Nutrition. Vespa helps you unlock steady, efficient energy, reduce dependency on constant fueling, perform stronger for longer. And I do have to say i use it during my race rehearsals.
00:47:39
Lauren Brown
I use it during my harder training sessions. And I absolutely have my Vespa Junior, my CV25 already ready to go for Lake Placid.
00:47:50
Lauren Brown
So I'm excited to have that little in my back pocket. So you can get 15% off with code G2G15. Visit Vespa Power to learn more.
00:48:02
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:48:03
Rich
Yeah, you do so you want to save hours in your race. Use Vespa.
00:48:07
Lauren Brown
There we go.
00:48:07
Rich
There you
00:48:08
Lauren Brown
Don't worry about everything else we just said. don
00:48:10
Rich
ha Folks, if you've got a question from today's episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast. ah If you've got a ah you know, share it with a training partner, leave us a review.
00:48:24
Rich
We would love to hear from you. Find your grit at Grit to Greatness Endurance. And if you are listening today and thinking, I want to be a part of something like this, you don't have to be coached again to be a part of our community. We've got great We got great stories about real athletes balancing life, work, and training, supporting each other every step of the way. Come check us out.
00:48:45
Rich
Remember, you don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Have a good support system. Let's build yours the right way here at Grit to Greatness Endurance.
00:48:58
Rich
Hey folks, if you've enjoyed this episode, please follow us and leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts and YouTube. It helps us reach more athletes just like you. Stay gritty, train smart, and keep chasing greatness. We will see you next week.