Author:  Matt Dixon

Question of the Week

Question:

When I am thinking about an upcoming B race, I always struggle to identify how I should think about the outcomes and goal I am chasing.  I love racing and the journey to it, but while I know the goal race (an IRONMAN with a goal to finish!), how should I look at the races leading in?

Answer:

It is common for athletes to struggle with mindset when it comes to lead-in races or second priority events.  Key races often bubble up goals without much effort whether it is completion, age group finish, qualification, or a prime performance.  Regular races often sit uncomfortably for athletes, but there is no need to.

Framing Success

I think the most important part of the mental approach is to extinguish any feelings that these races are pass/fail tests of self worth.  If you have trained great, been consistent and shown improvements across areas — all these areas of improvement are still there 24 hours following race day — no matter the performance.  Of course, great training should ultimately mean great racing, but this doesn’t mean a single bad performance necessarily equates to a failing plan or athlete.

Typically, I like to approach races from a "building block" mindset, looking to execute a race that offers lessons and opportunity for insights on the athlete and a chance to develop continued performance from.  I always start with a very simple goal of the race:

To maximize the performance relative to what the body provides.

This sounds simple, but it is important.  There is a commitment to this statement. If we were hitting the race on the back of a training camp or perhaps some interruptions in preparation, we may have lower confidence or physical readiness, but we can still pursue our best performance relative to how we arrive.  In addition, we are committing to the fact that, no matter what adversity we are met with on the day, we will finish "the mission" with best effort and execution. This is all about problem-solving and navigating what is in front of you at any time of the day, no matter what happens.

With this commitment in hand, you are then equipped to think about the approach.  Times are relatively meaningless as we race in variable terrain, conditions, and even distances (with funky course measurement common!).  I am also not a fan of laying out some specific metric goal such as "averaging 200W on the bike." It removes all decision making and troubleshooting on the day and anchors metrics as a goal, which may not actually lead to great performance.

Instead, we have two to three main objectives of each discipline.  Tasks or projects that you can execute on that will lead to lessons and best performance.  We may then think about overall approach and effort. Are you going to swim and ride on the edge of smart effort, then control the run?  Not a smart thing to do if you have traditional weakness in running off the bike. Are you going to test pacing strategies on the bike or run?  All are open to planning but must be thought out in advance. Generally, I prefer simplicity. A managed or pragmatic effort with the swim and early stages on the ride being a little more conservative to opening the door to a building performance over the day.  Execute on this, and we have a real building block and path forward. It is a positive lesson physically and emotionally. Much preferred to being on the other side of the equation, going out hard and blowing up!

Cheers,

Matt