This year we saw a return to racing as we knew it before COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill. As normal as things may feel, let’s not forget that the virus is still out there and too many people are affected by the suffering it brings. The best way to protect yourself is to keep up with the current vaccination protocol. After that, live a healthy lifestyle. Exercise, eat healthy, and get plenty of sleep. If you are one of the small minority who live this way you have probably noticed how rarely you are sick. 

My year began with a quest to find out what was going on with my heart. I withdrew from the 2021 marathon at the 10k finish at Kapiolani Park with a crazy high heart rate and feeling dizzy. This was not new to me but I thought I had it under control with medication. Unfortunately I was not carrying my Kardia EKG and could not get a recording. In March I ran the 10k hard, in order to trigger the same response, and from that recording my cardiologist could determine I do not have A-fib.

“Keep it simple stupid.” This phrase has been around for a long time. Personally I am not a fan of the final word, but it does remind us that not everyone we communicate with has an advanced degree. 

Any discussion about endurance training can quickly get lost in the weeds. “A deep dive,” and “down the rabbit hole” are phrases I often hear in discussions about training. A coach should learn as much as they can about sport science, while learning how to guide an athlete’s development without dazzling them with unfamiliar words and concepts.

There was a time when the race season would be over by now. The world has gotten smaller. There are races of all kinds year ‘round. What we still have are special races, markers that to some extent signify the end of the season. In cycling that would be the World Championships, many days of races in every conceivable format. In triathlon we have Kona, a race steeped in tradition and considered by most to be the pinnacle of triathlon achievement. 

Coaching. It's not about me. 

My goal is to help you clarify your athletic goals and why you want to pursue them, and then guide you on your path to success. Along the way you will encounter all of the reasons why you might fail, and, working together, we will do what it takes to overcome those challenges.

If you do some research on endurance training you are bound to come across statements about how training needs to reflect the demands of the upcoming race. A fancy word for this idea is specificity. Wow, five syllables. A mouthful. Use it and you will sound authoritative. Oh, another twenty five cent word!

“I’m not good enough.”
“I’m not ready.”
“I’m too old.”
“I’m too fat.”

These are just some of the thoughts people experience that interfere with taking on a challenge. The challenge can be just about anything. A new job. A final exam. A new relationship. Having children. Running a marathon. Even hiring a coach to help you prepare for that triathlon you have been thinking about.

I have decided to post more about your training and less about mine. Or perhaps that will turn out to be more posts overall. We’ll see. My initial goal for today was the coach/athlete relationship, but right off the bat I wanted to deal with the imposter syndrome, and that brought me around to the chimp brain construct. I will start there, and eventually arrive at my goal in a later post.

It’s great to see triathlon return to Hawaii in full force. Sunday’s Na Wahine is the latest in what I hope will be a long string of events. I wish all of the participants good luck, and remember to keep it fun. And, if you want help preparing for your next race, drop me a line.

My dear wife just forwarded me an advertisement for Form swim goggles, the ones that display metrics like time and distance in a heads up display. When she does this I take it as permission to buy. Not bad, since these goggles cost plenty. The only reason I don't already have them is they do not offer corrective lenses. Now that I swim exclusively open water their value would be questionable because they get pace data from the Garmin watch, and stroke by stroke pace data is wildly inaccurate.