If you are a fan of American football you probably watch pre-game shows where all these experts sit there and tell you how big the players are on a certain team, how fast they run and all their statistics. They also tell you the average weight of the offensive line. Yet many times the team with the best numbers does not win. This is why we play the game they say. Past numbers are not what determine the winners.
Triathlon is much the same way. With power meters, heart rate monitors, labs and exercise physiologists eager to invite you to the lab our sport has created a new kind of athlete. That is the numbers athlete. If this sport was about who had the highest lactic threshold or the lowest body fat, or the highest VO2 MAX we would just go to a lab do the test and wait for the email announcing your victory. Fortunately that is not the case. It is about going from the swim start to the end of the run. The one who does it fastest wins.
The one with the best numbers does not always win. Here is a list of intangibles that I feel are essential to a good race performance. I yet have seen a way to measure these.
Execute your nutrition and hydration plan.
So many people do not even have a plan but even if you do. You still have to concentrate on race day to execute it. The number of emails with nutrition plans that went out the window fills my inbox. You can not test this in the lab.
Execute your pacing plan
I really love this one. Over my entire athletic career I have beaten many guys that are way more talented than me but that fail to have a good pace and I end up passing them towards the end on race day. When to go hard and when to take it easy and let people go is crucial to your best athletic performance regardless of the length of the race. Just a couple of days ago at the Track and Field World Championships Alan Webb who is the fastest 1500 meter runner in the world for the last few years had a horrible performance. He could not hang on to his lead at the end of the race. He led most of the race but was passed by almost everyone on the last 200 meters. I call that bad pacing my friends.
Have calmness and confidence.
If you think you are going to have a bad race you just may. Even when a plan goes sour your first thought should be that you can still figure out how to deal with it and have a good race. Don’t panic, don’t cry (you all know who this is), don’t for a second doubt your abilities. As they say “stuff happens” but keep your mind in the game. As Mark Allen says: You may not have a perfect race but you can raced it perfectly. Don’t understimate yourself if your race is better than you thought. Act like you have been there. Just because the fastest local guy/girl shows up to race it does not mean you can not beat him/her. Someone will someday, why not you?
Don’t ruin your race in the last two weeks and trust what you have done in training.
One of our (USA) Olympic triathletes was seen at the track doing intervals the night before the Olympic triathlon. I am going to guess that this person felt so unfit that needed to go to the track to prove that it was not the case. Needless to say the race was not a success. That is an extreme case for sure but again: My email inbox always sees emails about how hard it is to rest and not work out during taper. About how not working out has caused them to gain a couple of pounds before the race. I also get questions as to how should the recovery week should be or how they need the plan for the next race. If you have a race you need to concentrate on it. Looking past is just a sign of un-preparedness and lack of concentration. No matter what happened we need to keep the eye on the task at hand. Rest and race smart. Do not over train it is better to be 10% under-trained than 1% over-trained.
Willingness to dig deep
How can this one be explained? How much can you hurt and suffer. A sprint triathlon is all about that but even an Ironman can be very painful. The last hour of an Ironman if you managed to get there in good shape is all about pain tolerance. Many people that even arrive to the last hour in good shape are so beat up that they can not possible take more pounding. So they get to the line hydrated and with a nice low heart rate but wasted legs. At some point it becomes a race of determination.
Do not put undue pressure on yourself.
Our sport is fun and for most of us it is about getting better and about the journey to get there. Winning your age group does not mean you go to heaven (If you are religious). Your boss (if you have one) will most likely want you to show up for work at the same time Monday. Your parents or kids will not love you any more or any less even if you do not finish. Even if you do win the race you now become the marked person to beat and that is more difficult to handle than winning for the first time. The only time that you should put pressure on yourself is to get out the door and train. Pressure to perform on race day is actually detrimental. Let your training carry you on race day. Trust that if you are fit and execute your race plan you will do well.
The last big races of the year are coming up so hopefully this will help some of you taking part. We still have a few more weeks of training that will make the big difference on race day. Get out the door and do them smart. After that it is all about the intangibles. Good luck.