Ditch the Expectations—and Race Your Best
With USAT Multisport Nationals happening this week in Omaha (I’ll be racing three events myself!), I wanted to share something that could make or break your performance on race day: expectations. At first glance, expectations seem positive. The dictionary defines them as “a strong belief that something will happen in the future” or “a belief […]
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Triathlon Imagery: The Mental Tool You Should Be Using
Triathlon is a brutal sport! It’s not just one sport—it’s three. And that means your body and brain are constantly being pushed to the edge. You’re not just fighting physical fatigue—you’re battling heat, hills, pain, nerves, and unpredictability. So, here’s the big question: What if there was a mental tool that could help you train […]
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Three Race-day Goals for Triathlon Success
Defining success in triathlon is a difficult task. When I ask most athletes and coaches how they define success, it is usually in terms of results, whether wins, rankings, or times. For others, though, success is being healthy and fit, enjoying their races, and just finishing. Though, admittedly, results are the ultimate determinant of success […]
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The Psychology of Extreme Heat for Triathletes: Don’t Sweat it
The 2025 triathlon is officially underway! One challenge that most of us can expect is extreme heat in some of our races. I’m heading Omaha in June for USAT Multisport Nationals and to Milwaukee in August for USAT Triathlon Nationals, both of which we can expect hot and humid race conditions. Thankfully, it won’t be […]
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Positive Self-talk for Triathlon Training and Racing
Perhaps the most powerful mental tool to build your confidence is positive self-talk. What you say to yourself away from triathlon, when you’re training, and during races impacts what you think, how you feel, and how you perform in training and on race day. Whatever you think more of—whether positive or negative—will determine the road […]
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Make Every Day a Good Day of Triathlon Training
One of the most frequent comments I hear from the triathletes I work and friends I train with is: “I had a lousy day of training.” This statement was almost always accompanied by a variety of emotions that are neither pleasant nor helpful including frustration, anger, worry, doubt, and disappointment, and, occasionally, despair. Moreover, I […]
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Transitions in Triathlon Matter, Here’s Now to Nail Them
I think it’s unfair to call triathlons triathlons. By its very name, triathlon suggests that there are three events in the sport. However, as we all know, there are two other events that can have a big impact on where you end up in the results at the end of the day. Of course, I’m […]
Read MoreConfidence is the Key to Race-day Success
For most of us, the off-season prep period is over (I had my first race a few weeks ago) and our conditioning and training regimens are becoming increasingly race specific. All that hard work since the end of the 2024 season has been devoted to increasing your strength and stamina so you can go hard […]
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I Practice What I Preach: Pushing My Limits (Volume)
Greetings from Las Playitas, on the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. Las Playitas is a true triathletes’ dream, with the most amazing 50m pool and open-water swimming, biking, running, and strength training. I’m here on the last day of my first-ever “tra-cation” (training vacation) during which I’m continuing my “Don’t Violate the Law […]
Read MoreI Practice What I Preach: Don’t Violate the Law of Insanity During Your Triathlon Off-season
After an 11-year break from triathlon, I rejoined our sport in 2019 and have been a committed short-course triathlete ever since. For the past several years, I’ve been on pretty much the same training program, and it has served me very well, having worked my way up the ranks and having achieved national championship titles […]
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