{"id":16884,"date":"2023-09-27T16:05:21","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T23:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/?p=16884"},"modified":"2025-06-19T06:37:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T06:37:32","slug":"i-practice-what-i-preach-world-triathlon-championships-i-struck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/i-practice-what-i-preach-world-triathlon-championships-i-struck\/","title":{"rendered":"I Practice What I Preach: World Triathlon Championships-I Struck\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unfortunately, no, I didn\u2019t strike gold at the World Super-sprint and Standard-distance Triathlon Championships, held in Pontevedra, Spain, last week, but I did collect another precious medal. But first, some back story.<\/p>\n

These races were my fourth \u201cA\u201d series of triathlons in my 2023 season that began in April. Up to these Worlds, it had been a truly remarkable season that exceeded every\u00a0\"\"<\/a>possible expectation I had after a very good 2022 season. My 2023 results to date include my first national age-group championship title, three other top-3 finishes at Nationals, and a 5th<\/sup> and 3rd at the World Sprint and Mixed-relay Championships, respectively, in Germany in July.<\/p>\n

I approached the Pontevedra races in my best shape of the season, both physically and mentally. My coach, Dr. Greg Rhodes (Ph.D., Exercise Physiology) once again managed my training and racing masterfully. Interestingly, after an intense four-week training block after Nationals in early August, I hit rock bottom two weekends before Spain. That weekend, I had plans for an intense swim and long ride on\"\"<\/a> Saturday followed by a high-intensity ride-run brick on Sunday. But when I woke on Saturday, I couldn\u2019t get myself to do anything. The same thing happened on Sunday. I couldn\u2019t even get motivated enough to do an easy spin all weekend. Obviously, I\u2019m a very motivated guy, so, clearly, my body was sending a very loud message and, thankfully, my mind listened. Greg told me that the \u201chay was already in the barn,\u201d so rest and recovery was far more important than a few intense workouts. Then, as Greg predicted, my mojo returned on Monday, I did a few more low-volume, high intensity workouts that week, and I left for Spain rested and fired up to race.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>2023 was my first year as a true threat at the national and international levels and my successes so far in the season had steadily built my confidence leading up to Pontevedra. I was more confident and excited than ever before. I entered these races with the same two process goals that I have for every race: 1) execute my race plan flawlessly; and 2) leave it all out on the course.<\/p>\n

But my reality is that I\u2019m a competitive guy in a competitive sport in a competitive world, and one reason I race is to see how I stack up against the best in the world. So, I can\u2019t ignore that I have outcome goals for my \u201cA\u201d races. My race goals for Pontevedra included a podium in the Super-sprint, with a dream goal of\"\"<\/a> winning a world tile, and a top-10 in the Standard-distance (I\u2019ve accepted that I\u2019m just faster at the shorter distances). I was also walking that fine line between expectations and goals that I struggled with in my previous \u201cA\u201d races. The added weight of these races was that, with success, you (and others) expect it to continue and even increase. Admittedly, I was not practicing what I preach with the athletes with whom I work. Plus, as I learned in previous World Championships, you never know who is going to show up, so there is little certainty about how realistic your race goals are.<\/p>\n

One thing is for sure, I hadn\u2019t been this positive and excited to race all season. At the same time, I \"\"<\/a>definitely felt some nerves as the Super-sprint approached. This was where I actually did practice what I preach by shifting to my process goals, that is, my race preparations and routines, combined with race imagery several times a day, leading up to race day.<\/p>\n

Super-sprint<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Super-sprint is an all-out, full-gas effort that involves a 300-meter swim, six-kilometer bike, and one-mile run and lasts under 30 minutes. It is truly a sprint from start to finish where every second counts (more on that last point shortly).<\/p>\n

One of the great things about having a coach with a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology is that he knows exactly what is required physiologically for an event like this. Also, thanks to lessons learned in previous Super-\"\"<\/a>sprints this season, and drawing on my experience as a mental coach, I had a much better idea of what my ideal mindset needed to be to withstand the pain of such an intense effort. In my training leading up to this race and particularly on race morning, I focused on two things.<\/p>\n

First, I steadily built my physical intensity and heart rate up before the start of the swim. I wasn\u2019t still for a moment in the five minutes before my race began; I was doing squats, push-ups, and jumping up and \"\"<\/a>down. The rationale behind this is just like in drag racing. While waiting for the lights to go from red to yellow to green, the drivers don\u2019t have their right foot off the gas pedal idling the engine because they know that going from 1000rpm to 10,000rpm in a few seconds will be show. Rather, they are revving their engines at 7,000 to 8,000rpm, so that when the light turns green and they slam the gas pedal down, they can quickly get up to 10,000rpm and blast off the line.<\/p>\n

Second, I trained for and adopted an aggressive mindset before the race. Let me explain why. Our primitive brains don\u2019t like and strongly resist any experience of pain. It\u2019s an evolutionary thing; back on \"\"<\/a>the Serengeti 250,000 years ago when we first officially became Home Sapiens, if we experienced pain, death was soon to follow. In fact, this resistance to pain began more than 250,000,000 years ago when living creatures first climbed out of the primordial muck. So, in redlining during a Super-sprint, we are trying to defy all those years of evolution.<\/p>\n

As the Super-sprint progresses, our primitive brain sends a message to our body with increased volume and vehemence to slow down or stop. If we don\u2019t do anything to counter that message, that\u2019s what will happen. Thankfully for triathletes in 2023, we also have an evolved brain (the cerebral cortex) that allows\"\"<\/a> us to make choices and that\u2019s where the aggressive mindset comes into play. As our primitive brain screams at us to stop, an aggressive mindset (e.g., \u201ccharge,\u201d \u201cattack!\u201d) can override those primitive urges and allow our bodies to push hard in the face of growing discomfort.<\/p>\n

As part of my pre-race routine and continuing through each leg of the Super-sprint, my aggressive mindset was constantly exhorting my body to keep going hard. I had four \u201cmantras\u201d associated with my aggressive mindset:<\/p>\n