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Showing posts from September, 2015

Ironman Wisconsin from a different perspective...

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The infamous 2010 sprint finish with Ironman Champion and friend, Max Longree.  The pic from above was from 2010, when Max Longree and I sprinted it out for 5th place at Ironman Wisconsin. For the record, the only reason I beat max on this day was because he started the swim late due to a wetsuit malfunction. Outside of my first, the moment above was probably my most memorable from Ironman Wisconsin. It was my first "successful" race across the Ironman distance. I finally broke the 9hr barrier on this course and finished 5th in 8:55. It was my 9th attempt here in Madison and somewhere around my 20th Ironman. A lot of folks ask me how I feel now that there isn't a Professional Men's race here in Madison for the time being. The race was taken away by the owners of Ironman (World Triathlon Corporation - WTC) in an attempt to consolidate the fields and bring up the level of competition at fewer races. Whether or not it is/has been successful is/has yet

Why Do Athlete's Psych Themselves Out During Taper?

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An observation from the last 12 years of coaching is that m any athletes fall off a cliff when it comes to taper. Here is my take on it and some advice to help. TRAINING: Usually, during training, the athlete's mind focuses working hard, being tough and getting it done. The athlete is not being afraid of things feeling a little hard from time to time and views training as fitness in the bank and suffering is sometimes a part of process. TAPER When the athlete gets to taper, sometimes it's like a switch flips inside the athlete's head and the focus then revolves around "am I feeling tired" or "is this feeling too hard" or "I'm not going to have a good race because..." +++ What you will notice is that mentality described in paragraph one during training is process oriented. You will then notice that the second paragraph during taper is largely driven by fear, anxiety and is not at all process oriented. This is w