The faces told the story, and the obvious topic from Ironman Chattanooga is the tough conditions–but how did athletes that raced well handle heat better than others? Today, we dig deeper into why expectations can turn into future resentments and why the toughest race you'll ever face is the one you're training for. What we learned from Chattanooga and how tough days like this help us find our "why." 

Topics:

• Lots of hot action
• The toughest race you’re going to do
• Assuming things before the race
• Fried off the bike
• Truly knowing your body
• Displays of toughness
• Out there alone finding your why
• Attaching ourselves to outcomes
• Finding your why not
• Comparing races
• Think about the obstacles you overcame
• Expectations are future resentments
• You can’t “win” every day
• When you speak things into existence
• Put for the effort, execute, and listen to yourself
• Are you worried about disappointing your coach?
• We’re never really “there”
• Change is a Process
• Internalizing your pressure
• Racing for free and fun
• Find your happy place in the race

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!

Mike and Robbie hit the Ironman Chattanooga Expo for a race preview podcast recorded at the Blue Plate. The vibe, the scene, some more race tips for what promises to be a hot day. 

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Topics:

• IronKids
• Race Mentality
• Procrastinating pain
• Jim Lubinski sighting
• Pro Predictions
• Is back to back races a good idea?
• Cooling Buses on the course
• Swim mindset
• Well Wishes to racers
• How to "slow down" your mind 

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!

Have you ever thought of post-races as a reverse taper? Sort of a cool down back to your baseline? Today, we look at some struggles Mike has faced since Ironman Wisconsin and how shifting perspective and balancing expectations is the right approach to the next goal. Moving on but taking what you have with you. How do we "re-discover discovery" after a long goal is met? We also take a look at Ironman Chattanooga race strategy towards the end. 

Topics:

• Chattanooga Heat
• Different levels of fatigue
• How long does an Ironman Recovery take?
• The reverse taper
• Phantom Pains
• “Warm Down”
• Fitness doesn’t disappear as quick as you think
• Losing the Immediacy of a race
• Races as a motivator
• Psychology behind post-ironman
• Losing weight process
• Balancing Your Expectations
• The Excitement of Discovery
• Re-discovering Discovery
• Process Oriented Thinking
• Removing Expectations
• The Little Things add Up
• Do Your Best and Leave The Rest
• Remind Yourself Why It’s Good
• Moving forward vs. Laboring In the Past
• It’s Okay to Change
• When to give up on Goals
• When goals are counterproductive
• Mini- Ironman Chattanooga Preview

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!

Who wins? An athlete with the most talent or the one who makes the best decisions? In long course racing, we lean toward the latter. The only things you control are effort and execution and when it's hot, those play an amplified role. Today we talk about how to make the right decisions and why you need to calibrate your thought process when race conditions are tougher than normal. 

Topics:

• Talent vs. Discipline and Execution
• Racing in Heat
• Mental, Physical, Emotional for Heat
• When athletes forgo being smart
• Times vs. Overall vs. the Field
• Is Mike doing Louisville?
• An official bonk
• Racing Risky vs. Haphazard
• Stay cool as long as you can
• It’s rarely your run to blame
• Giving up time on the bike
• Knowing the athlete’s strengths as a coach
• Don’t be fooled by temps on the bike
• Can you enjoy a bike pass?
• Self-sabotage
• Never compare races
• Decisions decide the outcome later
• We want gains now!
• Decisions should mostly lead to no change
• Spending more energy to get it done now
• Delegating your energy throughout the race
• Ironman Wisconsin Tribute Video

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!

How do you move Speed and Durability Needles for long distance racing? Planning your calendar in cycles and blocks is one of the trickiest parts of training. Mike talks about some mistakes he made going into Wisconsin and Coach Robbie gives us lots to think about when it comes to improving cardio vs. building your chassis. Plus, the key to "un-loading," why hills are so important, and how to prepare for open water swimming.

Topics:

• Open Water Swim Mentality
• How to prepare for Open Water
• Why certain bikes have more drafting
• Why Mike botched the IMWI swim
• How to Swim Ironman Chattanooga
• How to Swim Ironman Louisville
• There’s no substitute for 25’s and 50’s
• Understanding Training Blocks
• Why we get “over-trained”
• The key to “un-loading”
• Handling Odd Work Schedules
• Cardio improves faster than the Chassis
• Why Hill Work is so Important
• How much should we push the needle in running?
• How do we find the breaking point?
• Speed vs. Durability
• Giving yourself more time

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!

A lot of times our first instinct is to blame someone or something, but the truth usually sits within us. Our effort, our consistency, and our timing. Today, we talk a lot about off season and the best ways to make sure you're tinkering from a smart place. We also look at the concept of training backwards and the importance of building a chassis that can support the engine. 

Topics:

• Fun time of the year
• Chomping at bit or struggling to move on?
• Resting on your laurels?
• Hardest part of being a coach
• Planning backwards
• Looking at your A-Race a year out
• Building trust and restraint
• Building the chassis vs engine
• Fast and short builds
• When training gets stale
• Intensity and distribution and stress
• Accumulated stress score
• When do you need intensity?
• Strategic Tinkering
• Do you take risks?
• Consistency vs. Modification
• Goals and Guilt
• What are we willing to sacrifice?

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!

Today we stare down the barrel of brutally honest reflection on the training we’ve done for a particular race. How do we genuinely solve our problems. Were we lulled to sleep by peaking too early? Did you confuse a weakness for a strength? Did you run too far and not enough? Midway through this cast Robbie asks Mike a question that may entirely change the way he trains. 

Topics: 

• How do you feel after races?
• When we get a case of the BUT’S?
• Are you energized by the challenge?
• Getting better with age?
• Problem solving as a coach
• Not being distracted by what didn’t work
• Are shorter builds better?
• 70.3 vs Ironman Training
• Peak Phase 5-7 Weeks?
• 1/2 marathon vs. an easy 17 miles
• Peaking too early?
• False sense of security
• Interval cycling
• Running Frequency vs. Distance
• Double Ride Weekends are King
• Long runs overrated?
• Getting Tired Doesn’t Mean You’re fitter
• When more training makes you slower
• How to appropriately challenge yourself
• 35% Long Run formula
• Are you mistaking your strength?
• Who slows down the least defined

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!

Mike raced, and Robbie coached over 20 athletes to the finish line at Ironman Wisconsin. Today, they talk about the experience both from on and off the course. The washing machine of a swim and how that can affect the rest of the race. The ever present onslaught of hills. And the deceivingly tough run course. They also talk about what it was like to experience Madison with a huge throng of C26 athletes and their families. All that, plus thoughts on how you should the Ironman course that’s best for your mind and body. 

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!

Mike and Robbie celebrate #300 podcast by recording in front of a live audience in Madison, Wisconsin. Today, they are joined by 2011 Ironman Wisconsin winner, Jessica Jacobs. Jessica is a former pro and current C26 athlete who is back racing as an amateur after hitting the bottom as a pro. She talks about how she found the Crushing Iron podcast, her run duel with Meredith Kessler at Ironman Wisconsin and how she has found a new peace with racing. 

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Link to explanation of how Ironman Wisconsin transition works: https://youtu.be/3ShFLI_EeLw

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!

We feel like the world is watching and our time will define us, but racing success is in the effort and execution. There are a lot of little things we can do before and during a race to ease the load. Putting all these goals, specifically time related may be unfair to yourself and will certainly increase the weight and the burden of what is already a big enough challenge. 

• Let Speed and Strength Come To You
• The off-season is exciting
• What happens when we chase results
• When emotions force poor choices
• This is MY year
• Social Media Motivation is So Easy
• Race Day Positive Thought
• Controlling Controllables 
• Let the Race Come to You
• Execution and Effort 
• The Biggest Weight You Carry on Race Day
• Letting go of the burdens
• What if the Swim is Long??
• The unreliability of scales
• You don’t know what your day’s like until mile 80
• When you have zero expectations
• Relieving yourself of the decision making process
• The Brain is your CEO 
• Acknowledge the Day . . . then accept the outcome
• Breaking News on IMWI Tri-Club Point Standings 

Link to explanation of how Ironman Wisconsin transition works: https://youtu.be/3ShFLI_EeLw

Registration is NOW OPEN for 2020 C26 Camps. Find out more on our Camps Page. 

Struggling with your Swim? Join our new SWIM SQUAD 12 Month Program and build confidence in the water. You'll get 4 workouts a week, 4 customized video swim analysis, weekly swim tip videos and discounts on our Swim Camps. For more information go to this link. 

Support the Crushing Iron podcast on Patreon, where the community pledge is only $3.26 per month. There are other options, but every little bit helps us keep this podcast on the rails. Thanks in advance.

You can also support us at our new store at CrushingIron.com. We have some NEW classic logo t-shirts and the Official Crushing Iron Spectator shirt for sale. Support the cast and get some new gear for it!