It's four days out and your tapering. Your "ghost pain" and doubt are flaring. Today we talk about how to relax and let go of pre-race stress. We also hit on some of the most important things you can do to stay cool while you race in hot weather. Lots of good triathlon/coach pre-race ramble. 

Topics include:

• What To Focus on a Few Days Before a Race
• How To Stay Cool During A Hot Race, Sleep and Limit Stress
• Build Confidence In Race Week
• Getting off the Grid
• Running the Second Loop
• Cooking the Bike 
• Knowing Where You’re At and Where You’re Going
• New Gear Pick Up Info
• Will this podcast go to iTunes?

• Mike Fights A Cold
• Listening To Your Body
• The baseline for backing down workouts
• How Does THIS Race Fit Into Your Season
• Are You Holding Yourself Back?
• What RACING Really Means
• Using Your Race To Learn and Improve
• How We Tend to Overthink
• Understanding Power if You Don’t Use Power
• Racing with power but not TO power
• Racing Without A Watch
• It’s about more than the numbers
• Being Ready To Rock Mentally and Emotionally
• The Course Matters
• What’s The Real Difference of 10 Watts

• Race Day Is To Figure Out Where You Are
• Calm Down 
• Know The Facts
• Don’t Worry About The Weather 
• What’s The Worst Thing That Can Happen?
• Accepting What Is
• The Class Reunion Effect
• Have Fun and Execute 
• There’s Power In The Group
• 90% of Life is Showing Up 
• You don’t have to show up and be someone you’re not 

• The Walt Disney Hangover
• Flying Poop Story
• MIGA - Make Ironman Great Again? 
• Great One Day. Awful The Next. 
• Letting Go Of Terrible Workouts
• Flirting With Spring, Marrying Summer
• How Temperature Affects Your Running
• The Perfect Run Conditions
• Benefits of Interval Work on The Treadmill
• Hydrating Properly for a Hot Run
• Digging Unintentional Holes 
• 48 Hours Before the Race
• The Definition of Race Week: The Less Stress as Possible
• Acclimating to Temps or Altitude Before a Race
• Hour to Hour decision Making for Today’s Workout

Ironman Texas created a shit-storm over on-course drafting so we thought we'd banter some ideas around to see what came up. We think we have found a real solution that has nothing to do with extra marshals, more timing mats, or extra cameras on the course. Essentially it all comes down to how they start the race. We start warming up and getting closer to the answer about halfway through the podcast. 

Looking for a coach? Check out our Crushing Iron Coaching Philosophy Video

Today's podcast is a discussion based on this rant titled, "The Watering Down of Ironman" by Bruce Butler. 

Here's an excerpt from the post: 

"This change was part of Ironman’s “SwimSmart initiative,” with the goal of “improving athlete satisfaction and reducing anxiety during the swim portion of the race.” As part of this initiative, floats are also available so swimmers can stop and take a breather if needed.

Seriously?"

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We address his post, but look at many other ways we can all enjoy the sport more and offer a solid potential solution for the Mass Swim Start dilemma.

- Does the SwimSmart Initiative Really Make Things Safer?
- What Does Ironman REALLY Do For People?
- Why not have some Mass Starts?
- Don't people like the idea of picking races because they're different?
- Are You Trained Up Enough To Enjoy Your Races?
- Obsessing On Accomplishment vs. The Process
- The AWA - All World Athlete? 
- How We Feel About People Who Say Ironman is Easy
- The Underdog Story

Looking for a coach? Check out our Crushing Iron Coaching Philosophy Video

Crushing Iron Podcasts Hosts: Mike Tarrolly and Coach Robbie Bruce

Racing Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga or another half this year? Today we break it all down so you can be ready for your best 70.3 race. We focus on Chattanooga's course, but there are a lot of other little nuggets you can use for your next race.

Many of us grew up in the "Just Do It" era, but when does "Just Do It" throw you into a triathlon training funk? Today we explore the concept of staying within your limits when that next set or interval is tantalizing you to prove you can. We also talk about your race of the perspective of 30 Days Out. 

• Finding Your Comfort Zone In the Water
• Short or Long in The Pool?
• Smart Approaches To Durability
• You Don’t Want To Do Less, Do Enough
• How To Know When To Stop A Workout
• The Point of Cool Downs
• Why You Don’t Want To Slow Down In a Race
• Don’t Overthink The Weather 
• The Best Way To Ruin Tomorrow’s Workout 
• Setting Yourself Up To Run Off The Bike
• How To Reign It In When You’re Feeling Great
• What’s Enough? What’s Too Much?
• When Less Is More
• Error on the Side of Caution With The Run
• How You Can Overdue The Bike But Not Realize It
• The Secret Workout?

Looking for a coach? Check out our Crushing Iron Coaching Philosophy Video

Crushing Iron Podcasts Hosts: Mike Tarrolly and Coach Robbie Bruce

The Crushing Iron April Triathlon Camp is in the books. Today we look at lessons we learned from other athletes. Great people and attitudes made for a lot of fun and solid work. Topics include: 

• Running Hills- Climbs and Descents
• Opening Up The Legs
• Nurturing Your Introvert AND Extrovert
• Dialing In Training Recovery
• Choosing The Harder More Difficult Path
• Adjusting to Very Cold Water
• Contact in the Water
• Open Water Sighting on Windy Days
• Recognizing Limitations We Put on Ourselves
• The Difference Between Rollers and Climbs
• Race Pace off The Bike
• Getting Comfortable In Aero
• Going Beyond Your Beliefs
• Negative Splitting Your Run off a Hard Bike
• Pushing Yourself More When Someone Is Watching
• The Power of Group Training
• Camp As Race Simulation
• Race Day Nutrition 
• Week of Race Nutrition

Looking for a coach? Check out our Crushing Iron Coaching Philosophy Video

Crushing Iron Podcasts Hosts: Mike Tarrolly and Coach Robbie Bruce

We get back into the flow by talking about Race Recovery Techniques, Diet, and also how important it is to race with gratitude. Meeting people at races. Building friendships and how that can be a major fuel.

- The importance of your mind for the future of racing
- Studying Topics In Line with Your Thinking
- Carnivore and Ketosis Diets
- Recovering From Your Race
- Dietary Principles and Racing
- Alex Hutchinson Interview's Interview on the Rich Roll cast 
- Floundering From Your Beliefs
- The Overwhelming Information Highway of Training
- Self-talk about getting better (in a good way)

Looking for a coach? Check out our Crushing Iron Coaching Philosophy Video

Crushing Iron Podcasts Hosts: Mike Tarrolly and Coach Robbie Bruce

What we learned about the course. Overall Spectator Experience. Race Conditions and many more insights. 

Coach Robbie will toe the start line at Ironman Texas 70.3 on Sunday and he talks about his race planning while breaking down the wave swim start, the out and back bike course and the 3 loop run. We dig into an absolutely LOADED Pro Field. And finish up with some sappy reflection on why we keep doing this podcast.

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Looking for a coach? Check out our Crushing Iron Coaching Philosophy Video

Crushing Iron Podcasts Hosts: Mike Tarrolly and Coach Robbie Bruce

Are you confident going into a race or filled with nerves? There's a lot you can do in training that translates into a successful race. For example, do you understand your efforts and how they should play out in each phase of triathlon? Do you do a bunch of track work that wears you out or injures you and doesn't apply to your race? Do you understand how to execute the Crushing Iron mantra, "Hurry Slowly?"  

• Tapering is Relative To How You Felt You Trained 
• The Worst Running Ideas
• Understanding How Effort Relates to Pace
• How much should you alter routine in Taper?
• Hurrying Slowly 
• Why Running Training Is The Hardest To Master 
• Which Sport You Can Over do in Training
• Addiction To Speed
• The Perils of Chasing Your Great Days
• Are you REALLY in Shape Enough For Speed Work?
• The Many Troubles With Track Workouts
• Training Your Body To Do Late Race Zone 3
• Going Faster With Tired Legs
• Why Train Your Body To Do Things It Doesn’t Need To?
• The Danger of Training For Race Pace
• Don’t Waste Your Best Days In Training 
• Why Swimming Can Be Your Best Fatigue Indicator
• The Tri-Scientology Program

Looking for a coach? Check out our Crushing Iron Coaching Philosophy Video

Crushing Iron Podcasts Hosts: Mike Tarrolly and Coach Robbie Bruce

When is a painting (or your workout) finished? Unfortunately a lot of artists (triathletes) probably walk away without fine tuning the little things. Using a triathlon analogy, many of us leave workouts short because we think "we've done enough for the day" or flip the switch to lazy the minute the calendar turns to "taper." Today we talk about the little ways we can build discipline in workouts to create better long-term patterns and ultimately "Masterpiece Races."

• What Difference Does Skipping a 10 Minute Cool Down Make?
• Being Rested Vs. Rusty 
• Not Minimizing What May Seem Like a Minimum
• Finishing Off Your Training - Setting Up Your Training To Finish The Race  
• Overcoming Race Challenges
• Building The Discipline To Finish Your Workouts 
• How We Create Bad Habits That Are Hard To Break
• Your Race Is Another Training Day That You Can’t Quit
• Building Your Practice So You Know How To Close Out a Race
• How Effort and Decision Making Impact Your Race
• The Little Lies We Tell Ourselves and How They Build
• How Training Pressure Escalates Closer To a Race
• How We Self Sabotage Our Races In Taper 
• Building Great Training Memories of Training Before Your Big Race
• The Details Matter When You’re Closing In On a Race
• Why Training Is Art and Your Race is the Masterpiece

Looking for a coach? Check out our Crushing Iron Coaching Philosophy Video

After a short warm-up we take a deep dive into how you can make huge cycling gains. This is not a technical discussion as much as how you can train more effectively and how it translates into race performance along with an overall stronger body for long-term health. We hit on proper (and custom) cadence, pedal stroke, power vs. MPH, hill techniques and many more insights that will take your cycling to a new level. 

• Simulating Course Conditions
• Understanding The Right Cadence
• Training For Hills When You Live In Flat Country
• How To Dominate Trainer Efficiency
• Balancing Your Body
• Building Power Out of The Saddle
• The Purpose Of Intervals
• When Recovery Ruins Your Effort
• Adapting to Gearing with Hills
• Different Pedal Strokes
• Finding Your Most Efficient Pedal Stroke
• Trading MPH for Power
• Benefits of Big Gear Work 
• Climbing Cadence
• Cadence Gray Zone 
• Working Below Your Cadence
• Varying Your Stroke On Purpose
• How Cycling Techniques Help Your Running
• Running Economy
• How To Get To Places Your Body Hasn’t Been Before

 Check out our new Crushing Iron Coaching Philosophy Video

You train your ass off, do all the little things, then get to the race . . . and say, "Well, it wasn't quite what I hoped for . . . But what is hope? Is it genuine optimism or expectations you've pulled out of thin air? Today we talk about the importance of detaching yourself from the outcome and how it will change the way you, not only train and race, but go about your life.

Also, what about this Wisconsin Swim Start Change? We have some strong opinions on why it's bad for the overall growth of the sport. 

Are you sore and tired a lot? This podcast is about understanding why that is and why sometimes there's not much you can do about it, especially in periods of heavy training load. There's a lot in here about how to handle the month leading up to your race. 

Setting yourself up with expectations that don't hold you back and derail your progress.

- Making Your Mission The Right Mission

How do we know when we’ve reached our limit? Odds are, we haven’t. What will it take to be one second better today? One minute? One hour? It’s likely all in our minds and believing we can overcome those limits. Seeing ourselves as that person and accepting the flow. Today, we start with how to build chemistry in the home with such a grueling workout schedule and wind up in a fierce discussion about why we must accept ourselves and our progress in order to break through our limits. 

• Building Chemistry and Support with your spouse, kids, parents, dogs, etc.
• Keeping Those Around you happy and involved
• Involving them in the process
• Don’t Talk Yourself Into Being A Fraud
• The Roger Bannister Method 
• Navigating the chaos of M-F to set up your weekend
• Creating Your Success Mindset
• Getting Your Mind Out of The Way
• Negative Split Thinking
• The Danger in Telling Yourself That “You’re Always Going To Be . . .”

For a lot of us, the weather is breaking and it's time to make the transition from inside to outside training. We look at how indoor training differs from outside training and what to keep in mind. Embrace the wind and sunshine, take stock in all your hard work, and have fun as you move toward race season. 

• Going From Inside to Outside Training
• Hip Triathlete Training Terms
• How You SHOULD Be Riding The Trainer
• What To Do If You Feel “undertrained”
• Training Vs. Exercising
• Building Your Body For A Specific Course
• Triathlete Frankenstein
• Swift Culture
• Differences in Bike Trainers
• How Progress Is Made
• Practicing Corners in Running
• Surging and What That Takes Out Of You
• Why STOPPING Sucks So Much Energy
• Learning To Surge, then Chill

You wouldn’t worry what other people think of you so much if you realized how little they thought about it. We have to be confident that the journey we've set is the right one for us. It's so easy to get side tracked by what others are doing in this sport, but we're here today to tell you, it's all about action and not reaction.