Today, we talk about a topic that a lot of us who've been in the sport a while need to think about. How to break ourselves down like we did in the beginning. Life is about being alive and challenging ourselves. We take a look at the lure of comfort and how to shake things up. Once again, we explore the reasons why we do this, and how the edges of challenge and pain shift. We look at why it's so important to face simple fears and things we don't want to do and how to use these wins. For us, triathlon has always been about breaking up the rocks, but in many ways it also becomes about tending to them in a positive way so they don't fuse back together.

Topics:

• Live every day
• Get along
• German Endurance Feast
• Robbie's Rewind
• The medal returns
• Obsession with comfort
• Find something that's gonna break you
• Breaking up the rocks
• Pain as a precursor to growth
• Your race time vs. the pursuit
• Back to that primal feeling
• Do what scares you
• Why do we do this?
• What is improvement
• When we fake it until we can't anymore
• Life circumstances and resilience
• Breaking things down over and over
• Good times, soft men
• Tending to your broken rocks
• Fake endorphines
• Tackle a simple fear

Mike Tarrolly - mike@c26triathlon.com

Robbie Bruce - robbie@c26triathlon.com

On some level we all dread the wind, the heat, the cold, the rough water, and the hills, but how do you learn to love it all for training benefit? Today, we look at the transition from indoors to outdoors and why it can be a shock to the system. We look at ways to build confidence and calm while preparing for anything in a race environment. How do you break out of your own personal matrix and create situations that will help you put your body in charge when the mind wants to run wild. We look at avoiding the inevitable and getting more and more comfortable with tough situations as the season rolls on.

Topics:

• Early season outdoor training
• Differences between indoor and outdoor
• The benefits of each
• Pool swims vs open water and how to break them up
• Trainer and outside riding variables
• Treadmill and the road mix
• Focusing on good posture and form
• Breaking out of your comfort matrix
• Avoiding the inevitable
• Is it chop or just water texture?
• Is it windy or just some wind?
• Cries for comfort
• Uncontrollable's are uncomfortable
• Going from the Symphony to Rage Against the Machine
• Life spans and loneliness
• Mindless mind
• You aren't guaranteed "extra space" in a race
• Repetition to train the body to lead
• RPE as it applies to understanding flow
• Thoughts that pass without engagement or judgement
• Don't avoid it

Mike Tarrolly - mike@c26triathlon.com

Robbie Bruce - robbie@c26triathlon.com

Today, we brainstormed to give Ironman (at least) 10 great ideas to increase excitement, revenue, and branding at their races. We talk about ways to increase age grouper engagement and retention. We get into on course changes to make the races tougher, more memorable, and safer. We look at getting the fans more invested and involved. Some of these are a little out there, but all good ideas start with a seed and maybe someday soon you'll see some of these thoughts feathering their way into the Ironman ecosystem.

Topics:

• Elite Age Groupers
• Age grouper recognition
• Tougher Races
• Spectator engagement and eduction
• Rolling starts, wave starts, mass start options.
• Split awards at age grouper level
• Parimutuel betting
• Spectator points
• Human interest stories
• Amping up the crowd for late finishers
• Tri Club Championship format
• Comedians
• Retention wins

Mike Tarrolly - mike@c26triathlon.com

Robbie Bruce - robbie@c26triathlon.com