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There’s a moment early in every race where everything feels easy.
Your legs are fresh. The pace feels smooth. People around you are surging, and there’s that quiet voice in your head saying, “Go with them… you feel great.” And that’s exactly where most races go wrong. Two Finishes That Tell the Story The Los Angeles Marathon At the 2026 Los Angeles Marathon, the race didn’t explode early—it unfolded slowly. Nathan Martin wasn’t the one forcing the pace. He wasn’t making bold moves at mile 5 or 10. He was doing something much quieter: staying under control. Up ahead, Kimani Kamau looked like the stronger runner for most of the day. But over the final miles, that early effort began to show. The pace dipped—just enough. Martin, who had kept something in reserve, began to close. Step by step. Meter by meter. And in the final stride, after more than two hours of racing, he nipped Kamau at the line by 0.01 seconds! Not because he was reckless early. Because he was strong late. Roughly a month later, a different race told the same story in the triathlon world. Ironman 70.3 Oceanside At 2026 Oceanside 70.3 this past weekend, American Sam Long did what he does best—he blew the race apart on the bike. He had a record bike split that put time into everyone. However, behind him, the current Ironman World Champion Casper Stornes showed why he holds that most coveted tiled in our sport. He was well paced. As Sam began to feel the toll of a blistering bike split, he began to slow in the last few miles. The gap began to shrink. In the final 200 meters, it disappeared. After over 70 miles of racing, Stornes ran past Long to take the final podium spot. Sam had spent most of the day in the lead or in second place, but ultimately found himself in fourth by a mere 12 seconds. The old adage holds true: We bike for show, but run for dough. Both races tell the same story: One athlete spends early. The other saves—and closes. Pacing isn’t about holding back. It’s about having something left when it matters most. How to Avoid the Blow-Up Most athletes- whether professionals, age group athletes, or weekend warriors- don’t fail from poor fitness—they fail from poor execution- and that includes pacing. Here’s how to fix it: 1) Race within yourself Know your numbers. Whether it’s heart rate, pace, power, or RPE—understand what you can actually sustain for the full distance. The goal is to race your race, not someone else’s. Knowing what you are capable of is key. 2) Make a plan—and set limits Don’t just hope it works out. Decide where you’ll hold back and where you’ll push. Sometimes that means hard caps—like refusing to run faster than a certain pace in the first third of the race. Counterintuitive when you’re feeling really good, but critically important. The best races are often the most controlled early. 3) Build discipline—and flexibility Discipline keeps you from going too hard too soon. Flexibility lets you capitalize when the moment is right. Most of us aren’t racing for prize money—but we are chasing our best. That takes practice: learning when to stay patient, and when to step outside your comfort zone and go. We can do this by being intentional in our training, and building in specific workouts to test both. Your Race So remember, the early miles reward excitement but the final miles reward discipline. Next time you race, hold a little back. Trust your plan. Let others surge. And when it matters—when the race actually begins—you’ll be the one still moving forward. Because no one remembers who led early. They remember who finished strong. Every four years, the Winter Olympics remind us what the human body — and mind — are capable of. The 2026 Games were no different. We saw grit. We saw resilience. We also saw the hard line between pushing through pain… and being forced to stop because of injury.
For those of us training for an Ironman, chasing a half marathon PR, or simply trying to stay consistent with three workouts a week, there’s a powerful lesson here: Be mentally tough- learn to push beyond what is comfortable and embrace the pain. But be disciplined enough to know when to stop when injury risk is high. When It’s Injury: Lindsey Vonn When Lindsey Vonn crashed at high speed, it was obvious — this wasn’t “push through it” pain. It was an injury. Loss of stability. Violent impact. Structural damage- That’s not a mindset issue. That’s a medical one. Lindsey Vonn’s crash made the choice an easy one for her, but with us mere mortals, that decision might not be so simple to make. Having the wisdom to know when to stop training can be critical for long-term success. So, for everyday athletes (and non athletes alike), remember:
When It’s Pain: Jack Hughes In the gold medal hockey game, Jack Hughes took a stick to the face and lost teeth — but wasn’t structurally injured. He returned and scored the gold medal–winning goal. That’s pain tolerance. And hockey players have it in spades. We experience this as amateur athletes and weekend warriors looking to get the most out of our workouts: Burning legs in the final miles. Lungs on fire during intervals. Muscles shaking and screaming at the end of a set. That’s discomfort. And that’s good. It’s how we improve when the workout requires it. How to Tell the Difference When we feel pain or discomfort there are a few questions we can ask ourselves to determine if we need to push through or pull back:
The Takeaway The Olympics showed us two forms of toughness:
If you want to stay healthy for years — whether you’re chasing a marathon PR or just trying to stay in shape — you need both. Be tough enough to embrace discomfort and push forward. Be disciplined enough to make the tough call to stop. Happy New Year! ’Tis the season for big goals. And while I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions per se, I do understand why people make them. The New Year feels like a clean slate—a chance to start over, reset, and aim high. That said, nearly 90% of Americans abandon their New Year’s resolutions within just a few weeks—about right now, actually. So let’s talk about why that happens, and more importantly, how we can avoid it when setting goals this year.
1. Goals Are Too Lofty. The first mistake I see all the time is setting goals that are just too ambitious, too fast. If someone hasn’t exercised consistently in years and suddenly plans to hit the gym for an hour every single day starting January 1, that’s usually a recipe for burnout—not success. I admire ambition, but goals also need to be realistic and achievable. I’ve had to gently talk more than one potential client out of signing up for a marathon in four months when they’ve never run more than three miles at a time… and only twice a week. I’m all for big goals—but they need a solid foundation. Instead of committing to daily workouts, how about aiming for three workouts per week for six months? Instead of a marathon, maybe a 10K race in three months, running four days per week. Once you hit those milestones, then we build bigger goals. Shooting for the moon sounds motivating, but it usually skips a few important steps along the way. 2. Too Many Goals at Once. Another common pitfall is setting too many goals. Running every day, strength training four days a week, waking up at 5 a.m. to journal, volunteering weekly at your kid’s school—these are all great goals. Just not all at the same time. When everything is a priority, nothing really is. Instead, choose one goal that truly deserves your focus, and build a clear plan around it. With laser-like attention, you’re far more likely to succeed than when you’re juggling several competing priorities. 3. Focusing on Outcomes Instead of Actions. Finally, many people get stuck focusing on outcomes rather than the actions required to get there. Weight loss is a perfect example. While it’s a common and often healthy goal, it’s not something you can do today. What you can do today is lift weights. You can follow a solid nutrition plan at your next meal. You can go for a walk. These are actionable, measurable behaviors that—over time—lead to weight loss and, more importantly, a healthier lifestyle. When we shift our focus to building discipline, habits, and consistency, the outcomes tend to take care of themselves. As you set your health and fitness goals this year, remember: Keep them achievable. Keep them focused. And prioritize process over results. That’s how we build success—not just in January, but for the rest of our lives. The Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, took place just a few weeks ago—and as always, it was a spectacular, drama-filled race. But this year’s event stood out for a reason no one expected.
Two of the heavy favorites—Lucy Charles-Barclay, the reigning champion who had also finished second four times before, and Taylor Knibb, a two-time Olympian and arguably the best female triathlete of her generation—were absolutely flying on the bike leg. They were so far ahead of the field that it seemed a foregone conclusion both would be on the podium. All that was left, it seemed, was to see who would take the top step after the run. But in a shocking twist, neither of them finished the race. Both athletes—after pushing themselves to the limit—collapsed on the side of the road, overcome by heat and exhaustion. The distant third-place competitor suddenly found herself catapulted into first, while the favorites were left wondering what went wrong. As endurance athletes, our time is mostly spent focusing solely on our physiological preparation for a race or event: building our aerobic base, pushing our V2 threshold, building power, dialing in technique, etc. However, we many times neglect the mental side of performance, in particular our ability to stay focused and push hard through the end. There are times when we just crack and struggle to get to the finish, and times when we feel strong, and smash our goals. In most cases, this inconsistency isn't indicative of a lack of fitness, but a lack of focus.
Yet just like swim stroke technique or run gait, with practice we can build our mental skill set- our ability to say focused while under pressure. One way is to build mental toughness. Regardless of the specific endurance event, there will be times that are incredibly difficult, where we may consider quitting, stopping, or allowing the demons of self-doubt creep in. However, with the right mental tools and techniques, we can combat this. Here are 3: In our fast-paced world where we idolize Herculean efforts in many aspects of life, it’s easy to applaud the “all or nothing, bigger is better approach”. I’ve even written several times about the importance of doing hard things, being disciplined, mentally tough, and focused.That being said, what happens when the ideal isn’t possible, and we need to pivot? If we are too wedded to the all or nothing approach, we can tank our progress and jeopardize our training.
Recently, I’ve had conversations with a few different athletes we really struggled to execute on particular training sessions. As I drilled down as to why that is, many times it’s because they did not have the adequate time, energy, or ability to execute the work out perfectly- and so they either didn’t do the session at all, or they attempted the session in sub-par circumstances and it was a failure. We have all heard this saying, but forget it when it comes to fitness: “don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress” Last month I wrote about skipping workouts- why sometimes it’s necessary, and how to do so in a way as to not compromise training. However, there are some times when we have to take an extended break. This could be from a variety of life circumstances, such as pregnancy and childbirth, because of a prolonged illness, or due to an injury such as a stress fracture, or achilles tendinopathy.
In fact, most will get injured in the course of their running career. In fact, 70% will, which makes running the most dangerous sport in terms of injury out there. Imagine that! More dangerous than American football, hockey, or even MMA! So when life, injury, or illness causes us to take an extended hiatus from running or any endurance sport for that matter, we need to make sure that our return to sport is both safe and effective. Unfortunately however, most get it wrong. Here are my ‘top 3’ mistakes athletes make coming back from extended time off: It’s that time of year when the holidays, family, commitments, and New Year’s resolutions all collide. And while it’s a great opportunity for us to recommit to achieve our fitness goals, sometimes despite our best efforts, we need to skip workouts, omit training, and take a loss in the fitness department for the day.
So when this inevitably happens, which training sessions do we cut, and which ones do we keep? This is a question that many endurance athletes, and weekend warriors alike struggle with. On the one hand, we want to execute our training plan, coaches instruction, or fitness challenge correctly, yet there are only so many hours in a day and sometimes our priorities have to shift. Knowing which workouts we can afford to cut and which ones we need to keep can be the key to maintaining fitness during busy times of the year. As such, here are two considerations to cutting out planned training sessions: For most endurance athletes, the off-season approximately spans from the end of October through the Holidays. It's the time we get to let the foot off the gas and recover from a long season of pushing our bodies. However, that doesn’t mean we necessarily take a break from physical activity, and we also don’t continue to keep the same intensity and volume as we did during our season. So, how should we spend our time training in the off season? What is the right balance, and how do we strike it? To help answer these questions, I’ve listed 5 Ways to Maximize Our Off-Season
While there’s a lot we can accomplish during this more relaxed time of the year, it’s important to focus on a few key objectives. And they may be slightly different for each individual, but generally speaking here’s what we want to do:
So, with the off-season upon us, let’s try to make it as productive as possible. These five objectives will help guide our efforts and optimize these precious few weeks where we are not meticulously following Training Peaks or whatever training plan we are beholden to. Taking a break, getting strong, focusing on our weaknesses, becoming intentional about our training, and using this time to make changes, allows us to maximize this lull in our season. By doing so, we can almost guarantee that our next season will see the benefits of our off season work! I know several athletes (myself included), who have sometimes avoided a seemingly ideal race, simply because it has a hilly course. And for many amateur runners, that’s with good reason. Every time I race - and sometimes just when I’m out on a training run - I see people mismanage the hills, which always comes back to haunt them later in the run. They then assign themselves the label of ‘not a good hill runner’, which many times follows them throughout their running career. And sure, there are some that naturally excel at hillier courses- but for the grand majority of runners and triathletes, they have never been taught how to run hills effectively. Let’s take a deeper look at why we run hills and address how to do so more effectively.
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