in defense of DNFs
Finish line or bust: we often approach a race with the mindset that we will reach the finish line no matter the cost. But Coach Julie provides a great perspective on that mindset in this Triathlete.com article – because there ARE times when pulling the plug is absolutely the right call. Not convinced? Read the article. Julie will change your mind.
coach alison: what happens if your goal race doesn’t go the way you pictured it would
You’ve trained all season for your “A” race, aiming for a big PR – but then you show up and the race isn’t at all what you pictured. Maybe the swim is cancelled, or the weather is horrible, or you caught a horrible cold leading into race weekend. So how do you pivot if you feel like your PR is no longer the main focus?
This just happened to my athlete Allison. She showed up for her “A” race, that we’ve been building to allllll season, and the slight chance of just a hint of rain played out as continuous rain throughout the race and an absolute downpour on the bike. Allison did an excellent job of refocusing on what mattered: safely navigating the race and focusing on the process.
She faced challenge after challenge, from chaos in the swim to a spill and a dropped bottle on the bike, but each time she was rattled she re-centered herself and zeroed in on the path forward. She dialed in her effort level, stayed the course, and never let up.
And for all that, she was rewarded with a race where she DID achieve her goals. Because a PR isn’t just about the total race time, it’s about how you build to that time. Allison rode very close to her target watts on the bike – pretty darn good considering that you always ride more conservatively in the pouring rain – which yielded a big improvement from her prior same-distance race bike efforts. And she ran right where we thought she could, which was a big four-minute run PR. So even though the rain was quite the monkey wrench in her plans, by focusing on her process she achieved exactly what we’d hoped for out of her race.
Oh, and guess what? She got a PR too.
coach julie: brain endurance training as a strategy for reducing mental fatigue
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1616171/full
TLDR
Mental Fatigue: Train It, Don’t Just Endure It
Key takeaway: 1–2×/week, pair simple cognitive work with Z2–low Z3 aerobic work for 10–20 minutes total. This “dual-task” lowers the brain tax of hard efforts and sharpens late-race decisions.
How (super simple):
During a steady ride/run, do light math (add/subtract by 7), 1–back letters, or a go/no-go cue—while holding pace/cadence.
Start with 2 × 5–8 minutes; progress to 20–30 minutes across 3–4 weeks.
Keep key quality days separate; use easy/moderate sessions for this.
One plug-and-play:
Bike 45–60’: 10’ easy → 3 × (6’ steady + dual-task / 2’ easy) → 10’ cool-down. Optional: 3 × 20–30″ Z4 surges inside each 6’ while staying on task.
why do it?
Lower RPE at the same output. Dual-task work teaches your brain to handle effort so the same watts/pace feels easier late.
Fewer race-day mistakes. Better focus = steadier lines, cleaner pacing, on-time fueling, fewer “oops, missed the gel.”
Stronger finish. You’re training the ability to surge, settle, and choose to keep pushing when it gets noisy.
Specifically race-relevant. Most decisive moments are cognitive (decisions, positioning, feeding) under fatigue. Train that.