Experience. 1. Holy smokes was I ever nervous leading up to the event. Ryan and I chatted back and forth, as my anxiety of my biggest / most formal event was upcoming. I had entered arenas in the past, but nothing comes at you as much as an IRONMAN. The name in itself is intimidating. It got to me, don’t kid yourself. 2. The day before the event I got in the truck and travelled 3 hrs to the location. Vibing to some good music, I pass by a house of my good buddy Sean who recently passed away from cancer. I take a mental visual of his house as I drive by and appreciate what we have to still be able to do these things. 3. I show up to the event. Park my truck through half an hour of chaos, to finally put my feet on grass. Alright, we’re here. I grab my shit, pump up my tires to 90 psi (20 above recommended amount) because I want no rolling resistance. Grab the bike, lets go. 4. Walk for about 15 minutes and I’m into the chaos of people and organizers shouting rules, requirements, etc. Holy F! This is a legit race I tell myself. I pass by the organizers and bystanders, anxiously place my bike on the side of a wall (no lock) and head into the registration check in. 5. Walk into the arena, there are vendors everywhere, and anxious people around looking at the board to find their registration number. I knew mine because I’m a prepper and knew it was #281 from weeks ago when they released them. Checked in, got my shit, time to head back outside and place my bike. 6. Grabbed the TREK, moved to a corral like a bunch of cattle and found 3 aisles that said M40-M44. Found one and placed my bike. Looked around and for some reason found comfort in the chaos. I’m not alone in being anxious. Whispers around me about “this is the worst part” neighbouring racers mentioned to each other. 7. I placed my bike, took a mental picture and some deep breaths, and headed back to my truck. Before leaving there is panic in the volunteers screaming at everyone to release tire pressures due to the heat. No idea what this meant I asked what looked like a seasoned pro (he was – didn’t catch his name though). He coached me through tire pressure distribution and suggested I release tire pressure for the day to ensure they don’t pop from the heat. Took his advice, went back and released pressure on the tires for the day. Pump them up in the morning – okay/

Yo Team! Just dropped a new podcast episode: Turn Training Into Freedom: The Path From Discipline to Designing Your Life This is the first of our refreshed Tribal Cafes, now with a new structure focused on more tactical, actionable insights you can apply to your life right away. In this chat, Goldstein and I explore how consistent endurance training does more than build fitness - it reveals what matters most, helps you trust yourself, and creates the courage to reimagine how you live. We share examples from recent athlete breakthroughs inside the team. Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6G4XJ6OMyoJjkOo7BqeGYk?si=H-1YPLPiTiqkpgqpFu6Dnw Drop any takeaways or reflections below. I’d love to hear what resonates for you.

1. Experience Start with the race. - What was your biggest challenge this week? Getting all my nutrition and gear organized and packed to travel up to Chicago. I travelled on Thursday and wasn’t going to the race hotel until Saturday. It was a challenge on Thursday and Friday to prep all my meals and execute my carb loading plan in my in-laws house. - What obstacles did you have to juggle leading up to the race? A few obstacles – preparing for the heat on race day, juggling trying to get in family time while I was back home vs race prep, a bunch of other family drama (outside of the folks I was around) that I mentally dropped for the entire race weekend - How did you prep for it—logistically and mentally? I took each small step one at a time. I stuck to my nutrition and hydration plan I had laid out and communicated with everyone what my plan was. For example, told my in-laws I would make my own meals each day, that I appreciate them offering to cook, but had to stick to my plan. They were really supportive which helped. My goal was to not be in their way in their house and take care of all my needs at the same time. I’d say it was successful. Other prep, I prepped for the heat by really sticking to a hydration plan. No gaps in drinking, having an electrolyte target, and getting at least a gallon of water in each day. Mental preparation for the heat – I felt ok about the heat, my plan was to stay cautious during the race, keep fueling and do extra if I could, and try to stay aware of how I feel and focus on finishing the race vs aiming for a goal time. This is when Ryan reached out pre-race for a mental state check and completely changed my mental state for the better. I told him I kept thinking about the heat, decided to stick to my plan and control what I can control on race day and stop thinking about it. He sent me an awesome message that put me back into attack mode for the race, ignored the heat, and got me ready to give a full effort regardless of conditions. I’ll always remember that message and how a small mental reframe turned my race from caution to attack. - What emotions did you go through? Highs? Lows? My first surprising emotion was finishing the swim. Pre-race, and leading up through my prep, I pictured finishing the swim as my first finish line and thought I would feel a huge wave of relief and celebration. To me, the swim was most mentally daunting out of the three. I wasn’t wearing a wetsuit (too warm), and the wind was blowing the current back into our faces. I was surprised when I finished the swim because I didn’t feel that celebration feeling I thought I would. Instead, I had a better feeling of conquering the swim, taking it down with authority, and proud I was able to trust my abilities and focus on the task at hand instead of race nerves. All of my thoughts were strong language coming out of the water, which isn’t always the case for me. I found myself immediately focused on getting to the bike leg, the same attitude of getting ready to take it down. The fact I was looking forward and feeling accomplished was a good indication I was fully locked in where I needed to be instead of my mental state being in celebration mode. Its hard to explain how good that difference felt, but feeling like I belonged and knew what I was doing felt like a huge win.

What moments, if won, give you huge momentum, drop mental stress, and move your mission forward? Getting up with my alarm at the time I intend to. I love the feeling in the morning of having plenty of time to do what I need to. It helps me get out the door quicker for a workout, or get tasks done around the house on time. When I sleep past my alarm I start the day in a panic, and the first thing I need to do is already find somewhere to makeup time. What environmental set up helps you win your inflection points? Downtime is my enemy. If I have downtime between tasks, I create too many dead zones during the day and do not get enough done. I need to physically keep moving to start the things I need to in order to get everything done. I big win I've found with inflection points is not sitting down when I have a busy day. I'll either eat lunch standing, or raise my standing desk for work stuff. This has helped reduce mindless scrolling, and help me jump to my next task quicker. Quote from The Game: "I was lucky," then stopped himself, and quietly started again. "No, not lucky," he said. "Lucky's a funny word, eh?" and pausing while I nodded, he continued again, "I was given the chance to prove I was good enough". This quote resonated with me because I LOVE reframes. I think its because of the self-awareness of how we talk to ourselves, and the willingness to use creativity to verbally speak positivity into our lives. I used to think "speaking it into existence" or "positive self-talk" was overrated. Then I read a book recommended by Peter Attia, "I Don't Want to Talk About It", and it completely changed how I think about self-talk and how it affects me. The basic idea is to evaluate how you talk to yourself, and ask if you would talk to your best friend, or spouse, in the same way. If you don't like how that picture looks, why talk to yourself like that?

1. Morning routine with the kids. Normally it’s good but a bad one can have the tendency to sour the day a little bit. 2. Getting my morning space and productive time finished a bit sooner so I’m not rushing around with time. That’s generally the issue, having to rush at times, creating more friction than necessary. THE GAME “More important, we found that the more realistic we tried to make our games, the less lifelike they became” pg 63 I love this book and especially the way Dryden describes the impact of playing ball hockey in his backyard. As someone growing up in that same environment, I can feel every bit of what he’s describing. The way kid’s imagination fits the essence of the game to the confines of their environment makes the meaning of their games more powerful. I remember playing these games, living for these games, growing up. It’s why I love the team environment we get to be a part of in Tribal so much. It’s why I think so many adults fail in fitness time and time again, they are searching for something like this. The play element, the fun, but the seriousness and the drama that accompanies something of deep meaning. In the Dryden backyard, that’s one small end and one big end of an asphalt strip and a retaining wall for a board that created the space for two NHL goalies to emerge. I find it incredible how the environment conducive to play, meaningful play, led to playing professionally for both of these kids. This quote reminds me of always letting imagination fit the essence of the game in my training, not just the rote structures and measures I’m supposed to care about or supposed to ‘play by.’ Things like this help me become a much more effective parent, husband, coach, and person because playing from the heart leads to the truth so I’m grateful to the game for giving me such a gift.