How to Have a Triathlon Breakthrough in Only 1 Day (Performance, Confidence & Community) Ep 152

All right, welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. I am your host, Coach Chris Newport, and I have one of my favorite guests with me, Coach Carly, who is now— okay, here we go— Dr. Frost Poirier.

How did I do? Yes, you did beautiful, Chris. I've worked for Chris for 5, maybe closer to 6, I don't know, somewhere many years now, and she's still figuring out how to say my last name.

Yep. Uh, hi. I'm glad you still accept me, Carly.

That was beautiful. That was probably the best you've ever pronounced it.

So thank you. I, I do learn. I can learn.

Fifth year's the charm.

That's right. Yes. So we have our upcoming Ultimate Training Days, and I thought it would be such a great opportunity because you have been at a good majority of our camps and have seen the transformation that people have gone through by experiencing this event. And whether you come to our training camp or whether you do another training camp, let me just tell you, do it. That's the long and the short of it. And so I figured this would be a great opportunity for Carly and I to share some stories of some of the transformations that we've seen when, you know, people come in and they're like, I'm gonna learn how to bike better, and I'm gonna learn about fueling and hydration, or you know, sit through this lecture on mental performance and, you know, maybe just go ride my bike and meet some new people. And lo and behold, the transformation is much deeper. Would you agree?

Deeper or just different? I feel like almost to your point, people come in because they specifically want help on this, or, you know, they're focused on a certain thing, and then they leave like, I didn't realize I needed to learn this thing that I learned today, and it just absolutely changed my run, or say, no, you know, whatever it might be. But yeah, just that you come in with one expectation, you leave like, holy moly, this is maybe a lot different than I thought it was going to be, but I'm leaving with a piece of information that I thought I was good with.

Or yeah, and not necessarily even a piece of information, but a doorway that you didn't even know was like, oh yeah, literally right in front of you. That was open, and you were just like, I just don't even see that door, you know? And it just takes that one person to be like, no, you need to be going that way. And then people are like, no kidding, yeah, how about that? Even though they were down every podcast, YouTube, right, you know, forum rabbit hole on this one particular skill set or these different types of workouts to make you better in this other way, when really they just need to be redirected.

Yeah.

And I think that's the beauty of doing an actual in-person coached experience where you are seen and have the opportunity to just be vulnerable and be open, like, okay, teach me the things. Something— I think that that's one of, one of the challenges is if somebody comes in like, I don't have anything more to learn. Or they're probably not coming, honestly. Like, I'm good at all the things. Like, well, are ya?

And I think the great part about Camp 2, particularly when we do ultimate training days like this where we're touching on pretty much all the aspects of triathlon within one day, so you're getting eyes on you in the swim, the bike, the run, a transition, we're gonna talk mental skills, so it's not, you know, it's not just going to a group ride or going to an open water swim, you're getting eyes on your technical skills skills in each discipline in triathlon. And I'm sure some of you out there are absolutely wonderful and perfect, but I'm sure there's something we can catch to improve, or a tidbit that we can give you. Or you're coming in like a newbie and you're just like, tell me all the things, which is super great. But the day is jam-packed. It, it's gonna touch on everything, and you're gonna have eyes on you. And what's so great about this year too is we're incorporating mentors from our racing team. So not only are you getting a group of coaches, but we're also having mentors that are elite athletes, and they're going to be great examples for us to use to show good form and things like that. But we've almost doubled the amount of eyes that we'll have on you to like pick up those things and give you that feedback and just encourage you, because you're probably doing better than you think you are too.

Yes. Oh goodness gracious. Yeah, I think we're all— we're probably, you know, this sport attracts a lot of perfectionists. Cough cough, I know I'm talking about you out there if you're listening. Or people who are, you know, set really high expectations for themselves and don't necessarily give themselves enough credit for the progress that they've made, or just honoring where they are in the process and in relation to other people. I mean, we're always like, "Oh, I should be like the pros," or, you know, "Why is this other person excelling so much faster than—" you know, they have— regardless of like their skill level, it's just— it's like the unfairness that somebody else is excelling faster than they are, and what are they doing wrong? And this is such a great opportunity to actually have people see Yeah. You. And I'm so sorry, you guys, but AI cannot do that for you. You really have to be seen in person. It's just a totally different energy to be able to be vulnerable and be open to coaching and to accept your next best level of athlete inside you.

Last year, uh, whenever it was, I can't remember now, but, um, Coach Peter did the mental performance chat that day. He's also doing the one that we have coming up here. Y'all, if you haven't met Coach Peter yet, he's a delight and we love when he gets to come up and actually be in person with us. But last time he talked about goal setting and worked everyone through. We had paper and pens for everybody and it was more of like a workshop more than a seminar where you just sit there and listen. But, uh, I think the biggest takeaway, one, people learned a new and different way to sort of approach their goal setting for the season. But I heard a couple athletes like, oh, I need to bring this to my coach. Like, this is— this is— we haven't considered my goal in this direction. We haven't talked about it that way, which was super great. And you know, as coaches, we only have so much time in our coaching calls and in our communications, and there's a bazillion things that we're talking about. Uh, so it's super helpful when an athlete comes in and they're like, hey, I want to talk about this very specific thing, and you're like, great, let's, let's go for it. But yes, so last, last time was more on goal setting. I think he's He's working on some sort of resilience discussion for this upcoming one, and we haven't settled on topics for our other two Ultimate Training Days just yet, but I'm sure we'll figure that out here in the coming days.

Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, I loved how with the workshop style that he did last time, as people share, other athletes have a— had like aha moments Like, oh, this other athlete is experiencing something similar to me, but they're at a totally different level than I am. So, uh, or, um, having some silly moments that you're like, oh, I can laugh at myself for that. That is also okay.

Yeah, I think learning how to break down your goals too, like you mentioned, there's a lot of perfectionists out here. There's a lot of Type A personalities. You guys are typically very high performers in multiple areas of your life, so you come in with these big-hitting goals. And I think that talk just helped a lot of people break it down into smaller chunks and make it more manageable and set some shorter-term goals as they work towards that big one, which is always super helpful to kind of break that down too.

Yeah, definitely. I loved the, uh, when we started off on the bike ride because we got to all branch out based on different levels and skill sets. So you and I took—

Unexpectedly, unexpectedly, this is not part of the plan.

This was not— but yes, so, um, listen y'all, the Endurance Edge, we are known for our flexibility. We are very adaptable in the moment. Um, we had— the intention was to have two groups one to be a little longer and a little bit faster, and the other to be a little shorter, um, and a little bit more accommodating for different speeds. And we had, uh, two athletes who were like, like literally didn't know how to ride a bike. Yep. They were experienced marathoners, so not new athletes, but they were like, I've never ridden on the road before and this is terrifying. And so while the riders went out in one direction. You and I took them to a parking lot. I don't mean to laugh about it, it was like so joyous. I mean, that was great. And taught them how to ride bikes. Yeah. Uh, I mean, what were you— what were your— what was—

what were you thinking in that whole experience? Um, I very specifically remember taking a photo of them and telling them that I was going to show it to them when they became an Ironman. And one of them has done multiple 70.3s since then. So I, I love it. I think both what, like our superpower and probably our fatal flaw at the same time is that Chris Newport and I sort of have this attitude of like, we'll figure it out. And, and we do, we figure it out. Uh, but thinking on our feet and just rolling with it, like I challenge you to come to a camp and. Find a reason that I don't have 20 minutes to sit around and just wait until the next activity. And I'm like, oh no, we're gonna go work on this. Like, come and, come and find me and we will go and work on it. But I love, I love that they were like, hey, I, I'm just gonna sit out for the ride because I'm not comfortable going out on the road yet, but I'm here for, for the whole rest of the day. And we were like, absolutely not, we're gonna go learn how to ride a bike. Like, let's go. And we did, and they figured it out, and then they like It's amazing.

We took them, we did very specific drills around the parking lot. We taught them how to corner, we taught them how to brake, we taught them— like, one girl was on a hybrid, which I feel like there were a few moments where I almost had a heart attack but didn't, and she made it. And yeah, you know, it's almost like, it's almost like teaching a kid to walk and they're like walking on the edge of like a dock. And they're about to fall in the water and you're like, turn around, turn around, turn around, turn around, you know? And then you just kind of scoop them up a little bit and just guide them in the other— like, they don't know any better. They're just like, I've never done this before. So just being so naive coming into it is such a blessing that you don't overthink it. And then— and they got it, and they were so good at it. Like, we— it— I don't know, I feel like both of our minds were blown.

Yes. Well, again, they were both like wonderful marathon runners, so they had super strong legs coming into it. The cardiovascular fitness was there. They just— to your point, it's kind of like a toddler figuring out how to walk straight, and it was just like, alright, here we go. And to your point, I think we were raising seats and talking about shifting, and I think we might have taken a kickstand off at one point.

Oh yeah, we probably did. Wow. Yeah, and then we were— I think we were using shoes at some point, maybe taking off our shoes and using those as like turning cones.

Yeah, possibly. There's a good chance we just making it work.

And then they left like, cool, I can do this thing. So I feel like that is— I mean, that's, you know, our point of these training days is walking away seeing athletes believe in themselves and have more confidence. Yeah, so in the meantime, the other cyclists were out getting direction on like how to hold a line, how to pass safely, how to shift properly, how to— we've seen this at camp, I feel like, very frequently— is cadence. Like, how do you— there's some things that happen intuitively in some athletes and some things that just absolutely don't. And how are you gonna know? Like, when somebody gives you a training plan, you're just like, okay, pedal your bike this far and this fast at this intensity or whatever, but you don't see the whole picture. Yeah. And that's what's so great about training camp. Mm-hmm. Is that we get to see the whole picture.

I mean, I've worked with athletes for months and then I see them ride or I ride with them. I'm either, run and sag from a car and seeing them ride, or I'm riding with them and I'm like, have you been doing this the whole— like, we've been working together for 6 months now, have you always been in your big ring?

I remember at one camp riding up next to somebody and I was like, okay, so we're gonna shift to the small ring now, and they were like, what's a ring?

And I was like, okay, we're just gonna back it up a little bit and Yeah, and y'all, let me, let me add to this that these are not like necessarily beginner athletes in this scenario, uh, or slow athletes by any means. Some of them far better athletes than I've ever been. So like, don't think, oh, okay, you're running like a beginner camp here. Like, yes, we are very beginner friendly, but we have elite athletes coming out here and, and we're Everybody has somewhere to gain and grow.

Oh yeah, that's a good point. Which similarly reminds me of a very elite athlete who I've seen in the lab and VO2 max well into the 60s, like stellar athlete, and he's an on-road triathlete and I saw him at an off-road triathlon and he came over to me and said hi And it was, you know, lovely to see him. And, and then I was like, oh, have you ever done this before? He was like, no. I was like, okay, you know, when you're, when you're just like, I, I see your future, but it's not my place right now to give you any, you know, like they're not asking for any people, we're just saying hi. And then after the race was like, I didn't know about a thing called traction. You know, like, just— they're just like, they just don't know. And then they get out on the trail and they're like, oh, that was hard. This takes a different degree of skill. Now that is in the context of, you know, mountain biking or off-road triathlon, but it doesn't matter. Yeah, you can take somebody who's like, I swam in college, and then you throw them in the open water and it's like a whole different ballgame.

Mm-hmm. We actually get that a lot of pool swimmers that are like, I'm real great in the pool, but I need you to take me in the open water because I like that. Mm-hmm. Totally different ballgame. Yes. And they always do wonderful, but sometimes you just need a little angel on the shoulder to help you get there. But I think to your bigger point of you just don't know what you don't know, and even if you've been working with a coach for a while, like, again, there's a bazillion things for us to talk about with our athletes, and, you know, just that some minute things get passed over, and then when the eyeballs are on you, you're like, oh, okay. Let's talk about this, or let's try a different way, or something.

So I think that's a great way of summarizing everything, is basically you don't know what you don't know, but you think you know various things, and you've gone down the rabbit holes of like, I know all the things about FTP or VO2 max, or, uh, you know, run form. Or like, I had an athlete in the lab the other day, it was like, well, everybody tells me to go super easy on zone 2, and then you know, don't spend any time in the middle. And that was his opportunity for improvement. You know, like, I'm following what the, what the, you know, the textbooks are saying or what everybody's saying. And yes, we can speak to generalities all day long, and that's— it's great that we have so many opportunities for learning all these different things with, you know, again, podcast, YouTube, whatever, friends. But then it's so different when it applies to you. Yeah. And when someone can actually see— again, you don't— you have blind spots. And that is what Ultimate Training Day is all about, is uncovering those blind spots and giving you a whole next level. Like, y'all just don't even know the greatness that you have, like, on the other side of just And not only that, but oftentimes you're not the only one that needed that information.

And then you're— and then you're there with 2, 3, 10 other athletes that you're like, oh, okay, it wasn't just me having a hard time with this, or just me that didn't know that thing, or, you know. And now all of a sudden you're in like, uh, oh, I almost had a pun. I was gonna say a camp with other people. I didn't mean it, guys. Um, but just to, to recognize triathlon is such an individual sport and you can be in the sport for many years and sort of going at it on your own. You don't have a coach, you don't have a community. You're not necessarily going, you know, you don't, maybe you don't live near a club that has group rides for you to join on Thursday nights and get a beer, you know, to, to come in and be like, oh, okay. One. What I'm experiencing is normal. All these other people have either gone through or they're going through it right now too. And having that mental sort of connection of just like, okay, I'm on the right path, I'm doing it like I'm supposed to, hit these roadblocks as I go along, or these learning curves as I go along, is one of the, the great things too. And I, you know, the two people were talking about learning to ride a bike, I don't think either of them knew each other before that day, nor did either of them know that there would be someone else there that didn't know how to ride a bike, and now all of a sudden they're learning to ride with someone else, and that absolutely connected them and created, you know, created a connection for them moving forward, which is super great too.

And the other thing you, um, that I thought of as you were talking is not everyone who comes to our camps are, are quote unquote our athletes. Like, you don't have to be coached by us. No, we are, we are, our bigger mission and vision is to empower you and to create a community. That is the nutshell of our mission and vision. And if that means you're coached by someone else, great! That is more opportunity for them to guide you and do great things along the way. Uh, so we have folks who have local coaches who come to our camps. We have folks who have far away coaches, you know, virtual coaches, who come to our camps. And it's just so nice to have that opportunity to get that personal feedback. So again, you're, you're uncovering your blind spots, and it just makes that relationship between you and whomever your coach is that even better. Now, that being said, you are welcome to work with us too, but also, you know, we're here for your improvement and for the bigger community. That endurance sports brings together. Yeah.

And it's just, I think we— there's a couple groupings, I'll say, that end up at our Ultimate Training Days like this, right? We have our athletes that are just like here for a good time and they always want to be involved. Love it. Love to see it. They're the ones that bring the vibes and set the tone, right? They do.

They have the best jokes. They're just like, oh, I can laugh while I'm doing this? We're like, yes, absolutely.

Um, so you know, we'll have a chunk of our athletes there. We'll have a chunk of other local athletes that are coached by other coaches in the area. Again, regularly, you guys, they're, they're there. Uh, we have uncoached athletes that are just local and looking for something too, right? Typically those athletes have some sort of race, uh, a race of the season, obviously, usually everyone does, but particularly like if you're going for your first 70.3 or something and you're just You're wanting the clinic portion to really like hone in on those skills, but again, have some eyes on you and get some feedback, and then have a nice big training day. So we often see some people that just have some more, uh, long course goals of the year and are looking for just a supported big day. Again, we're gonna have snacks, we're gonna give you lunch, you're gonna have— we have multiple clinics set up.

And not any old lunch, okay? A Chef J prepared lunch. I mean, come on now.

Like, y'all, I just want you to know, I, I hype up Coach Jay all this regularly, and his— like, anytime someone's like, okay, but you're gonna give us food, I'm like, no, I'm gonna give you amazing food and it's gonna be great. And then they finally eat it and they're like, oh, you might not have hyped this up enough. And I was like, you thought I was crazy?

When we could hype up oatmeal, like, not just I love how people are like, oh, my mom made oatmeal, it was so gross, or I hadn't, you know, I've never liked it. Chef Jay makes this oatmeal and they were like, what did you do to it? Like, what did you add to it? He's like, water. Yeah, which is like, it's so hilarious to me.

Yes. Anyway, I know it's my like favorite thing to be right about. Yes. Because I know they all think I'm crazy when I'm like, no, no, it's, it's that good. Like, I know everyone judges me when I say it. And then everyone afterwards is like, no, you'd like— that really was amazing. Yes.

Yes. So anyway, I interrupted you. Refreshments and delicious food. Oh yeah. I don't—

I totally sidetracked by the yumminess that will ensue. Um, but yeah, just come hang. It's educational. It's fun. You're going to leave with at least one massive takeaway or one massive improvement that's gonna shift your trajectory moving forward. If not, again, things to bring up to your coach, follow-up questions that you have. Once again, we have multiple coaches, we're gonna have mentors there too, and just come out and have fun for the day.

Yeah, we have 3 opportunities. They're all Sundays, one in July, one in August, one in September. So I think some people got a little confused, like, do they all go together? Oh sure, they are, they're all separate. You are welcome to come to all of them, but you probably only need one. But if you want to have a conversation, so what another thing that often happens at camp is you might be included in the group or you might be in the group doing something and then you have a specific question that needs a separate coach to pull you aside and have that like conversation kind of over to the side. And that could be, hey, I would recommend coming back to another camp 'Or you really need some work in this area or field,' or— so we're gonna be honest and transparent with you. We're not gonna sugarcoat things. But all that being said is that come hang with us once, come all 3 times if you want to, but certainly not a need to. But we wanted to make more opportunities for people to come play because, you know, we know that people are busy and have a lot going on. But you deserve to have a breakthrough this year, and this is gonna be it.

Yeah, and it's great. It's local. You're waking up and going to bed in your own bed.

Yeah, yeah, or you travel a couple hours to come see us. That's cool too. You know, yeah, and it's an— it's way cheaper obviously than our overnight camps, which we have two coming up. We have our next spring, which Location TBD, but it's going to be in April of 2026. And this time we are splitting it into two options. It will still be a 4-day camp. So if you're looking for that experience, it's a different vibe. It is, um, it's a deeper transformation. It's a deeper opportunity to really uncover your— again, uncover your blind spots and really lean into your community. And then we're having a different experience this fall with our women's retreat, and I am so excited. Obviously you're excited about that, Carly, because it's gonna be the two of us. Oh my gosh, I cannot wait. Anyway, so more info on that, it's on our website, but you can't quite register for those, for the women's retreat or for the spring training camp. In the meantime, come hang out with us at the Ultimate Training Days. And yeah, thanks for sharing your thoughts, Carly. Much appreciated. And all you guys, I better see you out at camp. Come join us. Woo!