3 things I learned (or relearned) about training and racing after this season and winning Du Nationals

#1: Nutrition, nutrition and nutrition!  Its so important.  Back in the 60s and 70s, many important studies were published that showed carbo loading made a positive difference in terms of endurance performance. Those were seminal studies that are still true today. Don't believe the hype that is mainly based on anecdote and "expert opinion" (Everyone thinks they're an expert nutritionist!). Science and research tell a simple and true story. If you stock up on the easily and readily available source of energy (carbs), you will go faster and  farther. There is some evidence that keto and low carb diets may promote weight loss, I'm not disputing that, but those diets may not be optimal for training, and are definitely NOT optimal for racing. For duathlon nationals, I doubled down on carb loading: I ate my pasta the night before and in the morning, in addition to the normal pre-race breakfast, I drank a high calorie nutritional supplement. Then during the 1st run I ate a GU and drank the sports drink handed out at every aide station. On the bike I ate 3 more GUs and drank a full water bottle of sports drink. Yes, this is one of those anecdotal stories, but I ran the last 3 miles of the run-bike-run almost 0.2 min/mile faster than the first 5 miles and dropped a 5:53/mile pace on the 2nd mile of the 2nd run! Pretty good for a  61 year old!

#2: Don't give up! I could easily have called it quits in my quest to win this after last year. I was very discouraged and figured that 3rd was likely the best I could do. But instead, I used that as motivation and worked hard on my biking all through January, February and March. I know it sounds like a corny movie, but I visualized myself finally having that break-through race that I knew was in me but just couldn't be realized.

#3: Don't underestimate the power of music to motivate and inspire you. I have several different race sound tracks, but there are just a handful of songs that really inspire me.  I played one in particular, "Heart Breaker" about a half dozen times the morning of the race. It worked: I sang that song to myself all through the bike and it kept me upbeat and positive.