Episode 52: How to Achieve a Breakthrough Performance with Mark McCabe
Mark McCabe wrote triathlon into his social calendar in 2020, stayed stuck at a 5:45 for four years, and then decided to find out what would happen if he actually gave the sport what it was asking for. Two and a half years of consistent work later — including a build block that got replaced by 23,000-step days in Italy, a Zoltar fortune machine in a casino, and instructions from his coach that scared his wife — he finished Ohio 70.3 in 4:11:50, jumped from the 62nd percentile to the top 8% of his age group, and posted a 21-minute PR. This is the conversation about what actually caused that. Chris and Mark go through the volume data, the carb-loading protocol, the race-week preparation, the emotional regulation that kept the run from unraveling, and the mindset shift that made doubles feel like a gift instead of a punishment. Along the way, Chris shares his own breakthrough race — Ironman Canada 2011 in 97-degree heat — and the decade of volume that preceded it. If you have been stuck at the same result for longer than you would like, this is the episode to listen to.
Episode 17: How to Pace a Hilly Race or Run
One of the hardest skills for any endurance athlete to master is pacing, and when you’re running a hilly event or participating in a bike race with a lot of elevation changes, pacing gets more difficult.
In this episode, Chris walks through the pitfalls athletes often fall into, the biggest of which is the “fly and die” approach where the athlete hopes to “bank” time by running harder or faster early in the race, hoping that when they inevitably slow down (because they went harder than they trained to run) that the time they banked will still keep them within their goal.
Sadly the endurance gods know what you are up to and will exact a cost in return…plus interest. In less nerdy terms this is called “blowing up.” Chris offers advice on how to avoid this ignominious fate and provides an example from the Portland Shamrock Run, where one of his athletes paced the race to perfection. You can see that athlete’s workout file below.