Mental Training + Race Preparation with Dr. Erin Ayala

·52 min·5 clips

Dr. Ayala recounts how socio-political turmoil in Minneapolis forced her to abandon her podium goal for a 50K race.

The episode begins with host Sarah Bowen Shea promoting Feisty Fest, a women's festival she's involved in planning. She then welcomes co-host Liz Waterstrot, and they briefly discuss balancing exercise and relaxation on vacation, using Liz's recent Hawaii trip as an example. The hosts introduce Dr. Erin Ayala, a sports psychologist and repeat guest, noting her background in counseling psychology and specialization with female endurance athletes. Dr. Ayala describes herself as an 'ultra dabbler' with experience in marathons, triathlons, and gravel cycling. She outlines key mental skills for athletes, starting with curiosity and self-compassion, and introduces her 'scary, joyful, new' framework for selecting races. The discussion moves to mental preparation during training, where Dr. Ayala recommends mindfulness meditation and intentional goal-setting, stressing the importance of process goals. She highlights journaling as a tool for self-awareness and gratitude, and emphasizes sleep quality and consistency for brain and body readiness. After a sponsor break, the conversation shifts to the days leading up to an event. Dr. Ayala shares a personal story about her Mid-South Double race, where external stressors in Minneapolis forced her to pivot from performance goals to completion, and she ended up walking the final 10 miles of the 50K run. She reframes pre-race nerves as a sign of caring and discusses managing data use to avoid comparison culture. Dr. Ayala offers modern vision board tips using Canva and addresses pre-race nausea by explaining the sympathetic nervous system and recommending low, slow breathing practices. She advises against viewing final workouts as tests and encourages athletes to focus on what went well. The episode concludes with thoughts on savoring post-race elation and a playful ABC challenge for long runs.

As heard by us

A steady, practical episode on preparing for the final days and hours before a big event.

Preparation takes the lead in this PlayNext review of the days and hours before a big event. The episode's useful angle is its interest in readiness after most of the training is already done, when an athlete is moving through the final stretch and small decisions can shape how…

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Why you'd press play

You want a steadier head for the days and hours before a big event.

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