The TriDoc Podcast, triathlon and health in one place · Dr. Jeff Sankoff

Ep. 185: Smiling to perform and Breathe Easy: How Air Quality Data Can Save Your Race Day

·1 hr 3 min·4 clips

Smiling has been shown to reduce oxygen consumption and energy expenditure in runners at the same pace.

Jeff Sankoff opens with Will Hicks, the co-founder and co-owner of Air Track, and sets up a conversation around a problem most athletes only notice when the air feels off. The discussion starts with the older habit of relying on direct measurements, then moves into how newer models can combine traffic data, wind direction, meteorological conditions, satellite imagery, wildfire sources, and AI to estimate air pollution at a hyperlocal level. Hicks explains that those estimates are checked against ground-level measurements and sensors, which is what makes the information useful instead of just clever. The focus stays on practical exposure reduction rather than abstract environmental theory. From there, the episode shifts into the performance question that gives the show its title. The conversation asks whether smiling can actually help you race better, or whether it is just a nice idea. Sankoff brings it into endurance language by tying it to posture, breathing, and the late-race checklist that keeps form from falling apart. Smiling ends up treated as one more cue, not some magic fix. It sits beside cadence, hips forward, and relaxed shoulders, which makes it easier to use when the body is already under strain. The tone stays familiar and athlete to athlete throughout. There is room for personal experience, especially around how much easier it is to smile when an effort feels natural. The bike comes up as a place where joy is easier to reach, while the run is treated as the harder place to hold onto it. The conversation is honest about how fatigue narrows attention and how age and injury can make simple gratitude feel sharper. That gratitude is not presented as sentimentality. It is treated as a real mental aid for staying present when the work gets hard. The episode also acknowledges that some parts of racing are always more technical and less joyful. Even so, the argument is that a smile can fit inside a serious performance script without weakening it. The result is a show that connects air-quality intelligence with race-day mindset in a way that feels grounded.

As heard by us

A practical episode on air-quality exposure and the small cues that help keep performance steady.

Jeff Sankoff and Will Hicks treat air-quality exposure as a practical problem, not an abstract one. Traffic data, meteorological conditions, AI and dispersion models, wind direction, satellite imagery, and ground-level measurements and sensors all feed into a clear picture of…

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Why you'd press play

When you want race-day guidance that goes beyond the numbers.

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