Why fitness alone doesn't determine performance.
We're living in an age where you can find out almost anything about training. Workouts, zones, fueling plans, taper protocols. It's all out there, and a lot of it is good.
What you can't find nearly as easily is how to actually do it. Especially when things aren't going to plan.
I talk about this with my athletes all the time. The difference between someone who knows how to perform and someone who doesn't usually isn't information. It's execution.
Fitness determines what you're capable of. Execution determines how much of that capability you actually use.
And those are two very different things.
What the last few weeks showed us
I spent October watching two very different races: the Ironman World Championship in Kona and HYROX Tampa.
Different sports, same lesson.
In Kona, you saw some of the best athletes on the planet constantly adjusting on the fly. Athletes managing the heat, adapting their pacing, dealing with setbacks, and finding ways to keep moving forward when things weren't going as planned.
And you saw how quickly things could go the other way. Athletes who looked incredibly strong early struggled late. Some of the biggest names in the sport didn't make it to the finish at all.
That's not a knock on anyone. These are people with some of the best information, preparation, and coaching in the world.
It just shows that even at the very top, knowing the plan isn't the same as executing it when the day stops cooperating.
What I saw from the inside
I've finished Kona nine times. I've raced HYROX for three years now and qualified for Worlds every single one of them. In Tampa, I won my division in 1:08.
I'm not telling you that to brag. I'm telling you because of how it happened.
There were guys in that race who were stronger than me. No question.
But if you look at my placement throughout the race, I kept moving up.
Not because I suddenly developed more horsepower. I knew how to use what I had.
I was deliberately conservative at certain stations. I wasn't trying to win every segment or prove how strong I was on the sled. I was trying to put together the fastest possible race from start to finish. There's a big difference.
Sometimes that meant holding back when I knew I could push harder. Sometimes it meant staying patient while other athletes went by. And sometimes it meant recognizing when I could take advantage of the work I'd done earlier. That's execution.
It's the exact mentality I learned in triathlon. I didn't come into HYROX as the strongest guy in the room. I came in knowing how to race, and that carried straight over.
It's something I've been learning and relearning for over 25 years of racing and coaching.
The F1 analogy
Here's the analogy I've been using a lot lately.
Put a regular person in an F1 car. Same car, same weight, same track, same conditions as a professional driver. Tell them both to get around as fast as they can.
The pro is going to be way faster. Every time.
Nothing about the car is different.
The professional knows how to get the most out of it. They know how it feels going into a corner, how hard they can push before the car breaks loose, when to brake, and when to accelerate. They also know how to adjust when something changes in a split second.
The car's potential hasn't changed. The driver's ability to access it has.
And I think that's a pretty good analogy for endurance sports.
Your body is the car
Think of your body as that car and your race as the track.
You can get a ton of information on how to build the car. How to put the engine in. How to tune it. That's your training plan, your nutrition, your recovery.
You can measure almost everything now. VO2 max, threshold power, lactate, heart rate, running economy, strength.
All valuable information.
But knowing how it feels to take the corners? How it feels to push your body right to the edge and stay there? How to recognize when you're pushing too hard or when you've actually got more to give?
That's a different skill. And it doesn't come from reading about it.
I've seen plenty of athletes with incredible fitness struggle to put together a great race. I've also watched athletes with less impressive numbers consistently outperform people who, on paper, should beat them. The difference isn't always fitness.
Sometimes it's simply knowing how to use it.
Execution is a skill you build
This is the part people underestimate.
Execution has to be practiced and refined like anything else.
And it's one of the reasons I don't think every workout needs to go perfectly.
Sometimes the most valuable thing you learn comes from a workout where the pacing was wrong, the legs weren't there, or you had to adjust halfway through.
Those moments teach you something.
How do you respond when things aren't going your way? Do you panic and try to make up time? Do you give up because you can't hit the numbers? Or do you adjust, make a good decision, and get the most out of what's available that day?
That's a skill you can develop.
It means putting yourself in situations where things don't go perfectly. Learning how your body actually responds under pressure, not just how you think it will. Having someone outside your own head who can challenge your approach. And being willing to rethink your mindset, not just your workouts.
A good coach should help you develop all of those things.
Not just give you a better workout.
Become a better driver
I think we're reaching a point where information is becoming less and less of a competitive advantage.
Everyone can access training plans. Everyone can track their numbers. And with AI, athletes have more information at their fingertips than ever before.
But information alone doesn't create performance.
You still have to understand yourself. You have to make decisions. You have to learn when to push, when to be patient, and how to adapt when things don't go your way.
Most athletes don't need more information. They need help turning what they already know into performance on race day.
The goal isn't just to build a better engine.
It's to become a better driver.
Because the best athlete on paper doesn't always win.
The athlete who gets the most out of what they have often does.
And that's a skill you can train.