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The Endurance Athlete Journey
The Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast helps runners, triathletes, and endurance athletes train smarter, fuel better, and build long-term durability in sport.
Hosted by Coach Justin and sports dietitian Katie, the show explores the training, nutrition, recovery, and mindset challenges endurance athletes actually face—without the confusion and generic internet fitness advice that often leads to burnout, inconsistency, and frustration.
From first triathlons and swim anxiety to fueling mistakes, recovery, race-day expectations, and balancing training with real life, each episode combines practical coaching insight with evidence-based nutrition guidance and honest athlete conversations to help listeners better understand the “why” behind their training and fueling decisions.
Whether you’re preparing for your first race or trying to become a more complete endurance athlete, this podcast gives you clear, experience-driven guidance you can actually apply to your training, recovery, and performance.
The Endurance Athlete Journey
Episode 55: Build Your Race Calendar With Purpose
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Summary:
In this episode of The Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast, we dive into how endurance athletes can strategically set their race calendar for the season ahead. We discuss the importance of choosing races that align with your goals, fitness level, and life demands, rather than overloading your schedule. You’ll learn how to balance “A,” “B,” and “C” races, why more races don’t always mean better results, and how proper planning supports consistent training, recovery, and long-term performance. Whether you’re a runner or triathlete, this episode will help you build a race calendar that sets you up for success instead of burnout.
Takeaways:
- Setting your race calendar should start with your overall goals, not the number of races you want to do
- Athletes often over-schedule races, which can limit fitness development and increase burnout
- Choosing races should account for life stress, time availability, and recovery capacity, not just motivation
- Using A, B, and C race categories helps prioritize training focus and manage expectations
- An “A race” should anchor the season and guide the structure of the training plan
- B and C races can be used as training opportunities, not peak performances
- Racing too frequently can interrupt consistent training and long-term progress
- The race calendar should allow adequate build phases, recovery periods, and mental breaks
- Choosing not to race because of fear of failure could cause you to miss out on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth opportunities.
- Flexibility is important — race plans may need to change as fitness, health, or life circumstances change
- A well-planned race calendar supports consistency, confidence, and sustainable performance
For coaching inquiries:
Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com
Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com
Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com
