One of the interesting psychological effects of the end of the race season is the first wave of "cabin fever" that sweeps through my head (as well as my team). Between our peak periods, race weeks and recovery needs... many of us are starved for endorphins!

This neurological craving tends to show itself in a number of ways. Most common is that we start looking back on the season and wish we could have been "tougher" in our races.

I receive a lot of questions about how to deal with pain; and how to push harder.
Pain...
Harder...
In life we most often get what we expect - more than focusing on how much a task is going to hurt, or how difficult it may be. I prefer to figure out what's required to perform. Ultimately, our goal is performance, not pain tolerance.

This week I will share some ideas about true performance -- concepts and techniques that have enabled me to succeed in a range of fields. I will use athletics in my examples but sport is a metaphor for life. The tendencies that we show under athletic stress are the exact same ones that occur in our family and work environments.

This week's article covers: (a) thoughts on how to run a camps business; (b) my trip report from our Fall Canyons and Deserts Camp; and (c) tips that I picked up from a master of people skills.

A few months back Robbie Ventura (RV) asked me what we were going to do together this year. I suggested hosting a training camp together - RV was going to be in Vegas for Interbike so we built a route that started/finished from there.

Tip - Be willing to travel to your teachers.

Other than having fun (which is important), I like seeing Robbie each year for two reasons:

• He is world-class in my weakest area (people skills); and
• There is large option value in staying within his circle.

Being an extreme read/write learner and communicator, I am at a disadvantage when it comes to improving my people skills. To make improvement I need to get out there and interact! The coaching business has helped because I have a lot more telephone interaction than the past.

RV on the other hand is the opposite - I suspect that he spends most of his time dealing with the person that is right in front of him. So if your success depends on his help then you'll need to figure out how to get face-to-face with him. That leaves you with two choices... travel to Chicago or attend a training camp with him.

The advice, "don't quit your day job" is a common refrain, this week I share ideas about creating the life you want to live.

The photos this week are from our most recent training camp. I'd like to get a few more sign ups for our St George Ironman Weekend in November.

If you know an athlete that might benefit then please have them contact me.

Three days of training, including hotel/breakfast/dinner for $475. That price includes hotel/meals.

A bit of advice on making-it-happen.

Know what you want, specifically.
I have heard many athletes say, I would like to have a job working at training camps.

First... Which camp? With whom? Be specific.

Second... Observe the people that are living the life you (think you) want to lead. What have they done over the last TEN years and are you will to make the changes required in your own life to replicate their long term work. Understand the long term habits of successful people.

The second point is one that Marilyn made at the camp. She was asked what the difference was between success and failure in athletes - I'll paraphrase - Successful people are the ones that are willing to change their approach to achieve their goals.

Greg Bennett made a similar point - When I realized that I was competing against athletes with superior genetics, I realized that I had to be willing to do the work that others find too hard.

These themes return to me in all areas of my life.

We were very fortunate to have Dave Scott as our special guest to close out our July Boulder Camp this week. Dave made the observation that, more than protocol, what defines a Master Coach is the ability to get an athlete to do work.

Like all great athletes I have met, Dave is passionate about protocol. In fact, the strongest similarity between top athletes lies not in their programs, but in the powerful belief they have in their program.

Across the week of our Boulder camp we had presentations from Marilyn & Chris McDonald; Laura & Greg Bennett; Bobby McGee; Dave Scott and Justin Daerr.

One of the challenges facing a passionate athlete is the fact that every speaker will talk about a different approach -- some speakers will also share multiple approaches that they have used across a 10-30 year athletic career. This can be confusing!

Let's start with the basics:

What work-rate is required for YOU to achieve your goals?
Most athletes, and coaches, are unable to answer this question. That's a shame because this is a fundamental aspect of performance and will greatly impact the appropriate strategy to employ with your training.

For me to go sub-4 in a Half Ironman, 275 watts of average output is likely to be required (at least!). The word "average" is important there because, to optimize my race, I will need to be able to recover below that effort and sustain extended periods above that effort.

One school of thought is to build the capacity to hold that exact level of output.

Looking at my lactate profile, you will see that level of output is a Threshold effort for me.

Click to blow these charts up in a lightbox

I bumped into my buddy Ed this past week on the road to Ward - we'd been trying to catch up for a few weeks and it was an appropriate place to see him. With highly focused athletes, you either catch them training or at a meal. It's all about time management!

Ed asked me a great question about Endurance Corner, "so let's assume you hit the plan, does that cover your family's expenses?" The quick answer is "no", the business isn't a quick fix to my personal P&L. However, that's due to my expenses more than my revenues.

Ed's question got me thinking about the "why" of Endurance Corner as well as a few lessons that I've learned so far. At least a couple of these are broadly applicable so I'll run you through them in case you can apply them to your own situation.

Before we kick off, a couple of announcements.

Epic Camp is going to ride the length of New Zealand in January 2010

I am back at my desk after a two-day trip in the Rockies. If you click the photo above then it blows up to have a look in more detail.

This was my second hut trip and, as you can see, it was a sunny day. Sun plus warm temperatures meant that I had snow balling under my climbing skins. If you have ever had mud stick to your hiking boots then imagine what it would be like if your boots were 181 cm long and you were hiking above 10,000 feet. I arrived at the hut at 2pm and was asleep (very) shortly thereafter!

This week we are talking business and the lessons I have learned so far with Endurance Corner. If you ask a finance guy to create a business then, generally, he will draw up a list of functions then head out and hire a person to fill each position. A classic mistake of cost base leading revenue -- that approach probably killed more than a few tech start-ups over the years. Well, it didn't kill us but it did cost "Gordo Incorporated" some bucks.

These week I will share some thoughts/ideas that came out of three days at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I've been quite busy on the business front -- apologies if your waiting for an email reply. I spend my spare time with Monica and Alexandra. I've also been doing yard work -- gets me away from my desk and into the sun!