Ever feel completely fine on the treadmill… and then five minutes into your first outdoor run you’re thinking, Why does this feel so hard? Why do my legs feel heavier? Why am I more out of breath at the same pace? Did I just lose all my fitness?

If spring running has you second-guessing yourself, you’re not alone. The shift from treadmill to outdoors changes more than you think — even if your distance and pace look similar.

In this episode, we unpack what’s actually happening when you move from a controlled, predictable surface to real ground — and why that “heavier” feeling doesn’t automatically mean you’re behind.

Before you panic or overhaul your training, let’s look at what changed… and what didn’t.

Watching the Olympics can do one of two things:

Make you feel small… Or sharpen your plan.

And if you’re a dog sport handler watching world-class movement — whether that’s Olympic athletes or agility excellence at World Team Tryouts — you’ve probably felt both.

That spark. And that quiet voice saying, “I should be in better shape.”

Today we’re talking about that fork in the road.

If you’ve felt the urge to:

• Add extra workouts

• Run miles you haven’t trained for

• Overhaul your diet overnight

• “Get serious” because you suddenly feel behind

This episode is for you.

Because elite athletes — in the Olympics and in agility — don’t train from shame. They train from structure.

We’re unpacking the difference between comparison-driven chaos and calibrated aspiration — and how to bring a high-performance mindset into agility season without burning yourself out.

You don’t need Olympic workouts.

You need an athlete identity that supports agility excellence.

You’ve been told to just “do Tabata burpees.”

Work harder. Sweat more. Push your anaerobic system.

So why are you still exhausted at trials? Why do your knees and Achilles feel unreliable? Why does your confidence drop when your body feels unpredictable?

In this episode, we talk about why high-intensity workouts don’t always transfer to agility performance — especially for women 40+.

We break down:

• Why “working hard” isn’t the same as training well

• What Tabata was actually designed for

• Why explosive work under fatigue can quietly increase injury risk

• How perimenopause changes the recovery equation

• What transferable conditioning actually looks like

If you’re doing everything “right” and still feel flat, fragile, or behind — this episode will help you understand why.

And more importantly, what to do instead.