Q1: How do you mentally prepare for each race?

ANDY POTTS: The biggest thing is preparation. I know when I step to a start line that I am fully prepared to race no matter what the conditions call for, no matter what the race course demands and no matter who else is towing the line with me. For me it’s all about preparation. Making sure that I am the best triathlete I can be on race day. Not taking for granted the opportunities I have. I am only good for so many races a year so I want to make every race I go to count. That’s not to say that all races hold the same value, but it means that all races get the same effort from me. I make sure that I put in a good, honest effort and it’s just kind of a witness test to see where I am that day where I am in my training. Mentally, the way I think about it is ‘Don’t do anything stupid. Stay in the race, race the way I train.’ Know that I am fully prepared to handle whatever comes my way.

Q2: What do you take to races with you? Obviously your racing equipment, but what sorts of back-up equipment do you take?

ANDY POTTS: I have learned my lessons – some the hard way, some from wise words from veterans. I like to take a back-up set of wheels, I take a back-up set of skewers, I have different brake pads that I put on my bike. It’s all little stuff – I travel with an extra seat stem, I travel with an extra hanger for a derailleur – I know this is all kind of bike-dorky stuff that is extra. I also travel with a first aid kit and an extra pair of goggles. You never know what’s going to happen during a race, so I plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Q3: Do you have any superstitions or good luck charms?

ANDY POTTS: There are so many variables that go into a race day, and so many different things that add up to having the race day be a positive experience for me and having it be a really good race day. I’ve tried knickknacks and pins and wearing the same underwear; all that has kind of fallen away because I race so much that it gets old. For me, there is one thing that I do like, and that is when I do like when I go on a trip, I have my wife, Lisa, pick out the shirt I should travel with.

They all say the same thing with my sponsors on them and stuff. I ask her which one I should wear, and I have the rainbow of colors. She’ll pick out a color, she’ll say, ‘I’m feeling green, or red is the winner this weekend.’ That’s the one thing that I am actually good about – saying, ‘Hey Lisa, pick me out a winner.’

Q4: Yeah, you involve her in your race that way.

ANDY POTTS: Yeah, and she tries to go to a lot of my races – the ones that are close. She calms me and she keeps everything the same. She doesn’t let me cut corners to save money. She says, ‘You’re not staying at this beat-down, run-down motel. You are going to stay at an O.K. establishment. You’re not eating power bars only for lunch, we will be going out to lunch.” She doesn’t let me cut corners and for that I race better, too.

Q5: Can you talk a little bit about mishaps while racing? I know that you had a bad race in Mazatlan about a year ago. If I am not mistaken you had a flat tire, you were tripped from behind you struggled with blisters. Can you tell me how you overcame that and what you have learned from that?

ANDY POTTS: That was a terrible race experience, but one  you have to get to to get your lump. Get your lumps, take your beatings and learn from it and move on. Those are kind of hard lessons to learn. Some of it was bad luck, some of it was me not having my head in the game. If you get a puncture or a flat tire, that is just bad luck. I don’t know anyone who has never had a flat tire. If you get tripped from behind, that is a little bit of bad luck, a little bit of bad carma, and also me maybe putting myself in a situation where I probably shouldn’t be running. Maybe I should create a little more of my own space and not running in bunches as much. As far as blisters go, that was just poor shoe selection on my behalf. I now have a new shoe sponsor, Asics, I don’t forsee me getting blisters that will stop me in my tracks.

Q6: How do mechanical errors like that affect your confidence?

ANDY POTTS: When I go into a race, I tell myself – control the things I can control and don’t worry about the rest. If something happens out of my control I try not to let it bother me and enter into how I’m performing. What I try to do is keep that small list of things that I can control under wraps and then try to problem solve or work myself out of difficult situations one thing at a time. If something happens that you can’t control and you’ve let it ruin your race, that becomes your problem and it becomes something you can control. I don’t like to make other people’s problems my problems. At the same time, I can race when ships are down as long as I stay mentally focused.

Q7: What do you love about triathlons? I know you are a multi-sport athlete – what sets triathlon apart from all other sports?

ANDY POTTS: I was a versatile athlete, never tried to mix sports. The whole lifestyle really intrigues me. I can live the way I want to live and do the things I love to do, which is staying in shape, working out, getting to travel, see new places and doing everything with my wife. It’s kind of like working for yourself in terms of you get to call your shots and you get to do what you want to do. I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do. I am in control of my destiny. That’s something I really appreciate and don’t take for granted.

Q8: What is one of your favorite things about racing or competing?

ANDY POTTS: It’s an individual thing. I like to test my personal limits – see what I am capable of doing and challenge myself on an athletic level. It is physical and also mental. That is what turns me on about racing - it is just a chance to see what I am capable of doing. Taking out of the equation other individuals and keeping it more about a personal performance rather than getting wrapped up in small petty things.

Q9: Do you think you would ever go back to the corporate world? If so what would you want to do?

ANDY POTTS: After I’m done competing, I want to be a coach. After coaching I’d like to get into administrative work – working in an athletic department or something like that. Being an athletic director.

Q10: What do you want to be remembered as?

ANDY POTTS: I’d like to be thought of as someone who goes out and takes the race by the horns. Someone who goes out and tries to push the tempo from the start of the race, not really waiting for the run or not playing too much of a cat and mouse game – more of the catch me if you can type of game. I’d like to be thought of as someone who is really aggressive on the race course and races his heart out, but at the same time, someone who is thoughtful and not an arrogant jerk.