Dr. Erin Ayala – Psychologist, Mental Performance Coach & Endurance Athlete

Meet Dr. Erin Ayala, a Licensed Psychologist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant from Minnesota, specialising in supporting female endurance athletes. With over a decade of research and clinical experience, she's a published author, sought-after speaker, and advocate for mental health in sport.

In this episode, Erin shares insights on:

• Building mental resilience for endurance challenges
• Strategies for coping with performance pressure and burnout
• Balancing high-level competition with wellbeing
• Lessons from her own journey as a competitive cyclist

A must-listen for anyone looking to strengthen their mind while chasing big goals.

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Show notes

• Who is Dr Erin - Licensed Psychologist and certified mental performance coach 
• Being based in the twin cities, Minnesota, USA
• Her love for working with female athletes
• Her backstory and being a multi-sport athlete in High School
• Getting to grad school and starting to get into running 
• Joining a run club and getting the running bug
• Working her way up to marathons
• Meeting her spouse and getting into cycling, triathlons and doing Ironman
• Moving to Minnesota in 2016 
• Joining a cycling club and being encouraged to start racing bikes
• Gravel racing for the past 10 years
• Growing up in a small, midwestern town.
• Wanting to look after herself better 
• Being a workaholic and not prioritising her health or wellness 
• Stretching herself to thin and not feeling proud of what's going on inside
• Being very achievement driven
• Needing to match the internal to external 
• Being consistent with therapy since undergraduate 
• Why running and riding can be therapeutic but it can never replace working with a licensed therapist. 
• Thoughts while running and how they have changed over the years 
• Being a smoker, waking up coughing and not feeling good
• Starting running to be healthy and fit again
• Why it became so much deeper so much quicker 
• External motivation can only get us so far 
• The internal motivation is what keeps us going 
• How running helps her prioritise her "me" time
• Figuring out the WHY
• Wanting to get off Strava, not following anyone on it, and not worrying about the social comparison game
• Getting sucked into the world of social media
• Starting with your WHY and what does that actually mean 
• What words do you want people to use to describe you as a person
• Setting herself up for success 
• Why her favourite clients are women in their 50s
• Getting the balance right between going after your goals and managing a relationship 
• Being supported on her bike adventures, both on and off the road   
• Doing really long road trips and going back country hiking together 
• Doing 2 big events per year
• Planning a race strategy and what the mental side of a race strategy looks like 
• Nothing new on race day and why the same applies to mental work and mental skills
• It's never too soon to start. 
• Doing meditation every day via a free app
• 3/4 weeks out and getting series about her race goals 
• Being ready to reassess her goals based upon life circumstances 
• Taking into account- life - when setting race goals 
• Life gives us training scores too
• Tips and tricks while being on the start line to get into the zone.
• The cognitive piece and psychological piece 
• Here are my pre-race jitters
• Feeling anxious at the start line e.g. going to the bathrooms multiple times before the start.
• Take a deep breath? Breathing 
• The importance of low and slow breathing and how it helps to balance out the nervous system.
• The concept of the pain cave 
• Courtney Dauwalter
• Taking it to the next level- finishing strong - the final push over the finish line
• Figuring out - What is the most difficult or most important part of the race?
• Visualising success…. Toxic positivity 
• How am I going to respond once the feeling hits?
• If - then - situation 
• Responding and dealing with failure and set backs 
• Letting the disappointment settle in 
• Reminding yourself that just because you didn't reach your goal didn't mean you are a failure and did anything wrong 
• Doing everything right and still not hitting your goals 
• Outcome goals are how we compare to other people 
• Set process goals and why they are more effective than outcome goals
• Starting a new podcast with Fiesty Media 
• Focusing on what she can do
• The noise on the internet
• The Feisty Women's Podcast - January 12th 2026 was the launch date - with weekly episodes going forward.
• Women and sleep and why women are more efficient sleepers than men
• Focus on the basics
• Taking on the more taboo topics
• Book: The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells us about the Power of the Female Body. By Starre Vartan 
• Sports psychology and why there is so much work to do in this space for women 
• Research which is specific for women
• The lack of large scale studies in sports psychology for women
• How to connect with Erin online 
• "Skadi"- The Norse Goddess of ice, snow and mountains
• Words of advice to motivate and inspire other women and girls 
• Being willing to ask the hard questions around where our expectations are coming from 
• Why it's ok to make our own rules and break them 
• Going back to your value system
• Does leaning into this experience make sense for me?

Social Media

Website: www.skadisportpsychology.com 

Instagram: @skadisportpsychology

@feisty_womens_performance

Fiesty Media Podcast: feisty.co/podcasts