Are You Living It?

I was reading Amanda’s friend Dawn’s blog yesterday - she is also doing IMMOO. And she had this great post about the roller coaster that is training…a subject near and dear to my own heart.

I think said roller coaster might be the best training for the actual race. The emotional highs and lows teach you that none of it is constant and that you need to be prepared to steady yourself to get through. When you are moving for such a long period of time, things are going to be ok sometimes, and not so ok other times.

One day a 22 mile run feels almost too easy…another day 4 miles seems like an eternity. One day I climbed to the clouds on the bike and felt like I was on cloud nine…another day I sat crying next to the Quabbin reservoir wondering why the hell there are no flat places in western mass.

Much of that roller coaster has to do with expectations - another subject near and dear to my heart. If you expect to do 8:45’s on your run and you do 8:30’s you are psyched and energized…if you wanted to do 8:15’s you are bummed and deflated. Managing expectations for a race this long is key - you never know what the day will bring. Even having a power meter doesn’t protect you - sometimes the numbers really DO lie, depending on what your body has in it that day. 140 watts is recovery for me if it’s 55 degrees out…it’s zone 3 if it’s 90 degrees out.

I KNOW my race will have ups and downs. Going slow on the bike is always torture for me - I HATE being passed, even if I know I’ll probably see those folks again later in the day. And always coming off the bike, I feel like ass. But I’ve done so many transition runs that I know that the first half mile is the worst…then the legs start to open up and then the next 3-4 miles come easy. I also know that my body starts to break down about 16 miles into a long run…how fast and how far it comes apart is the adventure of each training day. What will it do at the race? Who knows, but how I frame it mentally will play a huge role in how steadily I am able to carry on.

I think a big factor that a lot of people miss is how much energy can be lost to not managing the emotional roller coaster well. Coming off a big high (say you have a great bike time) can be as draining when you come back to earth as working through a paralyzing low (dislocating your post tib tendon mid race anyone?). So the key is staying in the moment and remembering that yes, this too shall pass, whether its good or bad, and no, you don’t know what the next moment will bring so just be open to it and don’t fight it.

All this is easier said than done, but I appreciate Dawn for saying it so eloquently and reminding me that the mental training for this day is just as important as the physiological conditioning…

On another note, I picked up my bike from FitWerx today and learned that it had been all out of whack…could have something to do with my leg, so let’s hope it helps now that it’s fixed…

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