The bike was interesting since I really have not been on my bike outside (did not use my clipless). I found that I was very distracted and still do not know how to shift properly and that takes a bunch of time away. I was in the zone once or twice and that is when I would fly but other wise I felt like I was distracted and not riding that well.
The other thing is that I am always battling my mind. My mind is saying ugghh too fast, slow done. I had my garmin and was able to check my pace. this was good b/c i could see i was under 10 minute miles BUT sometimes on the run i would see 8.30 minute miles and that made me slow down. So my mind is saying ughh too fast, you are going to die and puke, save yourself some energy. Then my mind will look around and see all the folks around me and I wonder how are they faster than me ??? How come that 50 year old is running faster than me ??? WTF do i work out for, I am not getting better. blah blah blah.
I was happy with how I did while I was doing it BUT the minute I am done I feel like I could have pushed harder and I get mad at myself b/c I see all the folks ahead of me when the times come out.
So here are my questions
How do you keep your mind in check ? how do you stay positive ? and how do you PUSH yourself ??? this is really important to me, I feel like I am too conservative and not sure how to cure this problem ? How do you get over that the minute you finish you start comparing your times to others ???
and lastly, when training for a sprint tri what are you doing with your days ? run twice a week, bike twice a week, swim twice a week, one day of strength ??? please share
Congrats on the DU! Just getting out there is impressive to me as the bike still intimidates me.
ReplyDeleteThe mind can be so much of the battle, huh? Maybe you need to ditch the watch sometime, or at least the garmin, so that you don't have so much feedback. Back in the day, I did my tris with heart-rate monitors. I definitely would freak out when I thought it was going too high and would slow down. So I tried a plain old Timex IM watch and went by feel. It helped immensely!
ReplyDeleteI still think you did a great job, btw!
I struggle a ton with the mental part of training and racing. For me it has just come with experience(not that I am some expert), the more races I have done the more I know what to expect from my body. Setting realistic goals helps a lot too.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to race a Du. Swimming is the worst part of a tri for me :)
Congrats on a great race! I used to struggle with the shoulda-woulda-coulda's post race. Once the numbers are posted, I would twist them and analyze them until I mademyself crazy. Now I have a trick. During all of my races, several times during the race and even more so when it starts to get hard, I ask myself if I am pushing as hard as I possibly can right at that moment. If I can push harder, I do. If I can't then I know I am giving it everything I have. Now when the numbers are posted I know that I was accountable during the entire race and it truly was my best effort.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your race!! As for the mental part, I am learning that it takes time and training, just like your body. It wont happen overnight and I can attest to that.
ReplyDeleteWhen running I don't even use a positive mantra, I just count, 1,2,3,4. This way I can't get sucked into the whole mind thing.