Peaceful mind for racing

 

"Inner peace, then outer results; not the other way around." ~ Mark Allen, The Art of Competition

Tomorrow I leave for USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals. When I think of my goal for the races, the Olympic on Saturday and the Sprint on Sunday, I find myself thinking only in terms of how I want to feel, not of specific numbers. For as numbers- and data- and spreadsheet-oriented as I am, when it comes to racing, it's all about managing my mind and how it processes what the body is saying. That's the challenge I think we all enjoy.

What I want this weekend is a quiet, un-distracted mind that drives the body with unfailing determination, commitment, courage, and belief.

I can clearly identify various states of my "training mind" when I swim, bike, and run.

On one end of the spectrum there is the anxious mind. This is the one that is worried about hitting particular intervals, paces, or splits, wondering if I measure up, questioning if I am working hard enough, and asking if I am tough enough. Do I have "it?"

On the other end of the spectrum is the peaceful mind that revels in the moment, is bursting with gratitude and appreciation for the ability to move freely, and is focused on the sensations of movement. It is here that I find flow and happiness. (Melanie McQuaid just wrote an awesome article on this state of flow.) Even as I type this, I can picture myself running down Luster's Gate Road and I can feel that peaceful feeling that I want. It's those times that I will report to Coach Jim, "too fast, I know, but I was running happy!!"

My truly peaceful mind frequently follows the release of the anxious mind. When I've hit the pace I want/need, when I nailed the interval, when I got past the tough part, I release the fears. It's as if all that energy that was needed to "feed the fears" is redirected into forward-propulsive ways. That's when I feel my best and when the speed comes more freely.

I began my last races at Colonial Beach with a peaceful mind and that's what I seek again in Milwaukee. I'm not saying I didn't race hard, and I'm not saying there weren't tough times during the race, particularly on the run, but I didn't cross over into that place of fear. It remained about what I could do, not what I couldn't. Not all my races go that way, particularly last year, when I was plagued by anxiety about my leg.

There are 205 women in my F45-49 age group for the Olympic Distance race on Saturday and 110 for the Sprint Distance on Sunday. Last year it was 137/53 and in 2012 it was 114/56. That's nearly twice as many women as two years ago. Those numbers will not enter my mind as I race.

I'm showing up to race with a certain amount of fitness and speed. If I can get that little bit extra out of myself, I will be happy, and to do that, I can't waste energy and thoughts on anxiousness.

Like 6x Kona Ironman World Champion Mark Allen suggests, "Inner peace, then outer results" and that is my goal.

Life is hectic for most of us. Training and racing is our opportunity filter out the white noise of the world, to step away from screens and updates and seemingly immediate demands for our attention. I look forward to having nothing to do during that time but manage my own thought processes. It's not to say my mind will be empty, but it will be focused on the basics:

• Swim: reach, finish the stroke, head down, feel and pull, swim straight, draft if I can, narrow kick, catch that next person!!
• Bike: suffer more, grab every bit of speed, catch that next person!!
• Run: cadence, cadence, cadence, be patient, catch that next person!!!

When I began this sport I viewed it as a physical challenge, but the most difficult "endurance" part of the sport can be maintaining that sharp mental focus needed to perform at one's best. You can't let up, you can't open the slightest crack to doubt.

I'm looking forward to the challenge of the weekend's races, to race my best among the best, and to do so with a quiet mind. Well, quiet aside from it telling me to catch the next person :-)

If you are going to be at the Age Group National Championships and you happen to see me, please say hello!!! Safe travels to all - see you there!

Race Report: Draper Mile

The Draper Mile is a local race that finishes in the midst of our big annual community event, Steppin' Out. It's the best part of a 5K (the first mile) without the pesky 2.1 miles that follow. It's nearly all downhill, and it's reported to allow for mile times about 10-12 seconds faster than a track mile. I was hoping to come in under 6, and I was happy to run a 5:43.61. I was the 13th female, and second in my age group behind the speedy Alice Coddington who had five seconds on me. The winning time this year was 4:10.41. WOW!  2014 Results

Here's the elevation profile from my Garmin:

The Draper Mile has been run since 1982. The record for my age group is 5:31.

The race is actually a "race" and a "run."  The first heat is the faster race and I did that one. We finish and get to cheer on those in the "run".  This pic caught me at the finish, waiting to do just that, and Coach Jim is across from me waiting to cheer on his kids!

That was really fun, and like a ride at an amusement park, I wanted to go back up and ride it again. I should have, considering I registered twice. I chalk the double registration up to "mom brain." I vaguely remember signing up when I was shoe-shopping for my kid a while back, but I re-signed up this week. Oops. Momnesia. Yeppp.

Training when you aren't "feeling it"

This was me, this morning, before my swim, which was to precede my run. I was not "feeling it." I was not really feeling like training. I was not feeling like brushing my hair and I was not feeling like anything much but crawling back in bed.

But I ate breakfast, had a cup of coffee, brushed my teeth but not my hair (why mess with a masterpiece, lol), and I went to the pool to swim with Coach Tom and the group, as scheduled. There were lots of swimmers today and once I swam a few laps, my brain stopped complaining and got to work. I had a good workout!

After a change of clothes, a banana, and another cup of coffee, I did my first track workout in ages and frankly, it had me nervous. I was not feeling good, not feeling PUMPED and PRIMED and JACKED and EXCITED for the mile repeats like I would want to be. But of course I did it anyway, because it was on the schedule and you don't not train because you aren't feeling perfect because that would not get you very far.

I emptied my brain and again got to work. I started off too fast on the first mile, paced the second pretty steady as instructed, and then on the third I was given a more aggressive range of 6:15 to 6:30 and I thought I might struggle to come under 6:30. I just focused on cadence and staying relaxed, and darned if I didn't hit the 6:15!!

This was a great reminder that you can still have a really good workout even if you aren't "feeling it."

Coach Jim said afterward that the physical and the mental/emotional do not have to match if the physical is strong enough.

One huge advantage to being coached and to having a schedule that your coach invested time and thought to develop, is that you don't skip a workout or mess with a workout without a sound reason (sick, injured, extra recovery clearly called for). By sticking to the schedule you gain experience training through so many emotional and physical conditions that you figure out you really do not have to feel great to perform great! Then on race day, when you wake up not in the mood to race, you know that it's OK. Once the horn sounds, you WILL be in the mood, you will know what to do, and you will have that consistent training to carry you through.

Truth be told, more often than not before a workout I am not "feeling it." But inevitably, within a minute of starting a workout, I am already so happy I did. It takes effort and discipline to get out there and do this stuff, it's not easy for any of us, but the rewards are enormous!

Whatever you need to be starting or doing, don't wait to be "feeling it" -- just start!

Bike Pedal Removal for Dummies

This is my third year where my bike will travel to a race in a box. Coincidentally, it's the third year where I could not remember for sure which way to turn the allen wrench (aka hex wrench or key) to remove the pedals to fit the bike in the box.

In 2012 I had the bike shop pack the bike. Last year I took the whole bike apart THEN remembered the pedals had to come off. It's way harder to do once the bike is apart; so hard in fact I couldn't do it and I was too stubborn to put the bike back together. (I needed that time to fume.) Equipment Coach Bryan bailed me out and got them off in maybe ten seconds.

They are not that hard to get back off after a race weekend, but after a full year of riding it can take a little effort so you don't want to be turning the wrong direction! I was determined to redeem myself and do it on my own this year, with this little practice session two weeks out.

I remembered something about turning the allen wrench toward the back of the bike, but one can turn toward the back up from the bottom, or turn toward the back from the top, and they are two very different directions!!

I did a quick search from my phone, and site after site just said, "turn toward the back of the bike". That is not at all helpful.

Some sites try to explain that the pedal goes this way, the crank arm goes that way, you are pedaling forward, so it's threaded this-a-way, and from that information even the biggest moron will instinctively know which is counter-threaded and which way to turn the wrench. Sorry! My gifts as an engineer lie in information design, not spatial/mechanical/directional abilities.

So..... I am a dummy and this post is for me.

It's also for anyone else who is not willing to take the chance that they may be tightening, rather than loosening the pedal based on the half-information of "turn the allen wrench toward the back of the bike."

How to remove bike pedals: Insert the allen wrench so it is pointing UP, THEN push it toward the back of the bike! 

There!! See what a little bit of extra information can do?

A pedal wrench doesn't work on Shimano pedals, but if you have one of those, I can only guess it moves in the same direction. Point it up, push it back.

Here is my pictorial guide:

non drive-train side

 drive train side

 

stand on the pedal then pull the wrench back against that downward force

One can also have the allen wrench a little closer to the crank arm, grasp allen wrench and crank arm, and use that leverage to push the allen wrench toward the crank arm.

Pedals: 0
Cort the Sport: 1

Even the little victories feel good ;-)

Field notes from a bicycle

Each time I am out on my bike, (let's call that 2-3x week for five years - so maybe 6-700 times since I started), and without exception, I marvel at the sense of being "in" the world and observing it in a way that is unique on a bike. I suspect most cyclists know exactly what I am talking about.

Yesterday was no different. I felt a profound sense of happiness to be riding. On my early morning, two-hour, zero traffic light ride, I saw a snake, rabbit, deer, dogs, groundhog, orioles, cardinals, crows, goats, squirrels, horses, ponies, and cows. I was surprised by the lack of chickens, so when I finally saw a few hens scratching around a front yard I yelled out to no-one, CHICKENS!! It was as if I'd won my personal game of animal bingo. I even stopped to rescue a box turtle from the street.

I saw no chipmunks, which is fine, because I had two of them in my house over the weekend, courtesy of our cat (they both made it out unharmed).

I waved to early morning porch-dwellers, the Sunday newspaper-getters and the small group of cyclists I saw headed the opposite direction.

Until I started cycling, I was never quite so aware of the subtle changes that signal the transition between seasons. Right now, blackberries are at or just past their peak, corn is high, and I saw my first few wooly bear caterpillars - sure signs that summer is moving swiftly along (noooo!!!).

The fragrances change from season to season and year to year. This year, honeysuckle seemed to really flourish and I enjoyed an abundance of that sweet smell along my favorite routes. You don't get that treat driving by in a car.

The wildflowers seem extra vivid and plentiful too - purples, oranges, yellows, whites, pinks, blues, and reds. I much prefer the surprise of their random road-side occurrences over anything planned and cultivated. I wish for photo of every flower I see, to take home and say "look what I saw!", but my need to pedal strong and without interruption takes precedence.

Mornings have been unseasonably cool in the last week. I rode through mist and felt the pockets of distinctly cooler and warmer air that one notices best from the seat of a bicycle. It's not one single temperature out there as weather reports would have us believe.

How awesome if we could really convey the sensations, the sights, and the smells of a bike ride to others as an enticement to ride! Yes the effort, the speed, and the feeling of covering many miles under our own power is pretty fun, but the chance to quietly observe the world around us is perhaps even better. We travel slowly enough to observe so much, but quickly enough to escape real notice. It's my kind of "reality show!"

It's not unusual for me to spend a day, or even two, contemplating possible ride routes and thinking of which one will best suit the training objective...and more importantly my spirit. As good as cycling might be for the body, it is even better for the soul.

Enjoy the ride...always.

:-)