My Journey To The Ironman
Okay, friends and family...this is going to be an interesting post. Don't worry, I'll give you more details in-person or directly, but coaches wanted us participants to relay a message to our close ones:
Coaches: We love you for supporting us, but don't bother us until we cross the finish line. We only have one week to go, and on raceday, it's just another "day at the office" for us participants. This is a BUSINESS trip and NOT a vacation trip UNTIL we cross the finish line.
Coach Rad: you will feel more nervous this week than possibly anytime during your life.
Coaches: you don't need anymore distractions. Get the work done on raceday and then celebrate with your friends and family.
Deal, people?
Training: we had an open water swim in Long Beach this past Saturday followed by a 45-minute run. I need to work on sighting more in the water because I really don't want to be swimming 2.75 miles when I only have to swim 2.4 miles. On Sunday, I got about 3,000 yards in the pool at Santa Monica Swim Center - 3 x 1000 yards off of 1 minute rest. Not a crazy workout but just enough to get the shoulder muscles tired.
Craziness
By this time next week, I'll be an ______ hopefully. (wow - I would have never thought that I could have even come close to this point a few years ago. I remember my unhealthy marathon sitting sessions in NYC when I was in the office 24/7.)
On Racing
I was talking to Carlos "the Beast" Castrejon today after our last weekend workout, and he made some interesting points about racing.
Let me say initially that I don't consider swimming, running or biking as something everyone should be doing by any means. It's something that I just happened to stumble upon and has brought me great joy, friendships and experiences over the past couple years. Life's great discoveries don't always happen by plan but sometimes through sheer trial and error.
Back to racing. The great thing about endurance sports, which not too many activities offer, is this element of instant self-awareness and self-reflection. You have one and only one goal at the beginning of the day-to finish the race. How you get there is your choice. At some point during the swim, bike or run, you are going to be tested. Someone might hit you in the face as you're swimming. You might get a flat tire going over a pothole. You might suffer painful cramps on the run.
Pain or adversity is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
It's these critical moments that truly define you. How you react to these challenges will translate into the type of race you will have. If you start to let negative thoughts enter your mind and feel self-pity, those actions will carry over into the rest of your day. If you can overcome these moments and recognize that they don't last, you will have completed the majority of the race-the mental part. I like to remind myself when I hit these crucial junctures that a) intense version - so and so had a heart transplant and is also competing in the same race so suck it up b) the hills or tough patches of road are there to test how strong you are and what goes up will usually come down c) stay focused, breathe, focus on form, and remind yourself how awesome it is that you're doing a half-marathon/marathon/triathlon on such a beautiful day. There's no one right way to deal with these obstacles, but you have to discover your own solution.
At the end of the day, you aren't really competing against other people out on the course. Just yourself. That's why when you see the finish line, it's a speechless, life-affirming feeling because you will know what you had to do to get there. It's not a profound thought sequence. Quite simple actually as all you're doing is pushing yourself to your limits and hopefully redefining them. The best part is that you get to play an active role and you might realize that there are no limits. I'm hoping to get to that point this Saturday.
Holler
I also want to give a shout out to my friend Carlie Chiu, who finished her first half-marathon this past weekend up in San Francisco. I'm so proud of her. She trained by herself (very impressive) and GOT IT DONE.
