...when the lights are bright and you've finally made it up the hill. River road is but a distant though...you did't cut any corners, you made your way over 140 miles and you know get to cross the line in front of the cheering masses. Enjoy it because you earned it.
Maybe it was the generation I grew up in, but I remember when I was in school (Middle, High and College) I was always hesitant to take on the really challenging classes or projects. I don't know why this was, maybe "fear of the unknown" or fear of the work that it would entail based purely off of what someone else had said or experienced. The funny thing is that when I look back at this I also can tell you that in every situation I ever put myself into I succeeded. I vividly remember my 7th grade Social Studies class. Before the beginning of the year when I had not yet met the teacher, everyone who had been taught by her before said "good luck" because she was supposedly tough. The same can be said about a teacher in high school that I had. Well the moral of the story is that in both cases I went on to having wonderful experiences with these teachers. In fact in both cases I ended up winning a scholastic award at the end of the year for "student of the year" in their respective classes. (History, and Psychology). Weird huh? I guess the lesson I should have taken from this a long time ago was to never put to much stock into what someone else says. Every person has their own experiences and their own likes/dislikes. Just because it didn't work out for them doesn't mean it won't work out for you. Because I mean in both cases with these teachers it was seriously like, "Oh you have her for History...ut oh, that's going to be a rough year"...and in both cases I did extremely well and had a great year. I think that a lot of people including myself take comfort in going into something with your guns loaded, knowing that you are going to be able to accomplish something. But where is the fun in that? If you know that you are going to be able to do something before you even do it then where is the challenge? In my personal life I think I fell into the comfort zone much to often when I was in school. At the time it made sense to me. I had a high GPA in both high school and college, grades weren't an issue...but at the same time I was playing a lot of sports and thus in order from overloading my system I usually opted to just take the easy way out and do the mandatory courses...you know nothing crazy like molecular biology...in order to keep my life in balance and make sure I could get all my work done and still for example play college baseball which is extremely time consuming, even at the D3 level. (As a side note I must say that I regret straying away from my love of History. I loved history in school and I think I would have made a darn good History teacher or archeologist, or something along those lines. But I fell into the trap of "Teachers don't make that much, etc etc"...but the fact is that I could care less known..back then I didn't feel this way, but now...well I guess its like they say "If we only knew then what we know now") Anyway, here I am on my journey. Regardless of where I have been this is where I am now and I can only blaze new path's from here.
"Be comfortable in a state of discomfort"
So what I am getting at is that all to often people want to be comfortable, myself included. I think that people want a certain level of "I know I can do that" before they start something. I know in my professional career I feel this all the time. When I get asked to take on a project that I have no clue about it gives me a really rotten feeling. I hate not knowing how to accomplish something right at the moment. But it is these instances where exponential growth can be achieved. I am trying hard in my own life to realize this "in the moment". If I can consciously realize that these instances of insecurity are really opportunities from growth, then I can take them on with an open mind and a real eagerness to succeed. This scenario is really one of the crutches I live with. However, I know that it is a shortcoming and it is one that I hope to correct. In regardless to the sport of triathlon, which is why you all are reading my blog right? I think this scenario hits home in quite a large way. The sport of triathlon and in particular the longer events 1/2 and full ironman events require and extreme amount of dedication. This dedication allows for athletes to train for months and months for 1 special day. During all this training their are frequently days when the training just seems hard. Going into a long ride you know that you are going to suffer. But the thing is..."who care's if you don't exactly hit your goal wattage or your goal time" in the end its just another training day and you are going to be better for just going out. I feel like I myself psych myself out a lot. I will go into a workout thinking about how hard it is going to be to do something and it takes me a while...maybe even until after the workout to realize how much I gained from it...even if I didn't hit my goals. And I think this relates to another post I wrote a long time ago when I said that it really doesn't matter if you hit your training or racing goals every time. I say this because I feel that if every time you meet or exceed your goals then you are not setting the bar high enough. You really do have to fail at something before you know how good or how far you truly can go. So that's the trick for me...making myself believe that each time I swim, bike, or run that I am bettering myself even if it doesn't go as planned.
What kind of spurred me on to this post was not taking any shortcuts in life. Taking the easy way out is exactly as it sounds..its easy. Its the sissy's way of going through life. You might not ever fail but you also will never truly succeed. This goes hand in hand with when someone will tell you (a triathlete) that they (a civilian) could never do an ironman, let alone a half ironman. Well to them I say (and this probably goes against many coaching philosophies)...just sign up for one. Sign up for one that it at least a half to full year in the future. This will provide you with the carrot to chase. All you have to do then is train..and push yourself to places that are uncomfortable. There is
Triathlete and the sport of triathlon is about being comfortable in a state of discomfort. If one can be happy when they are in pain than they have a significantly greater chance of performing better than the pure bred athlete who winces at discomfort or adversity. If you give me that choice of taking an athlete who can run a stand alone 16 min 5k, 58 minute 40k TT, or 21 minute 1 mile OW swim but who hates digging deep or the athlete who is much slower (not much but more avg 20 min 5k, 1:10 40k and 26 min mile) in all three but has a true passion for just being out in the sport, I would say that when race day comes at the Ironman distance that when all things considered the avg athlete probably has a better chance of succeeding then the faster athlete. I truly believe this because in Ironman racing, perfect race days are few and far between. Not counting the personal battles with GI, nutrition, injuries, etc one of the main tenants to triathletes not hitting their goals or not finishing is the weather...the course conditions. Like for example, people on Slowtwitch will frequently ask "what is the fastest IM course in the US". Many will quickly respond with Florida...and then as they get to the harder ones they will mention IMLP and IMSG...that kind of thing. But really when you think about it time is all relative. And this is precisely why qualifying for Kona is a one day thing. In order to qualify for Kona you can't just go to a race and hit a time and then go to Kona. Its not like the Boston marathon where you just have to meet a time requirement. And this to me is the beauty of triathlon. Success is derived from being able to deal with whatever is thrown at you. Its not just about being able to swim, bike, and run. Its about being able to play mind games with yourself and not let the games over take you. Its about tricking your mind and body into doing something that it hasn't done. Each person lives in a state of homeostasis and in that state everything is peachy. The biggest hurdle that I foresee for myself is changing my homeostasis. If I can change my comfort level to one that tolerates more pain that I have become faster without even running a 5k faster. Why? Well if I can mentally deal with things going wrong I am going to be able to prevent a lapse in concentration. When the stud runner falls of the wagon at mile 18-24 and their min/mil goes in the crapper, the slower and much steadier athlete who is following their plan and knows their limits could possibly catch the much faster runner...even if that faster runner throws down a 7 min mile pace between 24-26.2. At that point the damage has been done, when concentration lapses problems can arise. So idk if that makes much sense, I was kind of jumping around. But I think that the MAIN THEME here is that being comfortable in a state of discomfort is one of the main tenants of success. Through this the relative "comfort level" increases, and on race day you want to predominantly be "comfortable" and only want to enter the realm of discomfort when the race is nearing its end. So to make a long-winded confusing post much more simplistic I will end with saying that their are no shortcuts in life. In order to succeed at work you need to be willing to take on tasks that make you feel stressed. If you can deal with the stress and fight through it you will improve yourself and your bosses will take notice and subsequently you will succeed in that line of work. Likewise in triathlon if you can deal with failing to meet goals, having off-races, getting out to train even when you know that pain will be coming..in the end you are going to be a better athlete and a better person. Just don't play games with yourself. Don't trick yourself into thinking you are faster than you really are. If you are constantly missing your targets this to can become a source of problems. Be optimistically realistic, if that makes sense. Set goals that are big, yet not to big. If you say you want to have a sub 11 ironman when you know physically that your best individual time trials set you up for a 12 hour day...well maybe you need to re-evaluate for the time being. I am not saying that down the road you won't be sub 11 or even sub 10 but for the time being I think that being realistic on race day is going to keep you on the level. You are going to be able to race your race and race within yourself. Thus, come time to cross the line you will be happy and not disappointed. Then when you go into your next training block you can go in with a positive attitude instead of one that is consumed with revenge. Because in the end you can only race as fast as your body will take you. Even the world champ Craig Alexander says that yes he has won 2 world championships in a row but that he can be faster. In essence he is saying that on the days when he won he essentially just beat the field. He may or may have not hit his potential but on that day he crossed the line first...thus he still has a drive for improvement. He still believes that he is faster..and when you are as fast as he is already you definitely cannot take shortcuts! Just think about how many races he has done. Imagine having raced as much as he has and then setting a PR! Now that would be one to celebrate. So train hard and train smart and really take stock of your situation. I have found that the road to improving in this sport (even in my short time) is pretty darn tough. But when the training pays off come race day the benefits that are reaped are truly astounding. There really is no better feeling than the one you can get when you cross the finish line knowing that it all paid off.
