A great friend of mine from college recently asked me to write about how to get over mental anguish after a "bad" race. I'm not sure what her definition of a bad race is, but I do have lots of stories to share about things that have gone wrong for me during triathlon and running events. While I really try to focus on the positive there are many pitfalls I've overcome in participating in these events over the years. If you've been reading you may think that my "Susie Sunshine," attitude is a bit annoying. I do have another side but I try to keep,"Negative Nancy," in check.
This post is about how to overcome mental anxiety after some trouble in an event. This post is for you Karen. Let me start by sharing with you some things that happened to me last year when I was training for the cycling portion of a half iron man. Trying to train for my events with another person's schedule (while safer) adds another layer of difficulty to my already challenging schedule; therefore I train alone, at least most of the time.
Last year I ventured out for a long ride (around 30-35 miles) and right off the bat I came to a four way stop and misjudged a car in front of me. I thought the car was going to skate through the stop but he did what he was supposed to do and came to a complete stop. I was trying to stay clipped into my pedals and not stop my bike and clip out when down I went, clipped into my bike. There I was on the side of the road, one mile from house, stuck to my bike, lying in a corn field.
A nice man,( not the one in front of me who came to a complete stop), stopped and asked if I was okay. My pride was more bruised than my legs and while I wanted to cry out of shear frustration, I didn't. I replied to the nice man that I was okay, got out of my toe clips, brushed off my knees, and decided I had to get a ride in. All this happened within one mile from house, it would have been easy for me at that point to turn around and go home, but I did not.
Why didn't I turn around? I knew I had to put in the time for my upcoming 56 mile ride and if I didn't I probably wouldn't make it at my event. I was shaking (literally) when I got back on my bike and it took me a few miles to settle down but I managed to do it. Cliche as is sounds, the old saying, get right back on when you fall off is exactly the advice I followed and it really is true. The hardest thing to do is to face your fears, but it is often a very good remedy.
Later, during that same ride, I was feeling really good. I was about finished and I had just come up a really long climb. I knew I was getting closer to home and that I didn't have any more tough hills to face.
Then as I crested the hill I looked to my right only to spot three Doberman Pincher's standing erect in their yard. To my left there was a large corn field so it was not like I could make a quick left and get away. The only way out was forward or to completely turn around and head back the twenty miles I had come. None of the choices were great. Then I spotted the owner of the THREE Dobermans and I managed to hear him say,"Heel." I pedalled as fast as I could past the house, praying that they would in fact,"heel."
Ah, but that is not the end of the story. I could not make this stuff up, honestly. But as I flew past the dogs and the owner I had one more small hill to get up before making the turn down the road which would lead me home. As I came to the top of this hill, yet another dog came to the road to greet me. This was a Collie of some sort and while I am a dog lover, I am not a lover of dogs that I don't know. I did a u-turn immediately to avoid Rover. This is a busy street I turned on, but in a split second I decided I had had quite enough of canines for one day. Fear, once again, made me ( or highly influenced my decision) continue in the opposite direction.
Needless to say I made it home safely and changed my bike route the next time out. Lesson learned here; there were plenty of other bike routes, I just needed to choose another. A can of pepper spray also found it's way into my list of things to purchase. I remember feeling very scared the next time I went out to ride but by simply following some new changes everything was fine the next time. Face your fears and it will build new confidence within you.
A few years back I did a 10k running event that started out great but ended badly. I had a wonderful pace, even placed fourth in the event out of a large group of participants. The problem: too much of a good thing. I over hydrated and didn't quite make it to the port a potty at the end. The lovely dark spot on my shorts sent me to the car before the awards ceremony. Lesson learned here, I didn't need the thirty two ounces of water that I drank during the race.
Another blunder took place last summer. A good friend of mine, named Fran, is a trail runner. She is always trying to get me to sign up for these crazy trail running events that take you up and down mountains and cliffs. She thinks what I do is crazy. I finally decided to do a nine mile training run with her. She said it was over at Pinchot State Park which I am familiar with as I've raced there before. The terrain is challenging, to say the least, but I thought I could handle it. We ran on a trail but it was nothing like the pristine trails I usually run on. Most of the run I thought we were making the trail ourselves. At mile three I bit the dust. I tripped over a root or a piece of a cliff and down I went in slow motion. Fran stood in horror as I cursed my way up off the dirt floor.Once again she asked me if I was all right, my reply was, "yeah." As I looked at my bloody knees I was convinced she was on a mission to humiliate me and that gave me all I needed to keep going. She said," do you want to turn around?" "Hell no," I responded." Give me your water." I took her water and doused my bloody knees. "There is no way I am going back, lets go." Out of sheer pride I kept going and we finished the nine mile loop, climbing cliffs and avoiding rocks and roots on the trail while my knees bled.
Ah pride, a funny little thing. If fear won't get you motivated perhaps pride will. It certainly worked for me that day. Have I done that trail since? NO! I am a glutton for punishment, but I also learn from my mistakes. Would I do another trail run with her? Of course, just not that particular one. I now don permanent scars on my knees that I've nicknamed, my" Fran-scars."
An area that I struggle with in triathlon is transition. Transition is that tricky time in between swimming, biking, and running, that is added into to your total time. It becomes hard when you are doing longer distances because, if you are anything like me and like to change clothes, you can add on time. During Sprints and Olympic Distance Tri's I wear the same thing for the entire race. I'll wear bike shorts and a crop top or bike jersey that you can swim in. The bike shorts are designed for this(called tri shorts) and the shorts drain( sort of) so usually I am a bit miserable running in them, but I won't add extra time onto my event. My last event, the half ironman, I did not want to run 13.1 miles( after riding 56) in bike shorts. So I utilized the changing tents in between events and added a lot of time on to my final time. Did I care? Yes, in way because that's my competitive nature. Was I comfortable? Yes, as much as I could have been, so it was a trade off. I gave myself a break on the time added, as it was my first half. Next time, I would try to hurry a little more in transition to better my time. Maybe I should invest in a better tri suit that I could wear for longer distance tri's. The bottom line is that I can always do something better in my events and transition is my next area to tackle for long distance triathlons. Improving my time keeps me coming back for more.
Perhaps the old saying practice makes perfect should be mentioned in this article. How many times have we heard that? Truth be told it's meaning holds importance. The more you do something( as long as you are learning from your mistakes) the better you will become.
The more I train or practice, the better prepared I feel for an event and as I've said before my belief is that confidence and believing you can do something is half of it. If you don't think you'll do it, you probably won't. This is so true in anything in life.I am reminded of how I feel when I go into teach school and I have looked at the material I am presenting. Starting a business, losing weight, quitting smoking, finishing school, doing well on a test... get the picture... the more you tell yourself you can, you will. Positive thinking is key to life and to triathlon.
One more tick of the trade is to not listen to your negative inner voice. We all have one and I nicknamed mine," Negative Nancy." She is the person in my head that tells me to go back to bed when I should be training. She is the one who makes me procrastinate projects. She is the one who says I don't need to clean my bathrooms. How do you get rid of the negative voice? Ignore it and don't think too much about racing or training. The old Nike adage, "Just do it," rings true for me. I schedule racing and training like I schedule a doctor's appointment; write it down and go do it. I think of racing and training like going to the doctor; I don't want to pay the high co-pay if I don't show up; I don't want to suffer the consequences if I don't put in the preparation for my events.
Pride, fear ( if kept in check), perseverance, planning, positive thinking; these are the ingredients to a recipe for success. But beyond all this wonderful advice (wink-wink) the bottom line is that you must love what you do in order to stick with it. I love swimming, biking, and running. I really love the fact that I don't have to do the same sport every day. There are many fitness options out there, and maybe once you look inside yourself you'll find that running isn't your thing. I hope this helps and if all else fails; tri-try again.
Happy Tri-ing,
Kelly
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