Copyright Hyperbole and a Half
My last triathlon of the season is quickly approaching, and over the last 3 weeks I have been making more of an effort to get in one brick session (Bike followed by run) a week. Today was my last brick and also last 'tough' workout before I taper off for the rest of the week in preparation for my sprint tri Saturday. Technically I should have started the taper yesterday, but this holiday weekend threw my 'rest day' off, and I felt I needed to get in a quality training session today.
My official training schedule ended with the Olympic race August 13th, so since then I have been doing somewhat of my own thing and at times it felt like a game of duck, duck, goose...or duck, duck, brick in this case :P
Copyright Hyperbole and a half
Brick sessions kinda do feel like getting hit in the face with a brick! And it seems that they aren't getting any easier for me. According to articles and books I've been reading on triathlon, apparently you are always going to feel that way when transitioning from the bike to the run. Practicing these, however, helps your mind prepare for the feeling and pain that's associated with this transition. If you are mentally prepared for this, you will be prepared to push through the pain, so your mental dialogue on race day should go like this:
Negative self: "Oh, this sucks!"
Positive self: "You knew this was gonna suck and you know you can do it!"
Negative self: "But I feel like I'm gonna dieeee!"
Positive self: "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE!"
Negative self: "I can't breathe! I'm gonna puke...I can't Breathe..I'm go--"
Positive self: "SHUT UP!Breathe in thru the nose, out thru the mouth.Suck it up, you CAN do it!
Negative self: "Maybe I should walk for a bit..."
Positive self: "Move your ass and GOOOOOO! You're almost done! You've got this!"
POOF! (Negative self disappears!)
Honestly, I'm still working on the not walking at all part, but I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I am pushing myself more and more and getting mentally and physically stronger so that one day I can be "The brick conqueror"!
For the rest of this week, I will enjoy my taper and prepare my mind for this next race. It's the same course from the April race, so it will be good to see if I can improve my time. If you recall, that was my first race of the season and I did not do so hot (hyperventilated in the swim, minor mishap on the bike, numb feet in the run)...so I better improve my time or else something is seriously wrong with me!
Hope everyone has had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!
~Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteHow do you feel that this is your last triathlon of the season? I'm excited to hear how it goes.
I also wanted to see if you know of an organization called GOTRIbal? They're having a retreat in November and I thought you may enjoy it. It's based on endurance sports but there will be fun things like beach yoga and stand up paddle boarding. Go check it out on their website www.gotribalnow.com
Hope you had a great labor day weekend!
- Bar
Hi Bar,
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of excited to end this season and come up with my next goals for the 'off-season' :) Speaking of...I HAVE heard of GOTRIbal and signed up online last week. The retreat sounds like fun, and I'm definitely considering it. Thanks for the comment and the info!
I had a great weekend and hope you did too!
Elizabeth