Man, mid season can be a giant mind-job. I tell ya, it’s been a struggle for me to keep my outlook consistent. One day I’m up and happy-snappy, the next day I am low and my outlook is grim. Recovering from the extreme high that I had after Alcatraz has been interesting at best. Let’s just say what goes up, must come down. Or does it have to? I’m not entirely sure? So maybe I should say, “what went up, came down”.

I have known all along that it will pass if I just stay patent and consistent, and I think I am on the “other side” of it. I have been doing a better job in public of handling this quiet time. I took a few pride blows after Boulder Sprint, but I am happy to say that I learned a lot about myself. I learned that my pride is not teflon, comments and expectations do affect me, but it’s something I need to take care of, something I need to prepare for. I used to think I could take anything, that I was super strong in my mind… and I am…when I am racing to my ability. But when I have a less than stellar performance, comments and expectations hit me harder. So, that’s something I continue to work on.

The odd thing is, I just want to train more, to train harder. When I am rested, I feel like I am under-trained, and when I am tired, I am frustrated that I can’t train harder. I have really enjoyed the training this season, especially the cycling.

I have my nutrition on the right track: fish, veggies, and whole grain rice almost every night. Breakfast has been right on and my portion desires have calmed down from growing teenager, to trained triathlete. It’s been nice.

So, where from here? I continue to work on my mental outlook, to stay strong, and to stop questioning my training. I continue to work towards performing up to my currently ability, to remain a good role model, and to keep an authentic smile on my face. Consistency, inclusiveness, and light heartedness, despite steep competition, and nerves. That’s the goal.

This weekend is the Loveland Lake to Lake triathlon. It’s a Saturday race, and I’m excited to have friends and family coming to support me. Chris, Roger, and Marla should be there for sure, along with almost the entire Practical Coaching team. Should be good times.

As this season is ramping up I was thinking about just how much travel I am doing this year. Other than the Florida trip I just got back from, all of it is without my family, and with various teammates. It reminded me that most of this season I won’t have my number one supporter with me, and I am going to have to take care of myself…physically, financially, and emotionally.

Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.
- J.R.R. Tolkien

Watching some of my fellow triathletes travel without family and with other friends I realized that the needs and wants of your travel companions can make a major difference in your trip. Even though we all share the common goal of performing to the best of our abilities, we each prepare to do that in different ways. With nerves running around rampant, I think it’s important for triathletes to do some mental work before a travel trip. Sitting down and thinking through who you are traveling with can help you make the most of your experience.

I tend to be the mother bear. I tend to jump in where I am not always welcome and attempt to plan everyones actions. When I travel I really like to “do-it-up”, as in “see it all”, “do it all”, “experience it all”. I have to watch overdoing things when I travel because I can end up tiring myself out. With most triathlons you arrive several days ahead and there are necessary things to get done: unpack your bike, pick up your packet, swim, ride and run portions of the race course, check in your bike the night before, all on top of finding 3 meals a day in a foreign city. There are many action items, and not always as much free time as I like to think there is. In your spare time you should really be doing things that are relaxing and contributing to a positive race experience.

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”
- G. K. Chesterton

Think about who you are traveling with. Do you foresee any issues? How can you maintain your own autonomy if need be? Have you rented your own car, or do you know the numbers for a few cab companies? Sometimes just having the option of heading back to the hotel can turn a grouchy mood into some relaxing time. Preparation is what it’s all about. Having a list of a few local restaurants with the addresses and phone numbers can help in a pinch. While taking airplane trips be prepared with not just your iPod and a book, but also with an empty water bottle and healthy snacks. I like to take a bag of baby carrots with some dressing. It beats a 2 oz bag of chips on the plane, or buying overpriced junk in the airport.

When in doubt, relax, go with the flow, prepare for the foreseeable, and shrug at the rest. Often what doesn’t go right is what makes your trip fun. Be mellow, and assertive, and you can’t go wrong.

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
- Martin Buber

Homework: If you have a travel tri coming up, sit down and do some brain work on it. How can you be prepared to make your trip a success? Can you come up with some phrases to use when you need to get out of an engagement. Set some boundaries for yourself, and be prepared to stick to them.

My keyboard died last night so I wasn’t able to post this. Here it is.

Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable is the key to being successful in endurance sports.

As endurance athletes we are putting our body under stress every day. Races are especially uncomfortable as we push ourselves to the limits. Finding comfort in the uncomfortable feelings will allow you to turn off your thinking brain and just work. This is an obvious skill we all must learn. But what about the opposite?

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.
- Leo F. Buscaglia

What about finding ways to make yourself uncomfortable with the comfortable? Do you remember when you started getting into your sport? Do you remember how everything was new and slightly scary? You constantly felt like you were jumping off the deep end into the unknown. That’s exactly what you were doing. If you are like most triathletes your first season was addicting and totally a blast. What you most likely failed to realize was that the “jumping off the deep end” feelings were what made it so.

As time wears on we as athletes get comfortable. It’s harder to make progress because we have settled into our rhythms of training. We have established training groups and positions within our training groups. Sometimes, in order to take a leap upwards in your training, you must once again jump off the deep end. Sometimes you have to do something that is scary again, something that leaves you with the feeling of “oh dear, I may really fail here”. It’s searching out and jumping off those ledges that keep you moving forward.

Don’t get too comfortable with who you are at any given time - you may miss the opportunity to become who you want to be.
- Jon Bon Jovi

So what is it that is stagnant in your training? If it’s the swimming, are you swimming with a friendly group of masters swimmers that won’t look down on you if you are having a hard day? Is the masters group down the street a bunch of sharks that will tap your feet and swim around you if you slow up for one second. Is your Sunday biking group a conglomerate of friends that use the ride to catch up on gossip, or is it a group that will drop you hard off the back without a second thought? Now I’m not saying that every training ride, run and swim needs to be all out. But is there that piece of your training that you really want to do better at, but you know you are comfortable where you are at? I’m giving you the permission to swim with the sharks, and bike with the boys who will drop you. Take a risk (unless it’s your first season and every day is something new).

Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Transitions are hard. This is the time of year when base training is wrapping up and build training is getting going. We start to see some of those long rides and runs replaced with tempo and speed efforts. Our volume drops down a bit and the weather gets nice.

The last week or so i have wondered why I’ve been in a bit of a funk. I think it’s that I am struggeling with this transition. I must admit, I have come to love the hours on my bike, miles and miles of running in the state parks, 2 hour swim session. My endurance has benefited and leaving this stage of my training feels a bit foreign.

Suddenly, as our races are around the corner, we feel the mounting pressure not to get unjured, not to get overtrained. We no longer have oodles of off-season to repair from an overused IT band. Each workout that we complete has more of a purpose.

Disenchantment, whether it is a minor disappointment or a major shock, is the signal that things are moving into transition in our lives.
William Bridges

As a way to assess this recent transition funk I plan to sit down and really look at what is holding me back. Why is this not a smooth transition? What am I stuck on?

Transition is the natural process of disorientation and reorientation that marks the turning points in the path of growth…transitions are key times in the natural process of self-renewal
William Bridges

Is anyone else feeling this? Has anyone else gone through this and come out the other side? I’m trying to use patience as a tactic, and I assume it will all come around. Any tips would be great.

This Mental post is straight from Troy. When we came back from Florida our car battery was dead at the Park-N-Ride and we had to call AAA and wait for them to send someone out to jump us. While we were sitting there, we both started getting in a foul mood when Troy came up with this great game. The reason I want to post it as a mental monday is because I think it would be really useful for after a race. Racing this weekend with lots of friends I realized that although everyone had great performances, athletes process their performances in different ways, some healthy and rational, and some very destructively.

The feelings that you take away from a race (in my humble opinion) will completely dictate how long you stay in this sport. It’s like loosing weight. If you look in the mirror every morning and say “I’m so fat, youck, I need to get this weight off” you won’t ever make the lifestyle change to loose the weight. It’s the same with triathlon. If you choose to find and internalize all the negative experiences of your race, after awhile your brain is going to realize that you aren’t having any fun at this sport. At that time, you will quit the sport.

How much fun you have at a race, and the memories that you will have about the race come from what you let yourself think about. Sometimes you have to ignore the things about your race that were less than desirable, but again, it’s a choice.

So Troy came up with a fun game that he and I went through and I tell you, it helped to really solidify those positive feelings that are so necessary to creating warm fuzzy memories. I’ll put my answers here to give you an idea of how it goes.

The Best Part Game
What was the best part of your pre-race experience? Mine was driving to the race with Troy with the music blaring and singing as loud as I knew how.
What was the best part of the swim? Seeing starfish on the bottom of the ocean floor.
What was the best part of the first transition? Looking at my watch and seeing 29 minutes and feeling super happy.
What was the best part of the bike? Coming back in and hearing Troy cheering like crazy. His loud booming voice got me all fired up.
What was the best part of the second transition? Having the clarity and experience to tell myself to stop and take a deep breath.
What was the best part of the run? Passing one of the disabled athletes and suddenly feeling the overwhelming appreciation for the fact that I am able to run. Feeling the tears well up because of it.
What was the best part of your post race experience? Sitting on the side cheering with Michelle, Michael and Troy.

So next time you race, give it a try. Especially if you have some disappointments. Just remember it’s okay to just let go of disappointments. If you have the experience to learn from them, then do that too, but many times, it’s just best to dump them in the “Oh, well” bucket. Cut yourself some slack, give yourself a break, and remember, if you beat yourself up about your race, you WON’T race harder next time because of it. Believe me on that one. Just like with dog training, negative reinforcement doesn’t work.

When you are pre-recorded for success… just press PLAY.
- Fast Forward Sports

I always include in my pre-race routine a race visualization. I think a lot of people leave this out because it feels weird. Taking some time to sit down and visualize your race going how you want it feels a bit strange. If you aren’t used to visualization the first couple times may be a bit awkward, but there are ways to get around this. I encourage you to take on the task of a pre-race visualization session.

Where to go: I take a lot of baths, so my race visualization usually happens in the tub the evening before the race. The spot you choose doesn’t matter as much as the ability to get comfortable in it. You can grab a cup of tea, cocoa, or coffee. The perfect time may be in the morning the day before your race while you have breakfast and the sun is coming through the windows. Or you might take a short afternoon walk with a snack. Give yourself some time, 15-30 minutes with no obligations, nothing to rush back to.

Make sure that you have already talked with your coach if you have one. Have your race strategy panned out, and any and all goals established.

What to think about: Once you are comfortable sit down and just start thinking. Think about leaving for the race, packing the car, how your drive will be quick and uneventful. Arrive at transition, think about body marking, setting up your spot and visualize your warm up, potty breaks, etc. Walk your mind through the start of your race, diving into the water, swimming calmly. The key here is to visualize things going correctly. Allow yourself to feel the warm fuzzy feelings of things working out. Think of the perfect swim. Imagine how it would feel to exit the water with the best possible swim. Calmly trot up the beach and into transition. Watch in your minds eye a perfect transition. Go through your transition steps in perfect order, quickly, efficiently. Exit transition and watch yourself get settled into the bike. Watch your focus and determination stay consistent and imagine a flawless bike that is strong, efficient, and comfortable. Back to transition, again perfection, onto the run. Feel your legs adjust, feel your blood redistribute to the proper muscles. Go through this in your head. Watch yourself pass tons of people in the process of having your best run. Let no negative thoughts enter, just imagine the best possible outcome to your race. Give yourself a moment to bask in the ideas of perfect execution. Sum up your visualization with some focus on after the race, seeing family, smiling, cooling down, happy, calm, satisfied.

I am thought. I can see what the eyes cannot see. I can hear what the ears cannot hear. I can feel what the heart cannot feel.
- Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Do you get it? See, if you just sit down and think about things a little bit it won’t feel so strange. Race visualization has a way of easing your nerves and tensions about a race. You have gone through it in your mind and preprogrammed the idea. You are now free to go about your pre-race business without constantly thinking about race day. Try it, believe me, you’ll like it, and you will race better because of it. Don’t stall, don’t feel the need to write down an elaborate script, just sit down, and think your ideal race through from start to finish. That’s all you need.

Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.
- Cherie Carter-Scott

The season is heating up. Things are really starting to happen. A lot of training has been done in the off season and in April/May most of us will see our first triathlon. The last couple days I have felt a little uneasy about the season starting. Why would this be?

Outcome Oriented Thoughts.

I nailed it. As triathletes many things can happen in the off season. Some of us put in insane amounts of work, some of us fall off the wagon. Some work on their weaknesses, some on their strengths. No matter how you spend your off season, when that first triathlon comes around you naturally wonder where you are at. You secretly hope that the off season has given you the strength to far surpass your best of the year before. If you have been sinking instead of swimming in your off season you hope that some of your fitness has hung on. Either way it’s almost impossible to keep from thinking of your first race as a litmus test for your entire off season work (or lack thereof).

You have to get over it. This kind of thinking is an obvious form of “Outcome Oriented” thoughts, in other words you (and me) are thinking about the outcome of the race before you have even stepped on the starting line. Thinking about race outcomes when you don’t really have any control over them just yields panic, unease, sleepless nights and stress.

The first race of the year is all about having fun, remembering why you love the sport of triathlon, and getting out the cobwebs. It is not a litmus test for anything. Most all of us will train straight through our first race, and if you are racing in April/May the probability that you have any speed work under your belt is slim to none.

But, we can’t help it, we still think the thoughts.

It doesn’t have to be that way. I will be in Florida in one weeks time and I am already anticipating those thoughts of “I have a ton to prove” and I am talking myself through them. I have nothing to prove. I only need to remind myself how much I love the action of completing a triathlon. To remember the pleasure I find in the pain and the competition; that’s the only goal. Race Execution, now that’s something I got really good at last year, but need to re-remember.

This first race is not the culmination of all the off season weeks, it’s the starting point. Your Number 1, A race of the season, now that’s the culmination of your off season and your on season.

This weekend I am going to focus on positive mental thoughts surrounding my first triathlon. I am going to talk myself into having fun, staying calm and happy, enjoying the experience, and feeling blessed that all my body parts move and function with precision (a luxury I tend to take for granted that many others don’t have).

When in doubt, take a deep breath.

Homework: If your first triathlon is coming up start thinking about those little voices that are talking to you. What are they saying? Are they worried about Performance OUTCOME? Are they worried about proving yourself, or showing your in better shape than you are. Start enacting some techniques to turn those thoughts into warm fuzzy feelings. Convince yourself that you CAN NOT be outcome focused, you must be process focused, and positive. Good Luck!

It doesn’t get any easier; you just get faster.
- Greg Lemond

First off, a big congratulations to Amy M, Amy D, Gaye, Hillary, and Travis for their half marathon success yesterday. For some the stars (AKA hard work) aligned, and you had a stellar (read: deserved) race. For others there may be a few things that were left to be desired. Today I am going to write about writing a Post Race Assessment. How do we extract those gems of wisdom that only come from nit picking our race in close proximity to it’s completion?

There is a certain honesty that comes to you about your experience right after you have lived it. You are a little raw, and while the sore muscles are subsiding, the emotional roller coaster you have been on is winding down as well. Some are left with the “lets go on that ride again”, others are left with “where’s the trash can so I can puke up my lunch”. Both emotions, and all those in-between are fine, what’s important is to take a little time to understand them.

I know writing isn’t for everyone, but I strongly encourage you to jot down your experiences. Months or years from now you will not be able to conjure up your feelings, but reading what you wrote will bring most of it back. Writing about my races is what really made my blog take off, but more importantly, it’s made me LEARN from my experiences.

What do you write? How do you go through the process of finding the gems within your race?

Starting out with a brain dump is great. Record the details, and add in the feelings and the emotions that went along. Go mile by mile, stroke by stroke. Important book keeping items are:

- Race Date
- Time
- Distance
- Name of Event
- Location
- Importance of Race
- How long did you train for this event?
- Difficulty of the Competition
- Size of Race
- Weather Conditions
- Finishing Time
- Finishing Placing

Now go do your brain dump…

Okay, are you done? Did you get it all out? Nothing left in there? Nothing stewing?

Now what?

Now we start asking the questions. You have everything off your chest, now we want to take a step back and look for lessons learned. Here are some questions that you should ask yourself:

- What was the best part about my race? What part went the best?
- What was the worst part? What did not go well?
- Did my pre race plan work? Do I need to add anything for my next race, or take anything out?
- How did my nutrition work out? Did I follow my nutrition plan? Why? Why not? Does it need changing, does it need more testing?
- How was my confidence leading up to the race, and during the race? Was I nervous at the beginning with the crowds?
- How was my intensity level? Was I a little too hyped up before the race, or too mello? Did I retain a proper intensity level during the race or do I need to look at that further?
- How well was I able to keep my focus during the race. Was I able to keep my mind on my performance or did it wander throughout the race?
- Were my emotions under control before the race started? When things were going downhill what was my emotional reaction? Did I hold it together, or did I become frustrated, angry or depressed?
- How much pain was I in? How did I respond to my level of discomfort?
- How consistent was my race? Were my splits, emotions, intensity, and confidence consistent?
- Did I have to respond to any adversity during the race? How did I handle the adversity?

Now we search for links. For example, I lost my focus around mile 6, and my pace dropped, and I started getting frustrated, and then a lady passed me, and I slowed down even more. We would want to tie together the loss of focus with the loss in consistent pace, and we would want to tag that as something we need to work on: How to regain a loss of focus in the middle of a race.

Another example. When my friend that I was running with said “Go ahead if you have more in you” and I decided I could and I just went. I had my best mile of the race after that and maintained my pace the rest of the race. We want to link together an increase in confidence with a faster pace that was maintainable. Lesson Learned “When my confidence increases, I can take on more of a challenge”.

You get the gist? By now, you should know where you struggled and where you soared. Rewind to those key points in your race and really try to get down to your confidence, emotions, pain level, self talk, and intensity levels just before your experience. If you really dissect that area of your race you will find the hidden ahh-hahs.

Don’t be afraid to talk through your race with others, just ask first, some people don’t really want to know the ins and out of GI distress for 2 hours. But husbands, coaches, and best friends will usually indulge you!

For me, I learned more from this last race on Sunday than my last 5 races combined. It tends to be the challenging ones that we have a lot to write about. The great races leave you with a sense of relief! Good luck with your next race write up and let me know in the comments if you have anything wise to add! I would love to hear how you process and digest your race experiences. We obviously keep coming back for more, so we must be learning something from all of these wonderful life experiences!

I just found the coolist link on Lunabar’s website. I am a huge fan of not only the Luna products, but also their philosophy of empowering and engaging women to compete in sports. Plus, I absolutely love their new Luna Moons. I got a little burned out on the taste of Hammer Nutritions HEED, so I switched over to the Pink Grapefruit Luna Electrolyte Splash. I really like the tangy sour taste, but Troy thinks I have a case of the crazies! I also have been playing around with the Recovery Smoothie. It makes an AWESOME recovery drink when you can get back home after a workout and mix it with milk, ice, frozen strawberries and pop it into the blender. If you are away training and need your recovery drink within 30 minutes of exercise you can mix it with water, but I tend to choose another product in this situation.

You know how I am all into the mental aspect of endurance sports, right? Well, this like is a cool little tool where you can create a little collage with quotes and pretty art. You could print this out and stick it in your racing journal. You could incorporate it into your pre race mental preparation. It lets you get a bit creative and it’s SUPER easy to use!

Here is the one I created this morning. Our color ink cartridge is out but I am going to ask Troy to print it off.

If you decide to create one, leave the link in the comments below if you don’t mind others viewing it for added inspiration.

A few days before the race, I will visualize the race in my head from the very start to the very finish, including the transitions and so on. This allows me to get all of these details into my head. I feel like then I can go ahead and relax and get rested for the race without constantly thinking about the race.
- Heather Fuhr

Wow, can you believe we are on the 9th Mental Monday? We must be making some serious progress! This week we are going to delve into Race Plan Creation. Get out your pencils and paper and follow along. We are going to set up a starter race plan, and it’s goal is to get you to the starting line as prepared as possible to excel. This race plan does not cover what your tactics should be during the race, but developing your “race strategy” should be one of many elements of your race plan. After your first race, review your plan and make tweaks. That’s the fun part. It’s neat to add different elements that you think will help you in future races.

Your starter race plan needs to cover 4 main topics.
- Physical
- Mental
- Equipment
- Nutrition

Your race plan needs to cover 4 main time frames.
- Day Before
- Early Morning of Race Day
- Arrival at Race Site
- Final Preparation

All four topics should be covered for all four time frames. Mine is on one piece of paper and looks like a 16 block grid with time frames along the top and topics down the left side. Below I will outline some suggestions for things to think about including in your plan. Your plan must make sense to you, so this is a personal process! My best advice is try to walk through the 24 hours before your race in your head and jot down all that needs to happen. Then start thinking about the categories and scheduling your to-do’s into those.

Physical Preparation
Trips to the bathroom/port-a-pottie, what type of warm-up and how long, when/where to stretch, getting into your wet suit, deciding on the time schedule you need to get to the race, writing up the time frame of when everything will happen, alerting family members to race details, course preview, sleep schedule, waking schedule, showering

Mental Preparation
race tactics preparation, race mediation or visualization, designing your plan with focus preferences in mind (social butterfly versus need alone time), intensity needs (do you need to take time to hype up, or calm down), when/when will all this take place

Equipment Preparation
when you will pack, when you will check to make sure all equipment is functioning, when you will write up a packing list, how you will remind yourself to grab last minute refrigerator items, when and what do you need post race to change into, when will you put on your race clothing, when will you pack the car, how will your take care of family obligations during the hours before a race

Nutrition Preparation
When/Where/What for your meals the day before, Morning Pre Race Meal, Pre starting line meal, Packing your race nutrition, timing of your meals with bathroom opportunities

Okay, go forth and plan. I know quite a few of you out there are running Platte 1/2 Marathon and you definitely need a RACE PLAN. I’ll see if I can find a way to scan and post my first one up here before next week. Good Luck, and post a comment if you have anything to add/ask!

And AGAIN, if you haven’t read the Triathletes Guide to Mental Training by Jim Taylor and Terri Schneider, you must! Much of what is here came from them.

It’s Important to think where you want your mindset to be when you arrive at the transition area in the morning. There can be a lot of tension in the air. Make a commitment to staying in your mental zone.
- Lance Watson (triathlete coach)