Yeah, I Hear Voices, Don't You?

At any time when I am talking about my upcoming Ironman (which I have found that I can work into any conversation, but that is another post) I am usually asked "How long is it going to take you?" Normally, I would have my time figured out, broken down and over analyzed to a T.

A good friend of mine (His name is Ted) opened my eyes to this nonsense. Ted is a badass when it comes to endurance sports, and is actually the one guy that got interested in this little adventure many years ago. Anyways, I bug Ted a lot with my questions and my training plans, and Ted ALWAYS gives me an honest frank, blunt answer. We recently had one of those conversations.

See, I started listening to those voices in my head that always pop up during a recovery phase. The voices that say stuff like "a 2.7 mile run??  why bother with that, you need more miles fella!"  (I guess my voices are Irish?) Then I get all, "I can't do this" "it's too far" and "there is no way I can finish this mileage"!! And that is when I usually text Ted for my quarterly kick in the pants.

Ted quickly tells me to shut up and stop over analyzing it. Stop over training and remember that I am not making my living as a pro triathlete and I should stop obsessing about it. Remember to keep it fun and that I could go out and finish it right now, which should be my goal; Just finish it!

The way he breaks down a race for me is simple. Go have a 90 minute swim, keep my HR at a certain level on the bike and be prepared for a run walk marathon. I tried to tell him I think I can do better than a 90 minute swim, more like 80 minutes and his reply was simply Why? Why limit myself that way? And I get what he is saying. I have to manage my race. I am not looking to set records on my first Ironman attempt. I simply want to finish it and have fun.

Let's say I do set a goal for myself of an 80 minute swim, 1 hour 20 minutes for 2.4 miles.  What happens if I miss that goal? Then I am mentally looking at missing a mark already. Do I try and make it up on the bike? You bet I do, cause I know myself! Then my run is shot cause I went to hard on the bike. A 90 minute swim is respectful! And I know I can do better, but let's say I do come out of the water in 80 minutes, then I am feeling good and I know I am having a good race.

So Thank you Ted for always shooting it straight with me and calming me down. I am so looking forward to doing this and calling you afterwards and simply saying, "I did it Brother!"

This triathlon thing is all mental I am finding out. From the workouts to the race, you have to make sure you are mentally ready, and let's be honest, the only goal I need to focus on is 16:59:59!

Or maybe 16:37:09, Yeah that's a good goal!