Me vs Myself

As I was reflecting on my last triathlon of the season, I found myself to be somewhat despondent. Upset that I hadn't achieved a goal time that I believed to be reasonable, and probably more upset with being beat by a local competitor by :26 seconds. As I scoured the results to pinpoint my mistakes and the other's advantages over me, I began to question yet again why they don't let us all race one another - together. After all, if that triathlete was in my wave I would have been able to run him down and beat him to the finish. Nevermind the 3-4 other racers within a minute of my final time - one who finished 1st in my age group - who were in other waves.

Triathlon is one of the most demanding physical events that you could ever compete in. A "sprint" is about as short as they get and that includes roughly a 750m swim, a 13-15 mile bike and a 5k run. Mention these distances to most people and they squirm. Ironman distances soar to a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a full marathon of 26.2 miles. That's just downright crazy. Training your body to complete such an event takes 5-20 hours per week of swim, bike and run. Oh, and don't forget to do some core type work and stretch. And eat right. And sleep 8 hours a night. It's no wonder marriages and families become strained by the demands of tri'ing.

Despite all of the physical stress we inflict on our bodies, nothing compares to the stress that needs to be placed somewhere else. I've completed 4 tri's thus far and it finally hit me. Our minds are our greatest and most important weapon when it comes to competing in triathlon. When you run a race everyone toes the line together and they're off in ready, set, go! In cycling, the peloton weaves along the roadways with bikes all around you as you work with one another until a final sprint to the line.

In triathlon, it is Me vs Myself. From start to finish. Sure it's chaos at the start, but you swim by yourself and then you bike by yourself and then you run by yourself. There may be a few people to catch and pass, but big deal. The good guys are in the "other heat." You don't know how you compare to them because they're not there. They started 5 minutes ahead of you or 8 minutes behind you in another wave. If only we had a way to create an apparition of the other racers, just to give us a glimpse of our true standing. But alas, we don't and we can't.

So there I am. Alone. I hear my hard breaths on the bike and I focus on my pedal stroke. My feet slap the road beneath me while I try to keep a rhythm on the run. I've chased all those that I can chase. There are no more in sight - at least in my sight. This is when triathlon gets tough. When your own mind battles against itself. There's no one else to compete against anyway.

You've got to dig deep at this moment and start to realize that every second counts. It may not seem like it at the moment, but you'll realize their importance once the final results are posted and you've lost by :26 seconds. That's 6:22 pace instead of 6:30 over that 5k run. That's two seconds per mile on the bike or 4 seconds per 100y in the swim. And don't underestimate the importance of good transitions.

The mind is a powerful weapon in triathlon and needs to be trained in practice. Solo tempo runs, hill repeats on the bike, intervals in the pool. Pushing yourself to go harder and faster. It's just you and how bad you want it. Mind over body.