Steve is up before the alarm goes off, stealing at least 10 minutes of sleep I could have had. Some days the chemicals in my body are in harmony and I’m a reasonable, friendly, positive and enthusiastic person. And some days the chemicals conspire against me and I’m grouchy, fatigued, and my enthusiasm is about equal to that of a sloth’s. This is my 3rd year for this race so naturally my desire is to beat prior year’s times. Knowing it’s not going to be one of my better days, I don’t even bother to look at prior year’s times, thereby not setting myself up for disappointed and berating of myself on the course. I riding my Cervelo and am nervous about getting up Old Stage Road on it so try to focus on subjects other than how foolish I will feel walking my bike up the hill.
The swim went well. I’m comfortable in the water and don’t have any elbows to the head or bodies swimming over me. On to the bike. It’s on the bike course that I understand just how much the mental stamina and focus play in a triathlon. Today, I’m not focused and most of my mental stamina was over about the time I got out of the water. Since I had already dished out the money to race, hauled my fatigued body and resistant mind out of bed, and couldn’t leave anyway, I figured I might as well get on sweet new ride. My new Cervelo is way beyond my ability, and wonder if I should cover my face and bib number so I cannot be identified as the novice riding the expert level bike. I’m pretty much in a “I don’t give a hoot” frame of mind, so I act like the novice I am and run with my bike to the mount line clip in one foot, swing my leg over the frame, push off, and eventually get my other foot clipped in while the more “experienced” triathletes mount their bike in one smooth motion and fly past me. So what I say! I have a Cervelo and new tri top and I look good! Off I go and before long I am thinking of that stupid hill. To distract myself I begin keening observing all the cyclists passing me and send telepathic messages to them in hopes they get leg cramps. Soon enough I’m at the bottom of Old Stage Road just starting to climb and have myself so psyched out, that somehow I lose balance and have to unclip and stand on the ground to keep from falling. Do you know how hard it is to clip in to your bike pedals going uphill? It took me 10 starts before I could get clipped in again. Thoroughly unfocused and pissed off, I get about 100 yards farther up the hill before I give up and get off my bike and walk up the hill. It was during this walk up the hill where I tested my mental strength. It took all I had not to turn that nice Cervelo around and ride back to the start. It wasn’t that I couldn’t physically do it… I was at the end of my mental rope. The thing that kept me going was I could imagine facing Connor when I got home and telling him “I quit”. We talk about not quitting, giving it your all to our kids, so what kind of example would I be if I quit because I was grumpy and didn’t feel like going on? With that in mind, I walked up Old Stage Road as quickly as I could, got back on and rode hard the rest of the way.
The best part of the run was seeing Steve running towards me on the other side of the trail. He had finished his race and was coming back to run to the finish with me. The 2nd best thing about the run was catching up to my 73 year old friend Kay. She is an amazing woman! We chatted for a bit and encouraged each other as Steve took photos and we had a few laughs. As I keep running, I think about the 1 triathlon I have left for the summer and think about Kay. She is also doing the 70.3 next month, and 2 weeks after that, she is doing the Pike’s Peak Ascent; I keep pushing on as I think about how much Kay inspires me.
Steve runs ahead and is waiting for me as I cross the finish line. Another race complete! I am satisfied that I overcame my mental negativity and didn’t give up. Triathlon is a combination of mental and physical fitness and one of the things I love most about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment