Winning my fifty 'ten minute' races in the Kona run 2008
THURSDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 2008
My strategy for making sure I don’t panic about the hours and kilometres I have to complete during training is simple……….I try not to think about or even to look at my schedule more than one day in advance. I do permit myself an overall look when I first get it though, so I can figure out how I might be able to fit it all in with work and home life, but after that I take one day at a time.
My reasoning is that by treating each day as a single entity, I will concentrate my energy on completing the task in hand and not waste energy worrying about all the things that I have to on the up coming days.
This week is still hard but better than last week. Like I say, I’m ticking stuff off one day at a time – I did a 3k swim on Monday and took annual leave on Tuesday to do a 5hr bike. On Wednesday I did a 5k swim before work and then a 1.15hr run after work. Tomorrow is another annual leave day with a 3hr bike and 1.45 run straight after.
Breaking things down into small parts is a tactic that I should carry through with me to race day – apparently! I have been reading that on race day, it is best not to think about the 4 hours you have left on the bike and then the inordinate amount of hours you’ll still have to get through to complete the Marathon and eventually cross the finish line – the books say you’ll lose form and get disheartened – Oh!……… I am surprised!
They suggest you should only focus ahead in small time frames and break the whole race down into small sections. One strategy might be to set your stop watch to beep every 10 minutes to remind yourself to drink, or eat, to check your running or biking form, count your cadence, check your speed, focus on your breathing – by the time you’ve done all that your watch will be beeping and you’ll be doing it all again. If I follow this advice for the bike and run sections in Kona I’ll be beeping in excess of 50 times! So there you have it – treat the entire race like 50 mini races and I’ll be sweet!
As I have said in a previous blog, I do have a tendency get completely distracted looking at all the other competitors and the scenery. In Kona though, since I’m not likely to get distracted by the Lava fields, I might be able to focus on my ‘ten minute mini races’ whilst peddling and running and think too much about running down the finishers chute!
My strategy for making sure I don’t panic about the hours and kilometres I have to complete during training is simple……….I try not to think about or even to look at my schedule more than one day in advance. I do permit myself an overall look when I first get it though, so I can figure out how I might be able to fit it all in with work and home life, but after that I take one day at a time.
My reasoning is that by treating each day as a single entity, I will concentrate my energy on completing the task in hand and not waste energy worrying about all the things that I have to on the up coming days.
This week is still hard but better than last week. Like I say, I’m ticking stuff off one day at a time – I did a 3k swim on Monday and took annual leave on Tuesday to do a 5hr bike. On Wednesday I did a 5k swim before work and then a 1.15hr run after work. Tomorrow is another annual leave day with a 3hr bike and 1.45 run straight after.
Breaking things down into small parts is a tactic that I should carry through with me to race day – apparently! I have been reading that on race day, it is best not to think about the 4 hours you have left on the bike and then the inordinate amount of hours you’ll still have to get through to complete the Marathon and eventually cross the finish line – the books say you’ll lose form and get disheartened – Oh!……… I am surprised!
They suggest you should only focus ahead in small time frames and break the whole race down into small sections. One strategy might be to set your stop watch to beep every 10 minutes to remind yourself to drink, or eat, to check your running or biking form, count your cadence, check your speed, focus on your breathing – by the time you’ve done all that your watch will be beeping and you’ll be doing it all again. If I follow this advice for the bike and run sections in Kona I’ll be beeping in excess of 50 times! So there you have it – treat the entire race like 50 mini races and I’ll be sweet!
As I have said in a previous blog, I do have a tendency get completely distracted looking at all the other competitors and the scenery. In Kona though, since I’m not likely to get distracted by the Lava fields, I might be able to focus on my ‘ten minute mini races’ whilst peddling and running and think too much about running down the finishers chute!