Sunday, October 4, 2009

Mental Toughness Training continues....

Fridays workout was a long swim. Since I am most worried about the bike I have cut down the number of swims I get a week, Long swim in 50:02. Just shy of 2 min faster but not my fastest. Here are the 8 X 250 (2000) meter splits: 5:52, 5:57, 6:03, 6:15, 6:33, 6:38, 6:25, and 6:14. No real trouble. I started to get a little bored and less enthusiastic. Then I was able to pick it up. I am going to start picking up the distance on these long swims.
Saturday-Long run. 8 miles. in 1:18:56 an ave. of 9:50 on the Silverman course. Lovely hills. Actually just short of brutal hills. Here are my splits: 9:04 (downhill start), 9:54, 10:19 (350 foot elevation change about 9-10% grade), 9:46, 10:08, 10:36 on another hill, 9:25 down, and 9:40. I felt very strong. No walking at all. I usually do not do hills this well. I am pleased.

Sunday (today)-Long bike. I found out yesterday late that there will be a group of riders doing the entire Silverman course from start to finish sponsored by the Las Vegas Triathlon Club. I wanted 40 some miles today ended up with 31 in 2:48:09. Why so slow you might ask? 10.9 mph ave. to be exact....WIND. Not just any wind but the kind of wind that picks up houses and throws them about. Some reports say over 75 mph gusts. Through the canyons that lie near the lake that is very, very dangerous. Not only is it a 1176 elevation gain for this bike course there was those gusts. A HEADWIND. Absolutely brutal. My ride was slow, hard, and miserable and I am proud of it. I grinded that baby out today. I passed people on this stretch of road who had very nice aero tri bikes and apparently in better shape than me. Passed em. I also got my hooks in on them sisters. I climbed the first one. In case you don't remember the sisters are a cycling legend to local riders as a bitch to climb. 15, 16 and 19% grades respectively. Finally got the top of the first one earned the decent, the second one got 3/4 the way up and pooped out. It is longest of the three. The third one I got about 5/8s up. Then I grounded out the rest of a slight uphill that seems to keep going and going. GRIND IT, GRIND IT OUT. That was todays mantra. No cramping, no real pain except my back was sore. Also, on lakeshore drive I did reach my maximum speed on a bike at 36.9 mph.

As I trained this week I thought about one main topic. Homeostasis. That is maintain balance. Although I am happy with my training, I will not let it get too exciting. As for the last few challenging weeks I did not let get me down. Basically do not let the good times be too high or let the down times too low. I think the less experience you have, you ride that roller coaster. I want it to be flat. My best friends Karl and Andi did quite well at the Twin Cities Marathon today. Read Karls blog for details...love those guys! Now I must get back to dexter....I love that show. QUOTE:

Homeostatic fear shows up regardless of whether the change is good or bad, wise or foolhardy. The intensity of fear and resistance is related to the size and pace of the change, not to the quality (good, bad, wise, unwise) of the change.

Good changes...good changes

5 comments:

Missy said...

Grind it til you find it, that was my mantra yesterday too. Almost felt like I was rolling backwards, hard to believe that you can go that slowly and stay upright!;)

Anonymous said...

Definitely sounds like one bloody hard set of sessions. I love the focus on mental toughness and maintaining balance.

great work!!

Heidi Austin, PT, DPT said...

nasty wind eh??? i like your scientific analysis of mental toughness. very PT-esque! When is your next race ron?

B.o.B. said...

I myself enjoy a nice balance. That way the highs aren't destroyed by the lows. Great training and good mantra.

Chuck said...

Great post! Your comments and the quote about maintaining balance were very helpful. I have over 20 years of running experience, with 51 marathons under my belt, and I am still dealing with the same ups and downs. Less then 3 weeks ago I had an excellent marathon in Ohio and now I am dealing with right calf issues.

Keep grinding! Go Dodgers!