Interesting week of training this past week which is still focused on my running. The past two months I have been getting help in planning my workouts from Eric Neilsen. Eric is a friend of mine and a great athlete himself. He is a Kona qualifier and the best swim coach I have ever worked with. When Eric lived here, he ran a couple of masters swim programs that I swam at.
My focus the past two months have been on my running. Definitely my weakest link in triathlon but I always had the feeling it didn't have to be that way. The training for the marathon I am doing in January has been very different from any training I have ever done for the run. I have only been swimming once per week and biking once per week with typically two rest days per week. This week I ran about 28 miles total, that is a lot for me.
Here is where the mental side of this comes in. Today was a great example of working on the mental. I had my longest run in quite a while today = 14+miles. I have been sore since my crazy gym workout on Thursday morning and needless to say my hamstrings were not happy after that.
This morning's run was just a slow, lower heart rate effort but long. I started out ok, hit a low spot around mile 7 and then rebounded about mile 9. As I was beginning to tire quite a bit around mile 10 I noticed that my mind would drift away from what I was doing and of course begin the negative self talk.
I would say things like, "it's ok to walk" or "this run is really not that important" or other things along that line that would give me an excuse to walk. This is exactly what kills my time in Ironman events, walking.
As I finished my run I was picking up the pace and that only means one thing, I have more to give physically than my mind is allowing me. I have to put time, effort and discipline into controlling that negative self talk and redirect that talk into positive thoughts that will keep me running.
My plan for future workouts is to "Plan" what I am going to say when the negative thoughts creep in. What mantra can I develop to address this problem? Stay tuned, but I really believe this is a great chance for me to dramatically improve my time at Ironman Lake Placid in July.
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