Training Update

With Arizona coming up quickly (4 weeks from this Sunday) I have been completing tough training sessions, which included my best long run ever just yesterday. I’ve come to realize something I have known, but have forgotten at times. I can do pretty much anything that I put my mind to. I remember getting this lesson during my College swim days. My assistant coach at the time, Dave Kalange, told me that our bodies are capable of way more than we realize. He would give me swim sets that I would look at and say, "There is no way I can do this”! He would convince me that I could indeed do the sets that he prescribed. After cursing him in my mind (and complaining out loud) I would come to a realization (right before I would have to push off the wall and begin) that I had a job to do and this was it. My focus would be entirely fixated on completing what was put before me. I would even think of people who have suffered more than I was suffering at that moment (people who have REALLY suffered physically or mentally, or both)…just to get myself through the set! Eventually, I would finish the set that I was convinced I would never be able to pull off. I would praise my coach…even feel a deep appreciation towards him. Sometimes I would thank him for pushing me that far.

Recently, with the type of training that I have been doing, I have had a similar feeling to that feeling I had as a swimmer back in College. Yesterday was a great example of what I just described. I had to complete a long run, all at pace, with the final miles done at a faster pace than I would have guessed I could run at that point. I dreaded this workout from the night before when I read it. Unlike College I do not have my coach there with me waiting to watch me complete the workout and encourage me. It was a long run and I was doing it alone. I had to motivate myself to get there (did it on the Bethpage Bike Path due to the hurricane winds we had yesterday!), and I had to do the run at the prescribed paces…basically I had to dig deep for self-motivation. I was actually nervous to do the run because I knew that this would be one of my last SIGNIFICANT long runs before Arizona. I needed to suceed in this workout so that I would be mentally prepared for the Ironman and more confident that I could indeed run the marathon that my coach feels that I can run. I believe it too, but had the run not gone as well as it did, my confidence might have wavered a bit, despite the great training runs I have been completing prior to this long run.

The pace that I had to run for much of this 18 Mile run felt comfortable! I was pleased. It was going really well! After 1 hour 30 minutes however, I was still able to hold the prescribed pace, but not with the ease that I started out with. In my mind I knew I had to complete the last 2-3 miles at a FAST pace and I thought, “He (my coach) is crazy! I can’t run that fast at the end of an 18 mile run”! Mentally I struggled with this because I wanted to do what was prescribed; I just didn’t believe that I could. Right before I had to “pick up the pace” I did what I did back in College…I thought, “I’ll try my best and see what I can do…this is what it takes to be a step above. This is what Champions have to do. Climb out of that comfort zone and test yourself…see what happens”. I started picking up the pace…I was running fast! I had a mantra in my mind the entire time, and just like those swim sets in College, my entire focus was on completing that workout. I did it and I felt GREAT! It was the best long run I have ever done and I felt that I had a breakthrough, an awakening you might say. I remembered what I had known way back in my swim career…that I can complete anything that I put my mind and my focus on. This morning I went to the pool for a hard swim. Despite feeling groggy, I told myself my goals for each set prior to the swim and I ended up doing EXACTLY what those goals were, despite the pain. Arizona here I come!