Mental Preparation for the First Race of the Season

The great Steve Prefontaine

With spring just around the corner, and the first race of the season just days away for some (myself included), its important to mentally prepare yourself for what lies ahead on the race course.  For many runners and athletes the first race of the season is typically a huge test to see where you're after months of off-seasion and pre-season training.  It will also act as an important benchmark to see where you're at for the races in the months ahead.

Devising your Race Strategy

For any race longer than a 5k its important to have a strategy that goes beyond "just run".  Going into the St. Patrick's Day 10k this weekend I've be thinking about how I want to warm up before the race, and in this case I plan to do about 1-2km of light running as close as possible to the race start time.  Then when the horn goes, I've thought carefully about what my target pace for the first few minutes will be, and at what point I'll hit the gas.

Its important to think about your target paces and race strategy in advance.  Think about what pace and time you know you can do, and then think about what pace and time you can push yourself to do.  Don't be afraid to set a realistic but aggressive target time/pace.  Remember, this is probably just a race to check in and see where you're at, so if you push yourself you'll either blow up and learn a valuable lesson about pacing, or you might just surprise yourself and blow away a personal best.

Get Ready to Dig Deep

Racing well is all about pushing your physical and mental limits, and the reality of this is that racing is tough, and its demanding.  You have to mentally prepare yourself to go to your limit, and then take a step beyond that limit and trust that your training has paid off.

When you're walking to work, or going for a short easy run in the days leading up to the race, put on some music and picture yourself at the mentally toughest part of the race.  Picture your feet hurting, your lungs burning, and your legs gassed, and then visualise how sweet it when that hurt goes away as your cross the finish line to your first sub 60 minute, or 50 minute, or 40 minute 10k.

Words to Race By

There is no shortage of catchy phrases to inspire or motivate you when you're in the thick of a race.  One fun little trick is to think of the one phrase, word, or name that rouses your spirit the most, and write it on the inside of your arm so that when the going gets tough, you know why you're doing this. 

Here are some of my favourites;

• "Most people run a race to see who is the fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." - Steve Prefontaine
• "Only think of two things - the gun and the tape.  When you hear the one, just run like hell until you break the other" - Sam Mussabini
• "Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place". - Lance Armstrong
• "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure". - Marianne Williamson
• "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice a gift". - Steve Prefontaine
• Ad astra per aspera. - Latin phrase meaning, "to the stars, through hardship".
• "Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great". - Steve Prefontaine

You Owe this to Yourself

If I can leave you with one thought before you hit the start line of your next race, its a thought that my friend Janelle Morrison left me with before I raced my first Ironman and yelled to me in the middle of the marathon of that race.  Its that we owe it to ourselves to give everything we've got to that race.  We owe it to the person who got up at 5am to run in the middle of January, to the person who passed on going for beers with friends to do a training run, to the person who thought they could never run 10k in less than an hour but was naive enough to try it anyways, and to the person who was motivated enough to train to get you to that start line.  We owe it to ourselves to give our very best and leave every ounce of energy out on the race course.

So as cheesy as this sounds, at your next race get out there, and be great.

Swimming Pool Pet Peeves

This is my house! Not really, but its the pool I go to. 

Anyone who spends any decent amount of time at the swimming pool is bound to find some little pet peeves and grievances with their fellow swimmers and gym goers.  I generally wouldn't be one to air a list of complaints, but after some deliberation I thought maybe I should mention some of these pet peeves on my blog in the interests of making pools everywhere a better place. So here it goes.

• Wringing your wet swimsuit out in the middle of the change room- Some guy did this last week and that is what inspired this post.  I couldn't believe my eyes when he took his swimming trunks and rung all the water out of them on the side of the changeroom opposite the showers, in basically the dryest part of the room furthest from a drain.  What on earth was he thinking?  Does he think he's doing everyone a favor by making sure everyone's socks get wet as they get changed?
• Wearing basketball shorts and underwear in to the hot tub- This is pretty gross.  I just don't get how some people think its okay to go straight from the weight room or gym floor to the hot tub and assume that other people are okay with sitting an a warm tub of water with their bacteria infested underwear and shorts. Ugh.  Gym shorts and underarmor boxers are not the same as board shorts or swimwear.
• Completely ignoring the lanes- There are leisure center pools, and there are lane pools.  I don't mind if people just want to wade around in the pool and not swim lap after lap like us mindless drones, but if you're going to just laze around and socialize at least do it in the lane usually closest to the wall where people are a little more casual about the swim.
• Not returning flutter board/pull buoys at the end of the lane- This is more for the staff who are waiting around to save your life if you start to drown.  Lifeguards are not housekeepers there to pick up after you because you can't be bothered to return equipment from the bin where you got it.  You know who you are, would it hurt you to pick up after yourself?
• Canoodling-  I'm not sure which is worse, the wearing of sweaty undergarments post workout in the hot tub, or affectionate partners looking like they're getting ready to do the no pants dance in the pool.  Gross. Just Gross. Get a room kids.
• Talking on your phone in the changeroom- Its just sort of creepy.  I don't really care if someone quickly picks up to say they'll call back in a minute, because we all lead busy lives, I get it.  But prolonged phone conversations in the changeroom is very poor etiquette.  Plus, with the widespread availability of camera phones, you have to remember, you're standing there with a camera pointed at a bunch of naked people of all ages which is a serious invasion of privacy and its grounds for having your membership revoked at a lot of facilities.

Anyways, those are my two cents for the week.  What about you?  Is there anything that drives you up the wall at the pool?

Sharpen your speed skills with track work

We're hopefully in the last few weeks of winter and many of the earliest spring races are just a little over a month away.  With that in mind, if you've been slugging away through the winter months on the treadmill, or are looking to sharpen your running skills and start picking up some speed, getting on the track might be just what you're looking for.

I personally have a love/hate relationship with track workouts.  On the one hand they're mentally and physically demanding and uncomfortable.  On the other hand, if you want to become a faster runner, then run fast, and one of the best ways to do that is on the track.  The balance between speed and the physical and mental stress of running track leads to one of it's greatest benefits; track work really provides you with a sense of how your body feels at different stress levels, providing you with valuable experience for your next race.

Over the past two years I've really noticed that track work has improved my running economy and helped me move towards a more mid foot strike.  On my longer runs this has translated into quicker leg turnover and greater physiological efficiency.  In terms of the aerobic benefits intervals and track offer, work done at or slightly above your functional threshold heart rate pays dividends.  Track work and intervals allow improved running economy which translates into decreased oxygen extraction at sub maximal pace, increased maximal oxygen consumption at maximal pace, and improved lactate tolerance, which delays fatigue. 

So what do you need to know to hit the track?  I've personally found the research and insight provided by Greg McMillan to be a great resource.  Probably one of the best kept secrets on the internet for runners is the McMillan Run Calculator.  This tool, which is also available in an excel spreadsheet if you're a real run geek, is an exceptional predictor or run performance.  Input your best or most recent race result, and it provides some pretty decent numbers around what your performance should be for different race distances, as well as what you should be targeting for training and track paces.

As always, ask your coach for their thoughts on getting on the track, but if you're keen to get going, here are a couple other resources with some good track workouts;

McMillan Run Calculator
Runner's World - Get on Track Running Times - The Best 10k Workout
No Meat Athlete - Three Track Workouts Guaranteed to Kick your Ass
Running Planet- Marathon Interval Training

Now, who wants to hit the track for some lung busting 800's? 

Running Music

I've never really blogged about what I listen to when I'm running, but I'm often looking for good run songs so I figured I'd write a quick post on some awesome runs that I use to amp me up for a tempo run, or calm me down for a long slow run.

So here's what's on my "HTFU" playlist (thats actually what its called, and if you don't know what HTFU means, Google it).

• Bulletproof - La Roux (high tempo song that gets me started)
• Coming Home - Diddy (there's something triumphant about the opening song that I just love)
• Eye of the Tiger - Survivor (this is a staple)
• Gives You Hell - The All American Rejects (Need I say more?)
• I'm Shopping Up to Boston - Dropkick Murphys (This is a GREAT song for short fast intervals)
• Icky Thump - The White Stripes (Try having this song in your ear and not feel bad ass)
• Imma Be - Black Eyed Peas (Kind of a "what are you made of?" song for me)
• Stronger - Kanye West (Probably a cliche workout song by now, but still good)
• Rooftops -  Lostphophets (This song is all about giving it your all, used to be the Flames opener song)
• Rolling In the Deep - Adele (Its the opener to this song thats the most motivating, great song)
• Kings and Queens - 30 Seconds to Mars (Great song, really motivational)
• Not Afraid - Eminem (What would a HTFU soundtrack be without some Eminem?)
• Time - Hans Zimmer (This is one of the songs from Inception, and was at the end of the 2010 Kona broadcast when Macca was on his last couple miles on his way to the win, listen to this song at the most mentally challenging point of a workout and visualize the finish line at your big race in slow motion, so powerful)

 Now that you know what I use to push me up a hill or crush a tempo or interval run, here's my playlist that I use to slow myself down for a Sunday morning LSD run.

• Use Somebody - Kings of Leon (Such a chill song)
• Stop and Stare - One Republic (A cool song that you can visualize your whole season to)
• Airplanes - B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams (preparing for Ironman Canada I listened to this so many times wishing and hoping I'd finish the swim!)
• Dog Days are Over - Florence + The Machine (You can totally run on a Sunday morning and be perfectly content listening to thise)
• Edmonton - The Rural Alberta Advantage (I can't say enough awesome things about this band, just download their album Hometowns, its awesome and the whole album should be on this list)
• Unwritten - Natasha Beddingfield (Girlie music at its best)
• Lighters - Bad Meets Evil (A song about struggle and triumph, also with Eminem)
• I Love this Road - Emerson Drive (Showing some love for country music here, pick your fave run route and listen to this song)
• I Believe - Nikki Yanofsky (The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Theme! Listen to this, watch this montage, and just be inspired by our Canadian athletes)
• All These Things That I've Done - The Killers (See the video below, enough said)

Lastly there are two videos that I use to amp me up and get me ready for a run or a workout.  Just watch them.

And this next one gives me chills, you don't even need to watch it, just listen to it

Have a great run!

Lance Armstrong Returns to Triathlon

Lance on the bike at Panama 70.3

This past Sunday Lance Armstrong marked his return to triathlon with a remarkable second place finish at Panama 70.3 against a strong field of competitors including one of triathlon's strongest cyclists, Chris Lieto.  Going into the race predictions for his results were all across the board if you looked at the Slowtwitch forums, or at the response Tri It Multisport had to it's #LanceTris twitter contest.  Few people predicted he would finish as strong as he did, and if one thing is for certain, triathlon's top athletes have been put on notice that there is a new contender in the ring.

I honestly do believe that Lance Armstrong returning to triathlon is a good thing.  I know that there's been some debate on this around the web but the Livestrong marketing machine brings the sport a level of attention and appeal that few organizations can rival.  Even marginally more media coverage and general public interest is sure to appeal to equipment manufacturers and sponsors alike, which in turn means more funding for races, greater selection of equipment brands, and hopefully bigger purses for pros.  I don't think that Lance can do for triathlon what he did for cycling in the US, but at the very least he participation in the sport lends credence to its legitimacy as a mainstream sport.  Lets not forget, that triathlon has only been an Olympic sport since 2000, which is very recent when you consider that the bar is set pretty low for what's considered a sport in the summer Olympics.

With Lance comes the controversy associated with the doping allegations that have followed him around since his earliest Tour de France days.  I don't want to weigh in on whether he did or didn't dope.  The way I see it, if he doped, he was a doper who beat all the other dopers, if he didn't dope, he was clean and beat all the dopers.  Don't get me wrong, any sport at any level has to be clean, but I think that the USADA and WADA should concern itself with ensuring sport is clean today rather than digging up graves to see who wasn't clean in the past.  Its an embarrassment to see that there are still so many elite athletes using PEDs today while the USADA and WADA are busy carrying out what seems to be a personal vendetta against Lance Armstrong.  Rather than spending millions of dollars pursuing Lance, anti doping agencies should be spending resources on increased random testing for athletes and more mandatory testing at events.  Similarly, to quell any controversy that Lance brings to the sport, the WTC should redouble its efforts to test its athletes and do so in the most transparent and thorough manner possible.

Lance's performance at Panama 70.3 was truly exceptional, the guy is 40.  Some people are going to see that in and of itself reason for suspicion.  What a lot of people don't know is that when Lance Armstrong was 15 he was racing against Mark Allen and Dave Scott, arguably triathlon's two greatest living legends.  Simply put, he's a machine, he's been racing and winning at sport's highest levels since long before anyone could reasonably accuse him of doping.

If anything is certain, I think we can all look forward to one of the most exciting years for triathlon in quite some time.