Training the mental athlete

Before I did the March in Okarche Duathlon this past Saturday, I posted a status update on Facebook that I was racing it as a training race, and not really a race-race. A few friends posted replies of why I would not do a race if I wasn't really "racing", which I understand, but I feel like I should explain why I raced the way I did and why sometimes not going all out is still a good exercise in racing.
    Going back a little, this past winter/spring has been a bit of a challenge with balancing work, illness, and other hurdles that kept getting thrown my way. Training slipped a bit, mostly with swimming since I couldn't get consistent pool access with campus closures and running because my periformis injury started coming back.

Snow, snow...and more snow

      So, I mainly got in a lot of bike work with the trainer and later with some rides with the BLN.  Setting up for Okarche I was not exactly sure how well I'd go with the running. Plus, with it being March, the worst thing that could happen would be to really injure myself and knock myself even further back with training for later in the summer.
     In the end, I chose to race to practice my mental racing. Because even if your muscles aren't 100 percent there yet, especially with this early in the season, you can practice mental training. Ultimately, it doesn't matter how fast the car is if you can't drive it. And sometimes racing smart means being patient (especially on the first run), and knowing when to push or back off.
      Even though MIO was the State Championship for duathlon (which, honestly I forgot about), I wasn't going to let competitiveness outweigh my main goals: keep even run splits for the first and last 5K to focus on maintaining good form before and after the bike, and to give the bike a good push to see where I'm at right now. The bike wasn't going to be so fast that I'd fall on my face or pull a muscle on the run, but since I have mostly been working on my bike I wanted to give it a decent effort.
      I felt both areas went really well this weekend. The run speed can definitely improve, and will as the season goes on. The bike was pretty decent, and I look forward to getting back up to 22mph+ for the Oly distance like at Nationals this past year. Swimming also will be back on the platter as the pool opens up more and my schedule (hopefully) frees up. So, the season rolls on, and happy Triathlon season everyone!

May the horrible cycling tan lines continue...at least my Mac Rogas in Pop from Oiselle will help me try to cut them down with hopefully more running in the next week!