Journey to Kona Day 243: Mental Commitment and IM Boulder 2016, #9

It's easy to say that 90% of racing an Ironman is mental, and while that's actually true, you still have to put in the physical training in order to make that happen!  Rereading my 2016 blogs reminded me of the importance of mental preparation and commitment.  My physical training had slacked off in 2015, which was ultimately necessary.  As I started to ramp up my training in 2016 my coach put a thought in my head, "20 x 20." Twenty weeks of twenty mile runs.  The first few were relatively hard.  By the time I got to 15, my mindset had changed completely.  In fact, I started playing with my intensity, and even pushed a couple of the runs to 21 miles, in one case laying down two consecutive 8:07 miles at the end!

Lucho's instruction to me for the 2016 Ironman Boulder was the same as the others, "swim easy, bike easy, run easy, until it gets hard."  That's what I did!  The training I'd done got me a decent swim, a very good bike, and then allowed me to take advantage of my training with an intense mental commitment on the run.  It was another hot, challenging day in Boulder.  Only six guys in my age group ran under 5 hours, and my 4:50:20 was the 4th fastest on a tough day.  Remarkably, I started the run 17th in my age group, and by the time I hit the finish line, thoroughly spent, as you can see below, I had run my way into 6th!  One place away from my first Ironman podium spot.

Yesterday morning I ran the PATH 10K in Kona. I allowed myself to increase my effort over the course of the run, and definitely went high into my red zone over the last two miles.  I sweated a ton, and learned an important lesson in advance of the race in one week.  Staying in the moment and managing my hydration and nutrition, all the while, staying positive and moving forward at a reasonable effort, is going to be critical in Kona. Today's reflection, as well as tomorrow's are good reminders of this!





http://wassdoc.blogspot.com/2016/03/commitment.html
http://wassdoc.blogspot.com/2016/08/ironman-boulder-2016-race-report.html