Part I: Leadman - Eight Months Out
Thrilled to announce that I’ve signed up to race in the Leadman series for 2021. The series consists of five or six different races beginning in June and finishing in August - all above 10,000’ and going up to 12600’. While each race is challenging individually - the culmination of races in such proximity challenges the athlete to train, race and recover efficiently.
The schedule looks like this:
June 19th - Leadville Marathon
July 10th Silver Rush 50 Mile Run
and/or
2016 Sliver Rush
July 11th Silver Rush 50 Mile Mountain Bike
August 14th Leadville Trail 100 Mile Mountain Bike
August 15th Leadville 10K Run
August 21st-22nd Leadville 100 Mile Run
Over the next eight months I am hoping to provide you with a glimpse into how I deliberately prepare my mind for this race series. With hopes that it gives you some tools that you can use in your own race preparation. I am also going to offer free mental skills talks beginning in early February to help prepare you for either these races or your own. (a platform has yet to be chosen - Stay Tuned!).
The First Tip: Why?
Part I - I have talked about in the past but I will highlight again. When you are in the early preparation for a race it’s time to be very clear with yourself ‘Why’ your are doing this. This will serve as your anchor during the event itself, and as motivation for the long haul of training. David Goggins the infamous Navy Seal turned ultrarunner super human said on a recent video that you shouldn’t have to have the luxury of looking for a why - because it’s already there. While I don’t agree with a lot of what he says I’ll go as to agree that it is right in front of your nose. But it’s knowing how to verbalize it, make it clear so it stands out. Maybe it’s for multiple reasons. Write it down. Play with it. How does it feel? Does it resonate with you? Can it get you up in the morning? Write out your personal values. What drives you every day? You’re signed up for a race, why this race? What about it is hooking you? Matt Fitzgerald in his new book The Comeback Quotient (which I highly recommend) says make it INTENSE this has to pull you at 2am when all of your faculties are slowly shutting down from fatigue. The greater the power it has the greater the likelihood of success!
Be careful of the ones that come to you externally - as an example - to prove something to someone else, or a group of people, or for recognition, these tend to weaken as races progress...
Make it about you. Make it values driven. The more it comes internally the more likely it will drive you. Like Simon Sinek suggests in his book Start with Why, look to your stories, how did you get here - to this point? Why did you take up your sport? What’s kept you there? And don’t expect to get it all sorted out today - it takes time and effort for a lot of us to be really clear, but start now!
For me there are several but one I’ll share is that it’s about finding there is more inside - I love exploring the edges of what I can do. I use the latin phrase ‘plus est en vous’ which means ‘more in you’ as one of my mantra’s. When I finished the last Leadman series in 2019 I could feel there was more. I know in heart of hearts that I could do just a little bit better. This was my compass when I started running marathons at the extremely slow pace of 4:50! I dropped it down to 3:13:20 and qualified for Boston four times. I am certain I still have some more. Despite set-backs, despite aging - I know there is ‘a little more.’ (You may ask - but what if there isn’t?) I believe while my Time/Place may decrease (which is an Outcome goal - I’ll talk about that later) due to a number of different factors I can’t control - course conditions, etc., I believe there is always a bit more I can control - like my choices during the race, my training, my recovery, and guess what? My mind!
Stay tuned for monthly tips and talks coming in early February!