Failing Forward: A Lead Challenge Update
For those of you who were following along. I didn’t finish Lead Challenge. Once again, I was cut-off on the bike, this time at sixty-three miles. Then cut-off on the run a week later at…sixty-three miles.
While I felt ‘stronger’ on the bike I wasn’t faster. For three years in a row, I came into the forty-mile mark at the same exact time – literally, you can’t get closer - four hours and seven minutes exactly. The run was a bit different. I was significantly faster and stronger but fatigue from the races slowed me to a crawl once I was on the big climbs. A big sign that durability was a problem.
What happened?
Prayer flags at Hope Pass. One of my favorite sites.
I can distill things down to fitness on the bike, overall physical durability and competing goals.
Cycling is still a weak area of mine. Instead of focusing on it almost exclusively early in the season I opted to focus on training for a road marathon. This would have been okay had I been a better cyclist, but I’m not. I knew that going into it and ultimately paid for it as doing the road marathon in early May didn’t allow me to recover in time to get quality cycling blocks in. (while the road marathon was fast – it still wasn’t what I was hoping for either…)
Second, I didn’t have the durability necessary to complete the run (or the bike). When I got on the long climbs my body shut down. Early cramping on the bike wasn’t a fault of dehydration or electrolyte imbalance – it was a function of strength. Cramps didn’t come climbing, they came descending while I was in a static position for a long time, that and fatigue from prior races and training just shut it down. This is something that could have been prevented.
I told myself last year that I’d do things differently and really things weren’t much different. My coach and I tweaked the cycling training a little but overall, it just wasn’t what was necessary.
Lessons
I came out of this with three clear lessons, two from a physiological perspective and one from a psychological perspective.
a) Work on your weakness first! Work on them a long way out. Cycling be
ing the weakness that I’ve known for years would have benefited from an almost strictly cycling block way back the fall and early winter. Likewise, knowing that I slowed on those big climbs on the run – getting significant practice on them early on should have been part of the focus.
b) As an older multi-sport athlete strength training is essential. It’s non-negotiable. Strength training will build durability and power if done right. It’s going help prevent sarcopenia which comes from getting older
c) Psychological Lesson: I had competing goals that interfered with the focus of developing lots of fitness on the bike. “Run a fast marathon” may have worked if I were just focusing on the hundred run, or if I was a much better cyclist – and even then, a lot of fitness can be gained by getting workouts on the bike entirely!
Because I focused almost as equally if not more on the run back in the fall – that took away precious time I could have been training on the bike.
Psychological Takeaways for Athletes Dealing with Competing Goals:
Clarify Your Primary Goal
Ask yourself: “If I had to succeed at just one thing this season, what would it be? Anchor that to your personal values (joy, courage, competition, adventure, challenge).
Define Secondary Goals Realistically
Reframe: instead of a ‘faster marathon,’ aim for ‘use the marathon as a strong training day.’ Know which goals support versus conflict with the main one. (again, this may have been different if I was just training for the hundred run).
Practice Periodization in Life and Sport
Different phases for different goals. Knowing I didn’t have the training, experience or power on the bike that I need to finish the Leadville hundred I needed to approach things much differently than the way I had approached it in the past – not just little tweaks, I had to make a leap and train that bike specifically for a long period of time. This also goes for other phases or goals in life – take an honest look at the demands of your life – changing careers, having young children, a big move, where are you right now? Set yourself up to manage those effectively so you don’t burn-out or delay the goals unnecessarily.
Accept Trade-Offs with Self-Compassion
Choosing doesn’t mean failure, it just means being intentional. Acknowledging that saying “yes” to one thing means also saying “no” or “not right now” to something else.
Rainbow as the storm passes on the way back up to Hope.
Psychological Flexibility in Action
Opening-up to the sting and discomfort of trade-offs, of changed plans, and learn to be kind to yourself using self-talk “I’m choosing the bike today, because it serves my bigger picture” That reframe allows us to move our mindset from one of perfection, “I’ll crush it all” to process, “I’ll grow from what I can focus on, right now.”
Remember, competing goals are normal but can derail progress quickly if not thought through and addressed. As athletes our focus is what allows us to thrive, but it’s going to be easier when we can focus on a singular target and not multiple moving targets. Having multiple goals is perfectly alright, just organize them so they can serve each other, rather than take from.
Two last things – don’t get me wrong here, I had the time of my life and so many amazing moments during this year’s adventure, I came out of it with great lessons and love for the mountains. A rainbow below Hope Pass was a reminder of my why, I turned off the headlamp as it got dark and followed the trail as my adventurous spirit took me to the pass. At the bottom, way after the cutoff I came into Twin Lakes, a headlamp shined in my eyes and I heard this voice “daddy?” It was my sixteen-year-old daughter waiting for me. Such a treasure.
I’ll be back to Lead Challenge, but it will really be a few years as I develop that bike and build strength. (watch out for Project-60 in a few years). For now, I’m on to the Javelina Jundred in late October because I love running in a surreal desert landscape.