Matters of Minutia

I’ve had new bike fever for quite some time with an increase lately as I recently ran my 1st marathon and realized why there was the innovation of the wheel.   I’ve been sitting on suspension bike dating back 3 years, a road bike from 2010 with a repaired carbon frame & a slew of mixed parts (what I call the frankenbike), and a alloy hardtail I built to have as a gravel grinder that would serve as back-up for the primary dually. 

About to drop Wheeler pass & eventually miners creek.
Techy alpine riding ordered up daily in Breck Epic!

Reading this as I type, I can see why I have that burning desire to throw a leg over something fresh and blingy.  But I also see a few key points as I reflect. 

1. It’s not about the bike!   
2. You don’t have to have the best equipment to perform.  
3. Consumers are getting more burying in options and sub-categories

It’s not about the bike, I know that’s a bit clique from a book title of an oh-so famous TdF winner, or blank in the books, but that phrase and concept of that book actually is spot on.  Investing in “the person” makes the bike a mute point.

I’ve seen this personally as I cranked my 3 yr old 140mm travel bike to a 4th place finish in a 100mi NUE series race this year, to making the lead selection of 10 or so rider during a local gravel grinder on my 120mm travel alloy hardtail where everyone was on carbon CX bikes, to finally making the selection during a P/1/2 road race at the Air force academy on my frankenbike that’s 6 years old even after working for other teammates that were dropped.  In all cases I had people make sly statements, like,"isn’t that cush a bit much for this much pedaling” before the ultra mtb and “did you grab the wrong bike from the quiver” before the gravel ride, to even a laugh of “when are you getting a new bike” before the road race.

Alloy mtb w/120mm of suspension & a 1x set up to gravel grind also same Breck Epic whip.

And a better example is even when I was in Africa for 9 mths coaching the national team and making new devo selections from guys we’d pick up off the side of the road.  These kids would be dragging 50 lb steel china single speeds up 8% mountain grades & bombing back down at 40-50mph with 80kg of carrots, cabbage and potatoes on the rack and wrapped through the frame while the team rode right alongside on carbon bikes.  Put those kids on the velotron that had never seen gears or make circle on a bike with clipless pedals and they’d throw down 6-7w/kg on a ramping vo2max test by the end!  

From this far end of the spectrum to our 1st world problems, I see and hear so many that let the blame fall on equipment as a crutch. 

“Oh my power isn’t working or calibrated right.”   Well are your legs broken or have a heart failure?  Then keep pedaling!

“I’ve got a newer stiffer and faster accelerating bike.”  Well how come you are getting dropped.  Better start riding it to it’s potential.

You know what? We can learn something from these Africans. Ignorance is bliss!  Just show up, throw down and let the engine (aka “you") do the talking. 

I was told straight up I was stupid as I lined up for Breck Epic this year.  Yeah for being on an alloy hardtail with alloy wheels even though it had a very respectable build.  From glancing around, I was definitely one of probably 5-10% that didn’t have carbon bike, carbon wheels and not be on full suspension.  Just because my rear shock had blown the weeks prior and warranty hadn’t returned yet, I was fretting and almost didn’t race because of all of the chatter in my head.  I spent time asking friends to borrow,  calling various shops to line up a demo or rental, and in the end it didn’t matter much besides I’d probably enjoyed myself a bit more each day.  I finished 10th overall in the Pro field, even in front of some factory riders, by riding smart and strong each day.  Because you know what, I learned to ride a bike and hone that skill each time I go out.

I see that need each day as technology improves, especially on the mountain bike side of things.  New trail bikes that climb better and descend better each year.  But those customers buying them now, did they ever learn to ride a fully rigid bike with cantilevers?  Probably not and I can’t say I blame them, but there is something to be said about knowing how to pick a line (which you must do on certain bikes) versus just letting the technology chatter through the terrain.  I passed people on descents riding 120mm duallies and even some with flat tires because they were too dependent on the bike to do their job as rider.  

Now as I seek out new bikes, damn there are bikes for every category and sub-category with marketing galore surrounding each.  There’s XC, World cup, XXC, Trail, All-mountain, Enduro, park, DH, 27.5, 29er, Plus, Fat and probably more on the mtb side while on the road side, or I should say drop bar, there is standard road, aero, endurance, adventure, gravel, cross, comfort, etc.

Really there are matter of a couple handful of bikes that change a degree here or there and add or subtract 10-20 mm of travel front or back to really just drown you with options.  Especially when you factor in all the component build configurations.  And the gravel/cross/road debacle just blows my mind as some are just rebranded for a different category to sell and others are just slightly tweaked geometry to refine the ride.  Sure those refinements make a bit of a difference but damn people spend a lot of time commenting on reviews nitpicking the details when in all reality 95% of those nitpickers should just ride something comparable to the task and shut up.  Like in that gravel grinder race, I saw a guy busting it out with us on his road bike with 28c tires and me on a 29er mtb with a 1x spinning out right alongside all those with gravel specific bikes.  Sure I’d recommend having the bike that best suites the demand, like in this case at least a gravel/adventure, cross, or disc road with some tire clearance, but even those 3 blur the lines between one another.

Ultimately I’m not saying that certain equipment doesn’t make a difference.  Sure it does.  Nor is it nice to have.  I’d love to have a set of carbon hoops on all my bikes but people can let that get the best of them.  Instead of spending $2g’s to save 454g, why not save some money and stop putting so much crappy food in your body to save that pound and possibly more!  It’s like the Rwandans, they didn’t have access and couldn't afford westernized food, so they ate  the food they grew.  Sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage, etc.  And you know what….they are better off for it as they burned clean, unprocessed energy.

Yep I said it and it’s true.  Spend more time planning good nutrition over spending gobs of money to save grams here and there on your bike. Actually No, I take that back. Don’t spend more time, just keep it simple and eat simple real foods that don’t take more time. Take that time to invest in your fitness over having your bike in the shop installing the latest and greatest upgrade.  Spend time getting comfortable with the bike you are on, so you can actually ride it versus thinking the new technology is going to do it for you.

So bottom line is get out and ride what you have if all else fails.  Get familiar with it, keep it maintained, and put it through it’s paces.   Spend your time on the minutia of your daily habits that matter more than the minutia of the marketing that can blur what really matters.

P.S. you will see me on some nice bikes and blingy gear, but you know what, coaching athletes each day has honed me to focus on the minutia that matter more. 

Taking a Systems or Goal Approach for Achievement

Lately I've been maximizing time listening to podcasts while doing work around the house or spinning on the rollers. I came across some gems from a recent edition in the Tim Ferriss interview with Scott Adams. It's worth a listen if you like long-form interviews and have a couple hours to spare.


Anyways they discussed a Systems vs. Goal concept to achieving objectives. I thought about how I interact and use this with differing athletes in varied situations.  It's meaningful and everyone is different, hence why any coach shouldn't have a cookie cutter approach in this area.

Director sportif at UCI race reviewing race objective

Let's dig down a little and define how this can be useful as an athlete.  Let's say you're trying to improve your threshold and assuming your current level of fitness and training status you need 30 minutes of threshold work repeated twice per week.

A goal based approach would be to set Tuesday and Friday as your threshold "Goal" workout days.  Then you'd need to establish your other training around these goal days to best support your chance to achieve the objective.

A systems based approach may be riding 5-6 days per week and doing the threshold work as it fits.  Instead of defining specific days you must complete objective,  you approach each workout with the thought, "if I have good legs today, I'll knock the out the work."

What's the advantages and disadvantages of each?  Hopefully you find this helps you know when to set a goal or system approach, because there can be ideal times for both.  Or simply if one method is better for your approach as an athlete.

Here are a few arguments for and against the Goal approach, as I play the devil's advocate.

• Pro - Goals require you to prioritize an exact objective. Creates a "Today is the day to perform." attitude.  In essence, this approach should help you prepare both physically and mentally.  For example, eating a snack 90 minutes prior & keeping your hydration in check on the given day so you are fueled for the effort all while going into it thinking "I've got to execute."
• Con - Conversely this requisite to execute can create pressure to perform, thus leaving a chance to fail.  Which failing may not be the worse thing, but that's another topic all together. Like what if your morning meeting or project ran long at work ran and you didn't drink anything since your 2nd cup of coffee and you are trying to hit the workout on lunch. Or you were up with your kiddo having nightmares but your morning trainer pain cave session is being challenged with the necessity for more sleep.  You may be less than physically (dehydrated, under fed, need of sleep) which can lead to mental questioning of "I'm not prepared because of X so how can I nail this."  

• Pro - The goal may force you unnecessarily push your limits.  Pushing your limits is often good but unnecessary is key here.  Let's say if you go into the session over-tired, over-stressed, and just sub-par, then it may force you deeper into a stress pit.  Especially if you don't achieve the goal!  Many athletes and coaches unfortunately only monitor training stress.  When in actuality all the stress can add up to push you over the edge.  C'mon nobody should be snippy with their kids or short with their wife because the combination of a bike ride, sloppy nutrition and a challenging day at work!
• Con - A goal may be Limiting your potential. Yes that's right, just opposite from above, you may have more to give than what your goal presents.  Like if your weeks goal was 60 min of total threshold work split between 2 days, but you were capable of two 40 min sessions (80 minutes total) or even a third 30 min session (90 minutes total for the week) then you'd be selling yourself short for what's possible.  Now that doesn't mean that you always push past a proper training progression or periodization, but sometimes that feedback/reflection can help you and hopefully your coach tailor the plan for a more advanced progression. Thus a better performance outcome.  

And now taking the plusses and minuses of the Systems approach.

• Pro - Allows you to Capitalize on having a good day by allowing flexibility.  It's similar to a slang I heard growing up. "get'n while the gettings good", meaning take advantage of a good thing.  I think it was used in context like when we found a good fishing hole for bass, making money cutting trees after a hail storm, or helping people move when a new big business created an population influx. Anyways, if you'd scheduled a rest day but you hop on and feel like a champ; the question arises, should you waste that feeling?  Often I say go for it unless you are tapering and thus you don't want to waste your "good day" for training when you want those legs for a race. It reminds me of the skit from Big Daddy where they waste the good surprise on Sonny. 
• Con - Some may delay facing the objective, thinking they'll have a better day later.  Thus potentially never accomplishing anything.  For example, if you don't prioritize the importance of the objective to you and things keep snowballing in the opposing direction, then you may just keep missing the boat.   By the end of the week you may have not hit any of the defined quality.  That's no good! 

• Pro - Promotes Tuning into your body, thus improving on knowing yourself as an athlete. You start to develop patterns for feeling good and why you might be feeling bad.  And hopefully the bad days become less and less with the consistency and self-reflection contained in the process. Like him or not, Lance had a great quote stating,  "I don't have any more bad days. I have good days and I have great days." 
• Con - This approach can Promote mediocrity.  Consistency can be a great, but if you aren't good at tuning into your body then you may not get the quality or subsequent rest.  Meaning you may have too many days just taxing enough to your system to leave you just unable to ever feel good enough to go for the objective.  Many thrive on this because you are consistent but you never really see your true potential. 

This application is how I related it to coaching and performance, but there are many other applications.  One of which was a systems approach to nutrition that Adams also discussed.  It's worth considering to educate yourself so you can make better choices vs depending on will telling yourself you can have something.  It's like the saying, Missing the forest for the trees, if you focus on what you have to do and only that, then you may miss the bigger picture.  

I hope this helps you reflect on what method may work for you as an athlete or in everyday life for that matter.  And as always, I believe having a coach on your side to offer an objective perspective is extremely valuable.  So look me up at www.mathenyendurance.com and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram if you need someone in your corner.

Seize and Conquer in a "Like" and "Share" Time

I finally came to the realization of something in the past couple days that has been building over the past year.  It all revolves around the way our society now operates of being able to see so dramatically into the lives of one another through social media.

You can literally see what all your "Friends" are doing day to day even if in another state, follow your favorite stars and share all the amazing work of the professionals you aspire to be.  And yet you don't actually have to DO anything besides clicking like or share!

You are (or can be) sooooo connected and yet still be farther detached than we ever have been as a community.

Don't get me wrong, I use these social mediums frequently, maybe without such savvy as some, but they do serve a purpose.  You can reach large groups of people quicker than ever.  Create something viral, a following, or even get your message out.  Needless to say that bottom line can be positive, negative or somewhere in-between, but it's getting it out there.

Now getting to the point, I recently used a Facebook event for a Strength Training for Cyclist presentation and demonstration that I hosted for our local COS Racing team.  It was great being able to see the couple handfuls of locals who were "Interested", "Coming" or just no response while sending out updates to the attendees.

The striking thing was I got an RSVP from a friend and former coached athlete living in Denver, Teddy Gutshall.  He's the "Seize and Conquer", the model social presence in this scenario.  Don't get me wrong, I hopefully put together a good presentation with some interaction setting goals and forcing the participant to reflect, all ending with a hands-on circuit that we were able to run through together in a friends private gym.  But I was expecting only local, so to have Teddy drive 2 hours round trip for a 1 hour session was humbling to say the least.



He showed up in his teacher work attire which happens to be going the extra mile with classy bow tie laid upon a Colorado chic palate of dark khakis and plaid shirt.  I thanked him for coming down and he made the statement that Facebook events make it so easy to jump on attending varied events and happening like this.  When I made the comment that I see just the opposite; people have a social presence, make comments, show "web" interest from behind their digital devices, but then never act upon actually attending or making a real social presence.

I'm thankful for this and as I look back upon following Teddy over the past year including when we worked him up for his completion of the Dirty Kanza 200 in June, he's done nothing but DO!  He disclosed that that's how he found out about DK200 and signed up.  He's one of the spearheads of a fun group of friends that embark on yearly outings of biking, beers, & outdoors that they refer to as the DST, or the Dirty South Tour.  They are in their 8th year of having a blast driving cross country from the hoodoos of Utah to the canopied trail and roots of Pisgah in NC.  And on top of that whenever schools out for summer, he loads up the car and embarks on every adventure he can find outside of the group of friends that can get together for those 1-2 weeks each year.  He ok rolling solo to seek adventure and I respect that.  He's living each day for the moment and actually acting on the things that most everyone else is just "liking" and living vicariously through.

Keep it up Teddy!

Resistance Training—General vs Specific Exercises

Resistance Training—General vs Specific Exercises:


I just came across this article and it struck me as very important perspective at this time of year going into the fall especially for endurance athletes.  And especially because there are soooooo many buzz words out there that can confuse or mislead athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike.  One that always torques me is from some infomercial that states, "get a strong, sexy core!"  WTF?!  Really your "core" can be sexy!  Isn't that the impossible by the general definition of core being the innermost part of something or at the center and when it relates to your muscular core; its the same.  You can't see most of those muscles as they are your pelvic floor, multifudus, transverse abdominus, and other spinal flexor/erectors.  Sounds sexy huh!? Don't get me wrong some externally visual muscles like your obliques, abdominals, glutes, etc. can also be part of your "core" because the muscles work synergystically to support you and any one can't do it alone.


But I digress...back to the General vs Specific stuff.  In the article; the author Nick Tumminello does a fine job of defining and weighing out positives and negatives between the two when it comes to sports specific performance.


In short, general exercises are those that are foundational movements like the bench press whereas specific exercises are those like cable assisted single arm press.  The first you are supported by a bench, can support most of your body and isolate the bench press movement for maximal strength at that joint.  And the latter is more about balance and support muscles while performing a similar range of motion. You see the difference?  Ok, hope so!


I have seen many trainers, people at the gym (well I haven't been to one in a while), and even athletes use so many specific exercises that the negate the fact stated in this article that often the sheer load that you can achieve is lessened with the specificity.  So you can lift less weight and thus gain less strength for a given training session.  But you might ask, "but this movement is specific to my sport, so shouldn't I do it?"


The answer is meh, maybe!  I often tell many of the endurance athletes I coach not to get your sport mixed up with the goal of getting strong.  How many gym exercises can you do that approach the speed of movement required for the normal average cycling cadence of a ride or your running stride rate?!  Can you pump out 80 to 90 reps per minute?  If you are then you are a speed demon.  The closest you can often get is plyometrics but that's another topic.


When I prescribe strength work to an endurance athlete, I go straight to the goal to gain General strength and let the specificity come from the sport itself.  If that athlete has time in their schedule then some Specific exercises can be added in as accessory moves, as part of a transition phase or maintenance phase, but the key is in the fundamentals.


The take home here is going into the off-season, focus on the fundamentals first vs all the fancy moves and work on getting stronger.  Especially if you have some time before any competitions are looming. You'll get some benefit from putting on some heavy plates on the basic moves making a gym workout short, sweet and powerful.  And then get some time with your sport of choice turning the sheer strength gains into sport specific improvements.




'via Blog this'

Audible Expectations; Self-doubt vs Reality at the Park City Point to Point

The mind has an amazing amount of control and YES that means over your bodies actions.  That's whether you like it or not so don't be stubborn and say otherwise.  That doesn't mean it has to work against you but it can if you allow it.  Why do you think so many top performers; athletes and business persons alike; often have some type of imagery habit where they see themselves achieving a goal before it even happens?

The reason I allude to this spurs from my recent experience in the Park City Point to Point mountain bike race.  If you don't know much about it; it's a 75 mile race over the vast network of trails in Park City, UT that covers 3 ski resorts and boasts 11,000 ft of gain on nearly all singletrack trail.  Needless to say it's challenging not only for the fitness of the legs but the body takes it's toll with all the twists and turns combined with the descents. 

This event had been on my list several years but as it sells out in the matter of minutes, I'd missed my opportunity but this year I committed to buying an entry off the forum as the even neared and those early birds that snagged up the entries quickly realized when August rolls around they are in over their head.  Well this was me for this year as I'd only raced twice to this point and they were both in April and May.  Needless to say my expectations weren't high for the event but I did have expectations; to have fun!  That expectation may sound low, but it's the truth.  I've had some great results in the past at mtb events but taking a year in Africa working as full time coach and then coming back spending some time building my business and catching back up on life with my wife took precedence over focusing on the racing as much as previous years.  But I felt the pressure with all those that know me making statements corralled with expectations.  Things like, "You going for Alex's top spot since he's at Worlds?!"  Are you crazy, that's why he's at Worlds and I'm not! 

I was being honest setting a goal to finish in 7:15-7:30 time frame which would have been somewhere in the top 25.  Don't get me wrong, that is still an audacious goal and you know this if you've done the event.  But I've coached athletes to finishes in this from pros to those trying to get across the line in one piece, so I know what it takes and where I was at.

But this is where it gets juicy and complex.  Usually low expectation is surrounded by negative talk and self doubt and can lead to poor performance.  Hence why I often talk athletes off the self-doubt and negative connotation tightrope.  Was this the case for me personally?  Was I talking myself down?  Was I putting a cap on my performance?  Maybe yes?  Or was I?

The difference is I wasn't talking down about myself but being realistic with my own goals and thus reducing the pressure on my shoulders. In my own eyes, I was being honest with what I'd put into the process and thus what I expected to get in return.  From my coaching experience there's a difference between running yourself in the ground with negative self-talk or doubt and being honest with oneself.  "I suck" or "There's no way I am ready for this" are unnecessarily beating yourself up.  But stating what you've actually logged and thus what's realistic may set you up for better success since you are less likely to get in over your head.  For example, "Well I haven't gotten those 2 long rides in that I'd wanted but I did crush some great climbs on my shorter days that were good quality." 

The difference between the negative talk and what I was doing was drastic.  I don't think I suck; I'm actually pretty talented.  I don't say that to be cocky but I don't talk myself down. I CAN ride the shit out of some singletrack and more challenging terrain very well.  I always joke about being a better mountain biker because I can hide my lack of fitness in all the technicalities.  

Hitting root drop barely after shoving face with Snicker & bacon feed!

But from the fire of the gun at the start line I didn't race timidly.  I have a belief of trying to be in a good position so if I start to suffer I can drift back a bit and still hopefully maintain good cohorts to ride with.  Another piece of this was a goal of not wanting to be too far back.  I know trail riding is my strength and I didn't want to be stuck behind less skilled riders when I can be efficient with my flow.  Well I put myself in the top 30 (where I'd set my goal) in the start grid and maintained this through the "neutral" rollout to hit the singletrack.  I quickly was frustrated as I was riding inefficiently behind some other guys that were grabbing more brake than necessary in corners or not carrying speed where I thought we should.  It quickly turned into a game of "you mind if I come around and fill in that gap?" This mild frustration led me to picking up spots when either someone got nervous and blew a corner or I'd passed when a few prime passing spots opened up. They were gassed from fighting the trail and I was recovering behind them so I had a little more juice to punch it around.

Believe it or not, I found myself telling a fellow racer in the opening hours, "don't let me get in your way....I'm in way over my head right now!"  This was in a lead group of 9 guys that had created a separation of several minutes by the 1st check points.  I truly believed this at this point.

This recurrence let to the lead group of 9 and me looking back with no one in sight thinking, "What the f--- did I get myself into?!"  Well I was top 10 so my goals still stood early in the race; maintain a top 25 finish with a 7:15-7:30 finish time.  This just meant I was able to drift back with grace and hopefully finish with some dignity and pride if I could deal with many riders I know riding through me as the day progressed.  So I quickly focused on my fundamentals of racing; riding a pace adequate for me, eating and drinking, and still trying to ride with a few others to help with camaraderie and a bit of extrinsic motivation.  So the initial piece resulted in being split from the main group of paid studs but still being able to see a few riders seconds ahead and riding with only 1 or 2 others for hours.  But this was good for me because I was able to flow the trail and techy sections without riding someone elses pace while not being forced to punch it harder than I thought necessary on demanding fitness sections.  This conservative racing strategy paid off for me as I hit aid station 1 maintaining good position and my mind had started to change from "drift back gracefully" to "let's hold this!"  

I realized my mind-set and thus expectations were starting to morph after settling in.  I realized this when I decided to not stop and pump my rear tire that had been giving me issues with too low of pressure and I was hitting the rim waaaay too often and mostly while seated climbing!  I knew this the entire week leading in that it was slowly losing pressure but knew it'd make it 7hrs so I just ran it, albeit a bit too low for race day to start.  But at this point, I didn't want to lose my position and figured I'd risk the squishy tire and ride a little more nimbly!   As the hours progressed, I actually caught a few of the riders in 6-8th position which solidified the fact I was racing and some behind me caught up too but we were going back and forth based on who was climbing or descending better. 

I had to quickly make some decisions to make quick aid transitions because I hadn't established any support so I was just stopping and swapping bottle, hydration packs and food out on my own or at the neutral spots while I saw the others getting full musset bag hand ups or support at various spots along the course with fresh bottles and food.  I felt strong as I saw my early conservative pacing was allowing me to keep a similar pace throughout where some others had zapped their punch early and were paying now.  I was able to diesel by some guys late in the race and I kept on my routine of putting fuel in the tank so I'd have it to the finish.  This worked as I rode away from 8th and 9th on one of the last big climbs of the day and the weather turned adverse with rain, lightning and bit of hail with a 20deg temperature drop.  But I know I ride well in conditions so I kept pushing because I'd seen another rider 90 sec up from my count where the trail crossed and I caught a glimpse.  I eventually reeled him in and realized he was zapped as he was gassed trying to keep up as I passed.  But he was local and knew the trails of which I was riding completely blind.  So 6 hours into a race we all get a little tired and sloppy but I was trying to keep it focused and dialed even with numb hands and this is where I really upped my expectations to race to the finish.  With squishy tire I was able to get great traction but also the roots and rocks were looming.  I pushed the pace with the goal of putting in some time on the descents because I knew I was on the verge of cramping.   The conditions, new trail and adrenalin of being in the hunt put me into a flow state where I was floating down the descents and perfectly carrying flow around corners in the right gear.   This resulted in a solo ride down the finish descent after putting some time into the rider I'd caught with a final time of 6:55 and 6th place.

6th place after a goal of top 25! Only 1 of 10 riders going sub 7hrs! WTF?!  My mind is still perplexed and I still surprised those around me that weekend and even some fellow pro buddies that I raced with on the day. They expected to catch me later.  And honestly I was with them because I was just waiting for them to catch me so I could ride with some friends.  Even this sounds a little negative; "I'm just gonna get caught" but really it was more about I knew how fit and how well some of these guys had been finishing so getting caught by them would have been an honor, but holding them off was a huge mental boost all day long.   So needless to say I was ecstatic that I'd raced to this finish time and placement but the competitor in me was upset that I'd missed the podium and the large payout by 1 spot!  A good friend of mine says, "always be happy, never be content!" and this couldn't have been more true on the day.  I was happy, but wasn't content. 

All this boils down to reverting to the principles that you can fall back on as your rocks.  Everyone should have something like this and if not you should identify it.  In my case these were; 1) I can ride the hell of trails...so bring it and don't let others hold me back, 2) pacing - I know what I'm capable of so didn't let others skew me too far from what I know is possible, 3) executing on objectives I'd seen in training knowing them as true (i.e. heart rate values & power output), 4) fueling smart - because a race like this can be a race of fueling making sure your not tapping empty gauge at any point in the day, and finally 5) the low-pressure mindset of "what's the worst that can happen; I can blow up and find my edge thus learning something along the way or I'll hang on and have a fun day?"    Luckily I diverted the blow up but teetered on the edge several times while having a fun day.

 I actually joke with a few people that I hear state, "well that didn't suck" or "it's not so bad".  They actually mean this as a good thing and almost as a being a compliment.  When for some because of the negative word choice it comes off as a bad thing.  So which are you?  If I told you the execution of a workout "wasn't that bad", what would you think?  Would you be insulted?  What about if I said, "yeah that was good"?  Does it mean the same thing?  

Persons often perceive things different and this goes to how you talk to yourself.  Ask yourself some of these questions and then bounce it off what you are telling yourself in day to day happenings, leading into a competition or event, and even as you progress through this challenging situation.  Don't tell yourself you suck.  That's directed at you as a person.  Instead direct the statement at something within your control of changing, like "my fitness isn't where I want it right now."  Do you see the difference?  You can work on your fitness but how can you work on sucking less!?  And if you focus on the fitness you can also state some things that you did (hopefully) to prepare for what you are embarking on.  By this I mean, I know I completed some specifics within my training (if you can call it that!) that prepared me for this experience.  Like I did some long 30-45min climbs at race pace and some short repeated bursts above threshold that hurt but were adding depth to the engine.  So focus on what you DID not what you weren't able to do.  I wasn't able to do many long rides or races, but I wasn't hashing that out as the day progressed.  I was referring back to the power I'd seen on these long climbs or short repeats, thinking "I've done this and I've been here, so just keep the floor up and don't let it drop."

The take home of this is to aim your thoughts at what you've done that is helping you get through the challenge you face and always adjust based on what you are seeing real time.  It just so happens this is a better coming from worse scenario but believe me I've had days where I've felt like a slug for 80 miles of a race and endured until I was able to come around focusing on the same principles.