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About
The Doldrums
Me and LB on our way up Mount Bierstadt, July 22
During every training cycle, especially for a new distance, I hit the skids mentally. I'm considering the PPM a new distance, even though I've run marathons before, because this one is going to take me quite a while longer to complete. I'm sure this is normal for most athletes, even professionals from time to time.
I start to doubt that I'm doing enough. I wonder if I'll even be able to finish the event.
These thoughts don't help when you're trying to haul yourself up the top four miles of Barr Trail, and that was my training run on Saturday. I felt pretty good physically, but in my head, I couldn't get it together.
This is definitely the low point. But I've spent quality time above treeline this season (see above). I've logged some good miles. I'm much stronger than I was when I did the Ascent in 2010. I've just got to get over the creeping doubts.
On Sunday, the day after my disappointing (but not really) run, I slept in, baked a cake, went to hot yoga class, and watched the Olympics, all of which put me in a much better mood.
In other positive news, I got my stitches out on the 23rd, and I've been much happier since then. Even though my finger still resembles Darth Vader without the mask.
So all kinds of advice and encouragement would be welcome at this point! I'm also starting to think about my race-day fuel and hydration plan. Carry a hand-held bottle and try to drink it down between aid stations? Carry my hydration pack and deal with the extra weight? Pay Enlist friends to wait at the top for me to switch out gear?
I am also vowing in this public forum to get more sleep in the next three weeks. No excuses.
And, in closing, here's a picture of me running the only other race I will run this summer besides the Triple Crown:
Photo by Tim at the America the Beautiful 5k on Friday. I ran it in about 25 minutes. It was a small race (this was its inaugural year), and each participant got two (two!) shirts.
But who needs multiple race shirts when you have a sweet PikesPeakSports.us Triple Crown Runners singlet?
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Comment
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Comment by Bill Beagle on August 8, 2012 at 1:11pm
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I've hired makeup and wardrobe people to fix me at the summit. Sharon, please have your support people bring along a spatula because that's what you'll need to scrape me off the rocks and into a standing position. Ain't nobody going to be picking YOU up, you'll be fresh daisy-like
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Comment by Sharon Anne Greenbaum on August 8, 2012 at 1:03pm
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Shaylane Flanagen dropped onto to all fours and Kara Goucher had to help her up after the Olympic womens marathon. If our best runners don't worry about looking pretty at the finish line, why should we? Beagle, that goes for you, too(don't worry about looking so pretty) And if I am still keeled over when you finish, please help me up, we are on the same team, after all! I will do the same for you!
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Stash those creeping doubts in yer closet with all the other monsters Schwinger. U will rock the marathon! You'll probably just keep on running, right through Manitou, all the way home. I think I'm going to carry a water bottle in a fanny pack and one hand-held for the Ascent. Windbreaker and light cap in the pack as well. As for moving on after the Ascent, personally, I'm going to move into my comfy Adirondack chair on my back deck with several cold beverages, still wearing my PikesPeakSports.us Triple Crown Runners singlet because, as you so accurately describe, it is suh-weet! Bergsten should be an athletic apparel consultant!
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Comment by Katie Benzel on August 1, 2012 at 9:04am
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Sharon, you know just what to say. I am definitely itching to move on to something else after the race. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the weather as it gets closer. Thank you for the encouragement and tips ... it means a lot!
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Katie-
the dodrums are very normal and I cannot think of a time where before a big race I did not feel them to some degree. Picture the worst scenario--the race is more like a fast day hike up and a shuffle down? Proabably still make the cutoff anyway. Then picture the best case scenario and the mentally you are prepared for either. I like to picture how life will change after this big goal also. I have done the race enough times that I know this "change of seasons" and "moving on to new things" feels right after completion of Pikes Peak. That way you see the reward in the end.
As far as refreshment on race day, take a little something with you, not enought to weigh you down but enough to deal with an emergency between aid stations if you have one(I got the start of a dehydration migrane the other day and luckily a nice runner gave me a little of his water)--for gear I used to pack my lightest jacket and wrap it in plastic so I would not sweat on it(then it would not be wet when I needed it later)but if you can find someone who wants to help on top that is better--usually my family is too busy so I do it all on my own and it works! Most of it comes down to checking the weather forecast before and planning around that--it could be a hundred degrees or it could be snowing!
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