Fear

For some people fear is a demotivator, something that causes them to freeze up. For others pressure causes this same reaction, everyone is different. Personally, in some situation pressure causes me to freeze, while in others it doesn’t – same with fear; sometimes it’s my worst enemy other times I welcome it.

Last year before Ironman Wisconsin, I was pretty much terrified of the run, partly because I felt my run preparation wasn’t up to par, and partly because of how terrible the run had been the year before. Race day came and went, and I had an incredible run, way better then I could have imagined. I’m starting to get the same feelings for Ironman Arizona, which is just a little over two months away. I’m scared that both my bike and run preparation will be lacking and I’ll die.

You know what else I’m scared of at the moment? Some of the metrics I’ve seen in traininng so far – I’ve had a couple workouts where I’ve done 8+ mile runs at 6:50-7:00 minute pace at 145 HR. That’s scary, typically I run 7:45 to 8:15 minutes per mile in training, and to do runs at 7 minutes at what is a moderate HR scares me. Is that right? Am I peaking to soon? Have I gotten that fast? I’ve seen similar things on my bike, 5+ hour bike rides where I’m averaging 220+ watts (according to my Kurt Kinetic trainer) – some of those numbers are literally insane. My mind has trouble interpretting what that means.

Are my measurement devices just flat out inaccurate? It makes it a really difficult struggle in setting a realistic race plan for Arizona – which is something I struggle with to begin – those metrics indicate that I should be able to go some crazy fast times if I execute properly.

The heat, how will my body deal with the Arizona weather when I’ve been training in our beautiful Wisconsin climate?

Oh well, all I can do is take the fear, make it my own and use the energy in it, rather then let it control me and sap me of energy!