Mental Energy

What’s new?   Not to much.  I’m currently enjoying my offseason.  Really enjoying it.  In fact, I can count on my fingers (7) how many workouts I’ve done in the weeks since Hawaii (5).  I’m getting lazy, and I don’t mind.  I’ve spent a lot of time playing video games, reading, and just not thinking about triathlon.  I know that I should be training fairly regularly, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.  Although my motivation and desire to train has been increasing it only got to the point where it was high enough to push the millstone down the hill in the last day or so.  Now that I’m rolling it towards the edge, I’ve just got to focus a little bit more until routine sets in.

Well what’s the point of this?  Just a gentle reminder that however motivated one is (very) or strong your desire is (strong) an offseason is probably the most important part of the season.  When one attempts to train at a high level in order to race a fast Ironman (whatever that may be for the person).  It takes a large toll on you – both physically and mentally.  What makes taking an offseason difficult is that when you cross the finish line, good or bad – you typically develop an overwelming enthusiasm for the next season.  If acted upon that enthusisasm and the fitness you have from the build into the race, and the race itself – is enough to obilterate you. 

My best experience tells me that it is best to rest, really rest until you motivation and desire seem mere figments of imagination.  For me that takes a couple of weeks, sometimes longer.  Once I feel tempted to slide into the old habits of losing hours to the calming glow of my computer, I know that I am mentally and physically recharged.  Yes, I lose a lot of fitness by doing this, but having a fully rejuvinated mental energy store more then makes up for the lost of fitness. 

Triathlon is much more mental then physical.  To truly reach your potential in triathlon you must know the way to your well.  Not just that, you need to have the courage to look into that well and pull from it.  Drawing from the well is indescribably hard, for me it takes a large amount of desire, courage, and willpower to reach into it.  If I’m already using the large majority of my mental energy to "go", I won’t have the mental energy required to dip into the reserves stored in the well to drive my body forward. 

I just have to get over that hump of changing my routine…