[mdillon]

Here is a topic that I don't remember being discussed before. A lot of us train for the physical aspects of racing. Does anyone train for the mental aspects? What separates the top competitor from the 2-3 place one?
For me, my problem comes when I get uncomfortable. I tend to focus on my misery rather than actually competing. Any suggestions?

[Chunt]

This is a great topic.

I'm sure the military has been working on this very same issue for hundreds of years. Anyone have any armed forces training that can shed some light on how they treat pushing-through horrid conditions?

Over the past couple of years I've experimented with what I coined as "misery training". Essentially going out when others won't. 34 degrees and raining, windy and cold as he!!, 3AM runs, etc.

I still may be the only person almost airlifted off Stone Mountain because the trail was almost too icy to descend

It got so intense that after a while I had a tendency to not go out when it was beautiful, because I didn't think I was getting in "useful" training.

The unintended downside to this type of training was I started to associate training with misery and misery was still ... well miserable, so I had to tone it down some.

What I came away with was some very cool specific gear and a new appreciation for folks who are blazing fast in all conditions.

[jfarmer]

Yeah, this is good stuff. We all definitely need to practice in tough conditions. It's the old "train hard, race easy" mentality; however, AR is never really easy, is it. I'd have to say that I've never gone out there with the intention of "suffering". I've done training sessions, by myself and with others, knowing full well that there will be pain involved, both short term and long term. However, I won't do a workout if there's nothing but that involved. Whether it's the music on my MP3 player or the handful of gummy bears that I treat myself too when going solo, or the comraderie and social aspects of going out with a group, I always find the positives in the workout and cherish those moments. Kind of the Pavlov's dog, reward system approach I guess. I've never gotten off on suffering, although it's fun to talk, after the fact, about the stupid crap we all do and go through. But some people get their rush from burying themselves both in training and during the race. I think it simply comes down to what motivates you. Just like everything in life, there are good days and there are bad days. As long as the cost/benefit analysis comes out in the black then you'll see me out there on the trails.

[Chipw]

like my old football coach used to say. "the more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed on Friday night".....I hated that F#@ker.

Farmer,
To get more enjoyment and therefore a better cost/benefit ratio out of our Cohutta Death March. I propose we move it back to Saturday so we can enjoy the rain/sleet in addition to the brutally cold temperatures. Who the hell wants to ride in the sunshine anyway?

Just kidding of course. Sunday looks way better

You guys are crazy by the way.

[jfarmer]

My old basketball coach said stuff like, "lift up your skirt when you throw those powderpuff passes Farmer." God, I hated playing on the girls team

[Rory Avant]

I love to train in the middle of the day during the summer when it is 100 degrees and 100% huminidty. I don't look at it as being hard. I actually love it. I guess I have MPS (Male Pride Syndrome) people are always asking how I do it and that pushes me that much harder. When I am training and it starts to hurt, me or my training partner will say what is (Insert name of team that beat us in the last race)doing and then we push a little harder.
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The older I get...the better I was.

[mdillon]

So the motivation in going out in the dark, cold, and rain is that it prepares you for the next race in those conditions? Maybe I need to get out my Tony Robbins tapes as I can talk myself out of doing that pretty easy. It does seem harder to back out if you are part of a group training event verses solo.

[Lisa R]

How you feel physically has a lot to do with your mental outlook when racing. I've found that I can be either cold, tired, wet, or hungry at any given time, but if I'm all of these at once, my mental game can go south pretty quick. This is generally the case when doing long races in the winter months.

Solutions:
I spend ridiculous amounts of money on the warmest gear I can find and then buy 3-4 sets so I'm never stuck wearing wet clothes in a supported race. Its amazing how much of a difference it makes when your body isn't stuggling to keep itself from freezing.

I also try to eat as much as practical - and I eat yummy foods like Jelly Bellys, cheese/sausage sticks, fruit roll ups, snickers bars, etc. Its a lot easier to keep going when you are exhausted when you have gas in the tank and can feel all your extremities. This can be a challenge on bike sections or if you are navigating.

As far as training in lousy conditions, I do it if its the only option, but its not generally something I strive for. I ride my mtb for six hours because I love to ride my mtb. I don't love it when I have to descend Winding Stair Gap in the freezing rain after already getting soaked earlier in the ride. I prefer to minimize the suffering during training and contain it to races. Its easier to stay positive in a tough situation for me if its a race situation. I won't slack off on my training because its cold and rainy, but I might plan a long run instead of a long ride if another day in the week looks like it would be better for riding.

[goble1]

My old swim coach, yes THE Sean Connery, used to tell us:

[James Holmes]

I used to struggle with overnight races when I first started doing them, but now I look forward to them. The last 2 winters I have ridden outside for 3 - 4 hours at a time in the dark 2 nights a week. Now riding at night (or just being outside exercising in the dark) doesn't bother me at all. I actually enjoy it and overnight races are a breeze.

I wouldn't call riding at night miserable necessarily, but it will be tonight when I do my 4 hour ride in the dark in Atlanta traffic at temps reaching into the teens.

I eat little Jim Farmer's for breakfast...

[Chipw]

Wow! You can tell Enduraventure is tapering....the whole team posted right in a row. LOL
Good luck to ya'll in the swamps and watch out for the gators.


Goble hit it on the head right here:

'You don't know what can happen in these races, so you might as well keep racing'

Thats the key. Every race I've been in, even when we won, at some point in the middle of the night it seems like all was lost and you may as well quit. Usually though, if you just keep pushing it turns out pretty good. Especially the cold ones.

Ready to get Ironman Arizona out of the way and back to AR. Cant stand being on the sidelines.

[Chunt]

I'd say the desired result of misery training should be a widened perspective of what COULD be worse when you're trying to get through nasty conditions. Like. It's dark and cold...but at least it's not raining or It's hot...but at least I've got some shade from these trees, etc.

Obsessing on being miserable might border on masochism though.

[Jay Curwen]

Hard to really train for mental toughness...the best thing you can do is not be surprised.

Don't be surprised that you need ski gloves to stay warm on a snowy paddle, or that your feet need chemical warmers below 40 degrees, or that your @ss gets really really chaffed after 3 long wet bike rides and no chamoix creme, or that pulling a boat through 2 feet of red clay on the side of a low lake takes a loooooong time (and sucks off shoes)...

Don't wait till race day to find out what 3 hours of hiking w/out food feels like...or 22 hours w/ out sleep...

Try it all out...Don't be surprised.

Jay Curwen
The Dome

[jfarmer]

Have a Secretary of Health & Welfare on your team. They can be an old Yale buddie, a Texas oilman that knows about your cocaine habits or even a former Halliburton exec. Doesn't really matter. But this person is in charge of making sure that everybody, especially the navigator, is eating and drinking accordingly. Also, they should periodically ask, "How's everybody doing: 1 to 10?". 10 meaning that you're feeling fresh like a daisy (or high on crack) and 1 meaning that you can't feel your legs and you think you're the 52nd reincarnation of the Dali Lama (but at least you've got that going for you). If everybody answers honestly then the team can adjust weight and/or pace and possibly hook up a tow. Nobody wants to hear somebody bitching about their aches and pains, but the team needs to be honest with each other or else someone's gonna go deep into the bonk hole. Once you're there, it's hard to recover and you lose more time in the long run.

[bmadd]

My perspective is certainly different as a beginner training for their first 24 hr race but I'll throw it out for other beginners.

We have done several "misery" sessions and I think they have been invaluable. Cold, wet & tired certainly can bring out the worst (or best) in just about anybody. We felt it was best to see how we'd all react to harsh, overnight conditions as we'll most likely face it in Goldrush or some other race.

I don't know that I'd ever do these type trainings just for the fun/misery of it but as a new racer I think you need to experience it before you try it in a race. We certainly feel more confident now knowing that we can survive a paddle in sub-freezing conditions, running will warm you up after said paddle, & ski gloves on the bike are worth their weight in gold when it is 20 degrees.

And as Lisa said, don't underestimate the significance of good gear. I think it is easy to let your ego get in the way but a teammate went ghetto on his paddling gloves one freezing night, and I'm not sure he has full feeling back in his thumbs yet.

Bottom line: I think as a beginner, if you aren't preparing yourself with these type trainings and using adequate gear, you are probably setting yourself up to fail. Unless of course, you just like to suffer for the suffering of it.
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Brian M.