EVERYBODY NEEDS A PLAN B
A lot has been shared on how to stay motivated for your fitness goals through a pandemic. But what about staying motivated to train for a long distance race such as an IRONMAN or Ultra?
Training for endurance race/events is hard enough and now more than ever, when it’s uncertain if such races will even happen. Most endurance athletes have already experienced cancelations in the first half of the year and they currently find themselves training for their postponed race in the second half of the year, knowingly that it might also be canceled.
Training during a pandemic is a total mind fuck and it’s not for everybody.
How the fuck do you stay focused day in & out with your long training days? How to stay commitment when you have to log 15+ hours per week of training load?
Here are 4 tips on how to thrive with your training during a pandemic:
1) Keep It Consistent Mother Fucker
Create a monthly training plan to form a habit on when and how your train. Load your training plan in a program such as Training Peaks or higher a coach to create your custom program based on your goals, fitness level, and life balance. Coaches are trained to progress their athletes versus rinsing and repeating. They also keep you consistent week after week, month after month. If you master consistency, you can tell motivation “to go fuck itself”, as consistency is a powerful tool in your tool bag for endurance training, especially now more than ever before during a pandemic.
2) Keep Shit Real!
Keep shit real each day. Your training needs to be flexible, as lives are dynamic especially through a global pandemic. You will need to find a balance between empathy and tough love each day as things are constantly uncertain. Know when to be either based on your inner dialogue, demons, bullshit, and excuses. If you hire a coach, make sure your coach is your rock, your pillar, your mentor during your training to keep you on track.
3) Stay Grounded Fucker
Really fucker, let that shit go! We’ve seen this quote a million of times; okay maybe without the fucker part… and my suggestion is to let go of your fucking control. Listen, it’s completely out of your control if your race will or will not happen. What happened in the past is gone. The future does not exist yet. The only thing you can control is your present moment. Take each day as it comes, moment by moment. Focus on staying present and grounded. Take up yoga and use it as one of your strength training sessions. Not only will it help you to stay grounded among the chaos of 2020, it will also help you own your breath in hour next intense workout, and help you stay injury free.
4) Plan B? Fuck Yeah!
Just like in race day, you have a Plan B in case you miss a bottle on a bike aid station, or if you get nauseous in the run, or your calories are not working. Well… for quarantine training for an endurance race, have a Plan B. If you are not motivated for a long road bike, go out on a gravel bike or just ride cause you love to ride forgetting power, intensity zones, etc. Tired of your long runs? Ditch technology and just go out for the pure joy of running. Your race is canceled? Host your own race. The picture on blog is from a few weeks ago when I organized an Olympic Triathlon event for my tri clients. Most of their races where scheduled for June. Putting on this event allowed them to test all their new skills. This could be your Plan B, race your own race. I can personally tell you, that my IRONMAN training, has ALREADY served me as my Plan B during life in quarantine. It has been a distraction from reality and it has given me direction and purpose when everything else is uncertain.
Keep showing up and putting in the work. Train for life, not for a race. it is amazing to watch what the body and mind can do during an IRONMAN OR ULTRA training. Enjoy the journey. Moment by moment.