Today I ran a total of 5 miles, cycled 17.5 miles and swam 600 yards. However, I broke it into two segments, on the same course that I will be running this Saturday. The first segment I swam 300 yards, ran 2.0 miles and cycled 5.71 miles. This is exactly what I will be doing on Saturday (I did make sure to run 2.0 miles on the first segment, so that was a little longer than the actual course). The second segment I swam 300 yards, but ran 3.0 miles and cycled 11.79 miles to make up for what I would normally do on a Monday. It was good, it was exhausting, but I am very glad I did it.
When you are preparing for a race it can be extremely helpful to "run" the course (even if this means swimming or cycling) prior to the actual race. While it can give some physical advantage, particularly if it is a challenging course, the bigger advantage is psychological. No matter how well prepared you are, in a race you are running (or swimming or cycling) at a much faster pace that whatever you trained at. There is going to be some point, frequently the closer you get to the end, that you will think, "I'm ready to be done." In interviews with elite runners I have read, even they think this. However, if you think "I am ready to be done" and you do not know where you are on the course, and find out you still have 3 miles to go (or more), that will quickly take any psychological momentum away. It is also helpful on the course. Say you are going up a hill. While there are some psychopaths out there that actually like hills (I know that was subtle, can you tell I do not like hills?), if you think you are nearing the top and start thinking how glad you are, only to learn that it is an optical illusion due to your visual perspective, again, you will most likely become discouraged. It is always surprising to me how many people do not know the course.
When you are preparing for a race it can be extremely helpful to "run" the course (even if this means swimming or cycling) prior to the actual race. While it can give some physical advantage, particularly if it is a challenging course, the bigger advantage is psychological. No matter how well prepared you are, in a race you are running (or swimming or cycling) at a much faster pace that whatever you trained at. There is going to be some point, frequently the closer you get to the end, that you will think, "I'm ready to be done." In interviews with elite runners I have read, even they think this. However, if you think "I am ready to be done" and you do not know where you are on the course, and find out you still have 3 miles to go (or more), that will quickly take any psychological momentum away. It is also helpful on the course. Say you are going up a hill. While there are some psychopaths out there that actually like hills (I know that was subtle, can you tell I do not like hills?), if you think you are nearing the top and start thinking how glad you are, only to learn that it is an optical illusion due to your visual perspective, again, you will most likely become discouraged. It is always surprising to me how many people do not know the course.
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