eric
 
Rants from Rob Straz!
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Tough Stuff

There are some phrases that are hip to the trigeek world as of late: "get tough", "harden the F up" and other goodies. They are straightforward and simple. Most of the time they can apply too. "It's raining out, I don't want to ride". Get a jacket and get your butt out there. "It's Friday night and I don't want to swim". Tough. You want to break an hour in the IM swim right?

From my 17 or so years involved in this sport you learn that excuses are just little lies we tell ourselves to get out of uncomfortable situations. As long as you're okay with the consequences of reducing or cancelling a workout then you're being honest with yourself and that's a good starting point. There's been some years when I've been 100% into this sport and others not as much and that's fine. Life happens, priorities change and sometimes you just don't want the pain and there's nothing wrong with that.

Something that I have thought about over the years is the real reason or motivation why different folks have spent hours and hours training for this sport. It takes a lot of time to get good and there's no monetary payoff for 99% involved. "Why do it?" many people ask. I remember after my first IM in 1994 my grandma saying, "That's great you finished. You proved you can do it so you don't have to do this again." This was the same grandma who during the event called out at least once, "You can stop any time Rob, we're here for you..." Just what you want to hear at mile 17 of an IM run when you've underfueled and are just trying to keep the feet off the ground: another invite to quit!

I've met and spent time with folks of all different levels in the sport from multi IM winners to folks doing their first race and have concluded that there are basically two sources of motivations for those who immerse themselves in the world of tridorkiness - those who want to truly test themselves and see what they're capable of and those who are either running from something currently dissatisfying in their life or masking the pain of some poor feature of their past experiences by having a constant source of diversion.

Heavy stuff? Perhaps I'm overthinking? Maybe, but with lots of years comes lots of experiences and interactions.

It was interesting to me when I met a pro woman who had a lot of success in the sport. I thought she would have her act together and be appreciative of her travels and fortune competing on a high level. Wow, not really. What I found was a poor little girl with serious self esteem issues with a volatile personality. Here was someone who had won some major events, had success that others would have given anything to achieve and she was still verbalizing thoughts and past experiences how daddy never thought she was any good at anything. She was nearing the midpoint of her life and these thoughts still were in the front of her mind. So sad.

Tough enough to race at the front for 9 hours but not "tough enough" to work towards personal happiness.

I've also found that some people seem to use anger as a source of fuel for a race while others tap into the spirit of the challenge and the question of "How fast can I go today?" I've found that anger, personal issues, etc, are very effective in the short term and also for short course racing. It's a giant energy spike but it's a short lived fuel. Girlfriend slept with the New York Giants....? Race a short course event and picture how much you hate her and wish for her face to fall off. It's a guarantee for a PR. I've also found that it's a short lived performance enhancer - you have limited energy storage and you'll be exhausted soon into the program.

Long course events are a different story, almost so much that you might consider them as a different sport entirely. You must stay even keel - not too high nor too low. Every calorie of energy is precious. I once heard a phrase of "dosing the energy" and it really applies. If you flip back into angry man mode and get adrenaline pumping 3 hours into a 10 hour race you'll be a dead duck soon.. like those guys you see screaming at volunteers 70 miles into the bike, "GODAMMIT, I NEED SOME GATORADE, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!!??". Not only are they absolute morons for yelling at some poor volunteer who is trying to help, they are sabotaging their $575 race fee by using energy ineffectively.

Another thing that has made me chuckle, guffaw, snicker, (insert laughing word here) is a certain pro who has earned the labels of "tough" and "gritty". How a pro who has finished less than 50% of her long distance races over the past 7 or so years can be called tough is beyond me. I have tanked 2 of the 13 I've started and I'm not so sure I'd call that an outstanding record by any means.

In the end though, it really doesn't make an ounce of difference to anyone except the fools that have paid $2,000 for a painful 12 hour vacation. I have convienently forgotten all the discomfort of training and racing an IM event and will be doing my first one in four years this August. A lot of things have changed in my life during those four years but in many ways training never changes. You have a plan, you work at it every day, some days you feel on top of the world, some days are a real bugger to get through and you continue this process for months.

Maybe that's another reason many of us go back to these crazy challenges - the comfort of familiarity. It also forces you to organize your life making the most of every hour.

I'd like to say that my motivation for Canada this year is to just enjoy the journey, "whatever happens on race day happens", and all the common cliches but the truth is that I'm expecting to give a lot to prepare for this event so my placing and time are very important to me. I wouldn't call it pressure by any means, I call it honesty. I have a target that I have set and I'm doing the things that I feel will bring my to that level.

If I screw this race up so be it. Life will go on and there will be more opportunities... but if I nail it and achieve my goal then it will be something I can bank and think about for the following winter when the fire is roaring, I'm on my second beer and I'm having an Al Bundy "5 touchtowns / Polk High" moment.

In the words of Mr. Bundy, "Let's Rock".

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