“I’m friends with the monster that’s under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You’re trying to save me, stop holding your breath
And you think I’m crazy, yeah, you think I’m crazy.”
That describes me the night before a race… CRAZY! The monster is not under my bed, though, it is in my transition bag. The voices inside my head are trying to convince me that I have forgotten everything from my running shoes to possibly even my bike!!!I have said it before. I may be a little Type A, but I prefer to consider myself as “prepared”. As I grow older and wiser, I like to think that I am able to better define the line between prepared and overly complicated. However...
A few weeks ago I did my second, half IRONMAN distance triathlon, the Gulf Coast Triathlon in Panama City Beach, Florida! My training had been going well and I was more relaxed before this event than I have ever been before a race! As we traveled to Panama City Beach, I marveled at how I was now able to be SO relaxed ahead of a “half-distance” event! Have I come that far?! Knowing that I was about to go 70.3 miles on the EXACT course that I would be attempting to go 140.6 for my first IRONMAN, in just over five months, should have had the excitement/anxiety level up to “10”. Though I was excited, I was not anxious…
That is when I sat aimlessly before my transition bag with its contents strewn out around me. My pre race ritual of ensuring that I knew exactly what was in each pocket of my bag and ensuring that I had everything I could possibly need was underway. I packed and repacked everything. What should have taken a few minutes melted into over an hour.
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| My transition bag(s)... for a Sprint... |
Fortunately, I was able to quickly and significantly reduce the amount of extra CRAP I have been carrying in my transition bag. I had gradually accumulated a plethora of extra “stuff” that resulted in me having spares for my spares of just about everything. Beyond cutting down on the number of “spares”, I simply eliminated the things I have been carrying around for two years “just in case” that I have NEVER needed at ANY event. It was bad, but it is better now.
But that is not the main purpose of this post. No, what I want to talk about is what was going on in my head during all of this. I was reading a brief article by professional triathlete and four-time Wildflower Triathlon winner, Jesse Thomas, in the March 2014 edition of Triathlete Magazine when I realized what I was really doing. In his article, he talks about being thought of as “dorky” for his pre-race rituals (repacking his transition bag, laying out his race clothing before the race, etc.) and being prepared. He concedes that while one part of his efforts are to prepare for the race, the bigger picture is taking his mind OFF the race.
By taking the “monster” out of the race and putting it into my transition bag, it is right there in front of me and something I can burn off that nervous energy on. I know it is hard to think about preparing all of your equipment without thinking about the race itself, but I seem to do just that. I do not really think about what I am going to ask my body to do the next day, I focus ALL of my nervous energy and excitement on the equipment.
And while I am concerning myself with exactly which transition bag pocket my sunscreen is in, the monster and I get along. And with that friendship, the voices in my head get a little quieter. If, but only for a little while...
