The training schedule called for 45 miles on the bike today, which I normally welcome with open arms and even get excited about, but today, I woke up to rain.
I am a fair-weather rider, so this was very discouraging. I could have sworn the weather man said it was going to be sunny and 70 today...lies! (or did I just make that up?) I went out to breakfast and all the while contemplated what I was going to do - ride the trainer for 3 hours or buck it up and ride in the rain.
Then I recalled Frayed Laces post about building mental toughness. One of the tips was heading out for a run or a ride in the sub-par weather and that this can help build confidence in your abilities. So I did it, I rode in the rain.
The entire ride was a struggle mentally, never physically although I was trying to ride fast to finish faster. The whole time I swear I was staring at my CatEye watching the miles slowly tick by. Most of the almost 3 hours I was on the bike I thought things like "I can't believe I am riding right now" or "this is going to take forever" "this sucks" but I kept peddling and finally was able to eek out 43 miles.
I got off my bike and was in awe about what I just did. It seemed like 15 minutes ago I tweeted that I didn't want to ride in the rain and now I was standing there, finished with the ride. A instantly felt happy and proud of myself. In hindsight, it wasn't a horrible ride - the rain held pretty well, it wasn't cold out, there was no wind and I kept my pace up - but during the ride I could not muster up a positive thought for the life of me. Strange, isn't it? But I survived and I guess they're right when they say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and I believe that applies to us mentally just as much as physically.
Have you pushed through a mentally tough workout? What got you through?
I always tell myself how much better I will feel once I am finished with my workout and that usually gets me through it.
ReplyDeleteI had a tough 12mi run yesterday and after an hour I was ready to just call it quits but I kept saying just one more mile...
You get the BA award for that ride. Congrats and remember races aren't canceled because of bad weather so we have to know we can conquer all types of weather!
ReplyDeleteI'm SO glad you wrote this today, the weather here has been very dodgy, often with strong rain out of nowhere. I was considering skipping my run today, but after I read your post I laced up and went out. I ended up having one of the better runs I've had lately and I'm so glad that I went out today. Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteNice job. Sometimes we need to train in the rain. It's important to do that mentally in case you must do it in a race. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I'm a fair weather rider too, so good for you to have gotten out there and done it! Nothing makes you feel so hardcore as a workout in the rain.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing what the power of a good workout, especially when you are dreading it! Great job - you got stronger on that bike!
ReplyDeleteGood job on getting thru a rough workout! Usually I LOVE riding my bike, but there are days when all I do is look at the bike computer every 3.4 seconds and think "is this over yet? seriously, I've only done 13 miles?!" ...even when it's not raining or cold or insanely hot.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I'm struggling I try to think of my race goals and envision myself meeting them... that seems to work for me! Another thing was just learning to accept that every workout can't be an A+.