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Thursday, September 2, 2010

The mind of a triathlete

I did my long run today - 15 miles. Felt strong the entire way. Kept at race pace which was even better. When I got back to the house, my wife was getting the kids ready for school and having breakfast. Amidst the general commotion and yelling of children, she asked me how the morning run was. It went something like this:

"How far did you go?", she asked.

I told her, "15 miles"

"How long does that take you?"

"Just over 2 hours", I grunted while icing my feet and stretching on the floor.

"Good lord" she replied. "Did you take your iPod?"

"Nope", I replied.

"What do you think about that entire time?" she asked.

It's a great question and I honestly had to stop and think about it for a bit. I'm sure what goes through the mind of anyone participating in a triathlon or even a long run must vary immensely. Race day is much more focused of course but I thought it would be fun to think about my training run today and piece together my thoughts over those 2 hours.

These are in no particular order.

  1. I someone doesn't steal my cooler of cold drinks.
  2. Why doesn't that car have it's lights on (at 4:30 am)?
  3. Relax the feet. Smooth motion. Don't tense up your shoulders.
  4. Crap, I went to bed early last night and forgot to pay the bills.
  5. What am I going to blog about today?
  6. What mile am I on? I don't want to look 'cause it will only remind me of how much farther I have to go.
  7. This damn fuel belt is starting to chafe.
  8. Who is this creepy guy walking toward me without a shirt dabbing his face with a towel like he just got punched?
  9. Oh, that was Andy in his new car. Didn't recognize him in that fancy new Acura MDX.
  10. I wonder where I'm going to cycle this weekend for my long century ride?
Mind you, that isn't a stream of consciousness but random things that pop into my head. Most of the time, I'm in the moment and just focused on keeping the legs moving, good form and not getting hit by on-coming traffic at o-dark 'thirty in the morning.

Thanks for reading.

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