Lake Stevens 70.3 Ironman is on Sunday, August 15th. This will be my second time racing on this course (last time was on 2007, 6th Pro, 2nd fastest bike split) and I am more than excited to celebrate another day in Lake Stevens. The very first time I rode the course I felt in love with the area: the freshwater lake, the undulating bike route and the lakeside run course. Even better, Lake Stevens is a mere two-hour drive from my Vancouver house. For a big time ironman event, this is a real treat.
The lead up to a key race takes precious and fastidious preparation. I sometimes reserve my enthusiasm for higher priority races since even preparation takes energy and time. Lake Stevens is a high priority race (as are my last two races in September - Muskoka and October - Austin) so if my preparation formula for this event goes well, I’ll model it again for Muskoka and Austin. My motivation is at an all time high and my fitness continues to improve with every quality session. My coach (Paul Cross) and I planned the season well and paced the racing to save some oomph for the latter part of the year.
Preparing for a race is like gathering up little jewels of information to form a powerful cluster. When this cluster is held up to the sun, light beams through. Each jewel in my cluster comes from past learning’s, great books, my coach, other athletes and most often my highest quality training sessions with a focused mind and fresh body.
On a grand scale, my jewels form a bright powerful cluster when I have done everything from trained on the race course, visualized my race plan, practiced swim starts and transitions, prepared my pre-race mental plan as well as my race day mental mantra, packed my equipment and fuel and connected with my motivation to race and passion to soar. I believe I am now living in a diamond field ready as ever for Sunday to come.
I’ll share where three of my bigger jewels (maybe we can call them stones) rolled my way over the past few weeks. Keep in mind, these were not jewels to begin with. They became jewels after I dug, brushed off the soil and polished until they shone.
The first one came from Vancouver Half Ironman on July 4th. I had a less than stellar race and failed to consult my fictitious jeweler prior to race day (figure of speech). My “off” day started with the gun when all I feared was the onslaught of athletes that would be descending upon me during the first 100 meters of the swim start. As soon as we hit the water, I lost focus on the task and was engulfed with fear of punches, kicks and potential lack of oxygen. I relinquished precious minutes to the race by steering off course to find clear water and regroup. Once recovered, I fought hard to swim towards the front of the race but would never recoup the ideal position with the race leaders. For unknown reasons, I held on to this ridiculous drama and replayed the swim start over and over in my mind for the entire race (and then some) wallowing in what was no longer in my control desperately wishing for the past to be different. No suck luck kiddo. Move on.
This experience became an invaluable jewel when I learn how to diffuse the past, take the lesson and let it go. It’s gone. It’s over. It’s only an experience to benefit and grow from. That experience now serves me as a lesson to use for future success. The one key phrase that turned this experience into a jewel was from a great book “During critical moments of execution (i.e. Race Start), focus outside of yourself (external) towards the task at hand.” Standing at a race start, my focus need only be on the destination, keying off of strong swimmers, having a strong kick and stroke to get to the front and sighting for the first buoy. This is a far cry from focusing on the fear inside and what will happen if…
The second jewel came from a training day with my coach Paul Cross at Lake Stevens. Paul is a diamond necklace so even the drive is filled with one nugget after another. On this particular day we spent the first hour practicing swim starts, drafting and sighting in the lake. Paul assumed I had mastered many of these swimming techniques but in fact we both learned there is ample room for improvement. The water portion of the day was almost a wrap when Paul asked me how I normally “kick” to get up to speed. “Kick?” I reply. “Is this a trick question? I kick like I always kick…a flutter kick motion.” After about 10 seconds pause, Paul is aghast that my answer wasn’t “Depending on the day, I’ll use my lethal Whip or sharp Scissor kick motion.” Thus ensued a whole new dynamic to our swim start lesson – learning and executing a whip or scissor kick coupled with a perfectly synchronized arm propulsion. Since, we have practiced this new skill time and time again in preparation for a new evolution of my swim starts. Let’s just say, this new skill is massive gem in my cluster.
The third jewel (and it’s a good one) was sourced from my strength trainer, Eddie Smith of Steve Nash Sports Club. Normally a soft-spoken guy who contemplates much thought before exercising his dry wit or shares any in-depth exercise science knowledge (of which he has plenty). Upon receiving his Canadian Visa (he is from New Zealand), he and some buddies celebrated this news with a few drinks at a local sports pub. Showing on the pub’s TV screens was the infamous Vancouver Half Ironman (see Jewel no. 1) highlighting my not-so-eloquent and very lengthy transition from swim to bike. Keep in mind I was wallowing in my horrendous swim start as though moving forward with a ball in chain locked to my ankle. Eddie takes note of my potential to improve my transitions and bottles this message up until our next meeting that occurred 10 days ago. His first question to me, “Do you practice your transitions?” My face was blank. Another trick question launched in my direction. I began to ramble on about what an “off” day I was having but quickly realized there was no plausible excuse for what he was encouraging…Start To Practice Your Transitions. Fast transitions are found speed without an ounce of fitness required. We calculated that I could have been 20 seconds faster out of T1, which could translate to a lot more in the big picture. Eddie’s observation (and I am forever thankful) spun into numerous transition practice sessions at Kits Pool (in & out of wetsuit is a workout in and of itself), transition visualization, wetsuit modifications (shorten legs for faster removal), and YouTube viewings of fast transitions (5.6 seconds is the fastest one so far). Let us play this out…T1 involves running and stripping, helmet on head, glasses on face, un-rack and physically mount bike (safely) while moving forward. A mere 60-90 should be sufficient. T2 involves racking bike, removing helmet, pulling on socks and shoes, grabbing hat and fuel while starting the first mile. Surely less than 75 seconds should do it. Lake Stevens is a fairly tight transition area so there is no reason for anything other than world-class transition splits. Watch out.
It becomes clear how a cluster of jewels become invaluable for a shiny, powerful and indestructible performance. Anyone reading this will pause to contemplate their jewelery case (or whatever term you want to use). It’s a never-ending evolving string of gems that we get to manipulate, re-position and save for those glamorous events. Sunday is pretty glamorous…to me.
Christine
www.christinefletcher.com
The lead up to a key race takes precious and fastidious preparation. I sometimes reserve my enthusiasm for higher priority races since even preparation takes energy and time. Lake Stevens is a high priority race (as are my last two races in September - Muskoka and October - Austin) so if my preparation formula for this event goes well, I’ll model it again for Muskoka and Austin. My motivation is at an all time high and my fitness continues to improve with every quality session. My coach (Paul Cross) and I planned the season well and paced the racing to save some oomph for the latter part of the year.
Preparing for a race is like gathering up little jewels of information to form a powerful cluster. When this cluster is held up to the sun, light beams through. Each jewel in my cluster comes from past learning’s, great books, my coach, other athletes and most often my highest quality training sessions with a focused mind and fresh body.
On a grand scale, my jewels form a bright powerful cluster when I have done everything from trained on the race course, visualized my race plan, practiced swim starts and transitions, prepared my pre-race mental plan as well as my race day mental mantra, packed my equipment and fuel and connected with my motivation to race and passion to soar. I believe I am now living in a diamond field ready as ever for Sunday to come.
I’ll share where three of my bigger jewels (maybe we can call them stones) rolled my way over the past few weeks. Keep in mind, these were not jewels to begin with. They became jewels after I dug, brushed off the soil and polished until they shone.
The first one came from Vancouver Half Ironman on July 4th. I had a less than stellar race and failed to consult my fictitious jeweler prior to race day (figure of speech). My “off” day started with the gun when all I feared was the onslaught of athletes that would be descending upon me during the first 100 meters of the swim start. As soon as we hit the water, I lost focus on the task and was engulfed with fear of punches, kicks and potential lack of oxygen. I relinquished precious minutes to the race by steering off course to find clear water and regroup. Once recovered, I fought hard to swim towards the front of the race but would never recoup the ideal position with the race leaders. For unknown reasons, I held on to this ridiculous drama and replayed the swim start over and over in my mind for the entire race (and then some) wallowing in what was no longer in my control desperately wishing for the past to be different. No suck luck kiddo. Move on.
This experience became an invaluable jewel when I learn how to diffuse the past, take the lesson and let it go. It’s gone. It’s over. It’s only an experience to benefit and grow from. That experience now serves me as a lesson to use for future success. The one key phrase that turned this experience into a jewel was from a great book “During critical moments of execution (i.e. Race Start), focus outside of yourself (external) towards the task at hand.” Standing at a race start, my focus need only be on the destination, keying off of strong swimmers, having a strong kick and stroke to get to the front and sighting for the first buoy. This is a far cry from focusing on the fear inside and what will happen if…
The second jewel came from a training day with my coach Paul Cross at Lake Stevens. Paul is a diamond necklace so even the drive is filled with one nugget after another. On this particular day we spent the first hour practicing swim starts, drafting and sighting in the lake. Paul assumed I had mastered many of these swimming techniques but in fact we both learned there is ample room for improvement. The water portion of the day was almost a wrap when Paul asked me how I normally “kick” to get up to speed. “Kick?” I reply. “Is this a trick question? I kick like I always kick…a flutter kick motion.” After about 10 seconds pause, Paul is aghast that my answer wasn’t “Depending on the day, I’ll use my lethal Whip or sharp Scissor kick motion.” Thus ensued a whole new dynamic to our swim start lesson – learning and executing a whip or scissor kick coupled with a perfectly synchronized arm propulsion. Since, we have practiced this new skill time and time again in preparation for a new evolution of my swim starts. Let’s just say, this new skill is massive gem in my cluster.
The third jewel (and it’s a good one) was sourced from my strength trainer, Eddie Smith of Steve Nash Sports Club. Normally a soft-spoken guy who contemplates much thought before exercising his dry wit or shares any in-depth exercise science knowledge (of which he has plenty). Upon receiving his Canadian Visa (he is from New Zealand), he and some buddies celebrated this news with a few drinks at a local sports pub. Showing on the pub’s TV screens was the infamous Vancouver Half Ironman (see Jewel no. 1) highlighting my not-so-eloquent and very lengthy transition from swim to bike. Keep in mind I was wallowing in my horrendous swim start as though moving forward with a ball in chain locked to my ankle. Eddie takes note of my potential to improve my transitions and bottles this message up until our next meeting that occurred 10 days ago. His first question to me, “Do you practice your transitions?” My face was blank. Another trick question launched in my direction. I began to ramble on about what an “off” day I was having but quickly realized there was no plausible excuse for what he was encouraging…Start To Practice Your Transitions. Fast transitions are found speed without an ounce of fitness required. We calculated that I could have been 20 seconds faster out of T1, which could translate to a lot more in the big picture. Eddie’s observation (and I am forever thankful) spun into numerous transition practice sessions at Kits Pool (in & out of wetsuit is a workout in and of itself), transition visualization, wetsuit modifications (shorten legs for faster removal), and YouTube viewings of fast transitions (5.6 seconds is the fastest one so far). Let us play this out…T1 involves running and stripping, helmet on head, glasses on face, un-rack and physically mount bike (safely) while moving forward. A mere 60-90 should be sufficient. T2 involves racking bike, removing helmet, pulling on socks and shoes, grabbing hat and fuel while starting the first mile. Surely less than 75 seconds should do it. Lake Stevens is a fairly tight transition area so there is no reason for anything other than world-class transition splits. Watch out.
It becomes clear how a cluster of jewels become invaluable for a shiny, powerful and indestructible performance. Anyone reading this will pause to contemplate their jewelery case (or whatever term you want to use). It’s a never-ending evolving string of gems that we get to manipulate, re-position and save for those glamorous events. Sunday is pretty glamorous…to me.
Christine
www.christinefletcher.com
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