More Things Triathlon/Marathon Has Taught Me

There are so many things I have learned about myself through marathon and triathlon that I feel like I could post about this every quarter.  Other things I’ve realized after finding out I had cancer, or just from growing older, but honestly, a lot of it comes from training and racing.

So, without further ado, here are a few more recent observations about things that marathon and triathlon have taught me. 

·         In light of recently running a marathon (like an idiot) with a stress fracture, I have learned that I have a ridiculously high pain tolerance. 

·         I have more patience than I ever imagined.   (Otherwise, how could I walk most of said marathon just to say I completed it?)

·         I’m better at pushing myself to max capacity for a very, very short period than I am at long, slow endurance. (Read: sprint versus ironman.)  This is the same with professional projects. I hate the kind that drag on and on. I always have to break those down into shorter, smaller tasks I can do in “bursts.”

·         I don’t like competing with people I know.  At a race, I may try to catch someone running in front of me because she’s a little faster and it motivates me.  If that person is my friend, though, I will think twice about it and even feel bad if I pass her. I also dislike non-race “contests:” pissing matches about who has it worse, who picked the winning (insert topic), why your training isn’t as good as mine, etc.  Who cares? No one is winning a gold medal at bitching, or at snarking on Facebook.

·         I like (and need) a lot of balance. This is the top reason I don’t see myself doing 140.6 ever (although everyone says never say never.)  I need to be able to skip a workout to have wine night with my friends.

·         I used to feel a little left out because I couldn’t afford the latest bells and whistles.  Over time, I realized that people who did have all those things weren’t that much happier and they weren’t exponentially faster, either.  I also began to develop a sense of pride at finding good deals on things.  Now I have to see a lot of return for me to spend any money on gadgets.  This doesn’t matter if it’s the latest Michael Kors bag, a bottle of chateauneauf du pape, a Garmin 15000xt, or carbon wheels. I ain’t winnin’ thousands on races, so I ain’t spen’in’ thousands on gear. Three words for you: 1)budget 2)Craigslist 3)Amazon

Oh, and I hate wetsuits.

That's all for now.

 

NYC Training, Week 6 of 20+: What Triathlon and Statistics Have in Common

This has been a hard week for me with running.  I have a bit of runner's knee on my left, and my right calf has been really sore, reminiscent of my old stress fracture in my shin. My weekly mileage is now up to the 20s during non-recovery weeks - that's a lot for me, and with 14 weeks to go, I have a lot of increasing coming up. 


Exploratory Factor Analysis

So this week I was reminded that, in the choice of both my hobby and career, I have made a conscious decision to conquer something that is my biggest challenge; to go against my natural strengths.

Let me explain . . .


My whole life I have been classified as a "words" person and not a "numbers" person.  When I chose a career that was heavy in math, I knew I was fighting an uphill battle: to become a numbers person when I'd struggled with numbers my whole life.

But, for some reason, the more advanced the math, the better I do with it.  Ask me to add, regurgitate geometrical rules, or make you a factor square and I'll fall on my face; ask me about laws of physics and statistical significance and I'll eat it up. I believe it's because they're more practical and applicable versus heavily computational.

Still, it isn't easy. 


It is actually pretty funny how similar this is to my triathlon experience.  I was a gymnast in elementary school and adored figure skating in middle school and high school.  Flexibility was always my strength; never speed. Compact and stocky, I was never built like a lean, leggy marathoner.  I was built for powerful back handsprings and bouncy floor moves, for crazy pretzel twists - not for powerful running or long, elegant swim strokes or lots of leg power on the bike.

Maybe there is a part of my motivation that only activates when I think, or am told, that I can't do something.



I used to be able to even do this,
even on figure skates, while moving

When classes started, I was terribly displeased with the online experience.  I really love being in an actual lab, attending conferences and job talks, so self-learning graduate-level stats was . . .well . . . . hard as shit.  And this is coming from someone with 4 stats classes plus research experience under my belt.


By the end of my first Methods class, even while traveling to Alabama to visit my parents when they first got ill, meeting all their doctors and starting Arnie on his cancer treatments, I'd earned an A.  While I still dislike online classes (they aren't for everyone, and being a traditional academic they just weren't for me), it turned out I learned a LOT. 

Still, I got into my more advanced Methods class during this 12-week shorter term and worried I'd have the same struggles.  I was promptly proven dead wrong.  Two of my colleagues jokingly called me "brilliant" and, by finals this week, I had racked up a 99.8% grade in the class.

And . . . here's the next shocker . . . I had FUN.  I had SO much fun that I started looking for other ways to use advanced statistics.

And then several of my colleagues at work starting calling me the "numbers guru."

Fast forward . . . .

 

This week I got a little down; I kept thinking, I'm never going to BQ at this rate.  A smart guy told me not to do that, of course.

And then I thought about stats, and how hard numbers usually are for me, and how much ass I had to bust to be so good with them, and it made me realize . . . I used to finish at the back of the pack. Now, I am still nowhere near someone calling me a "triathlon guru," or a "marathon guru," but I have definitely become a very fit and knowledgeable person about my sport.

And that's when I realized that just because something is hard for you doesn't mean you can't also be good at it. It just takes extra effort.

Is there something you always thought you couldn't do, or were bad at, that you changed for the better?  If so, what was it?

I used to be a triathlete. Now, I'm just a girl who likes triathlons.

It seems like a lifetime ago, but just a year or so back, I was a triathlete. My life was all about PRs and pacing and chafing and AA and stride counting and big toenails falling off. It was early mornings and Clif bars and electrolyte pills and easy laces and aerobars. I wanted to get my Psych degree in Sports Psych instead of I/O, I wanted to lose all my body fat and become a triathlon coach, I wanted to do Iron-distance races, and I wanted to inspire people.

In short, I loved to race, but I let it consume me.

The problem is, I was battling about 5 physical health conditions and 3 mental health conditions. Further, my now-sensitive GI system was rebelling against the mounting stress of the rest of my life. Eventually, instead of being an inspiration because I was juggling work, school, drama, relationships, a social life and all my health problems AND STILL getting into Nationals and winning an Athena award, I was a basketcase. It took me almost 6 months to realize I couldn't possibly make half my workouts, which meant I couldn't possibly finish (or finish well) in races. Truth be told, the pressure of training and racing was a pressure I didn't need.

I am, and always have been, in search of supreme balance. Maybe this is because I've tried every extreme there is: vegan, yoga-and-organic-food-nut, Iron-distance triathlete, super-student, party animal, multiple-animal-parent - and none of them has brought me peace or satisfaction. For example: right now, I'm in the middle of a lot of financial changes, relationship changes, work and school stress, but I'm trying to learn to spread it all ou. The old me would have done it all at once and then complained about how much better I could have done. The new me is taking steps to make it all work together. (To whit, I was taking the GRE on 8/22; now in September. I did my first race in 6 months on Saturday. It was just a 5k, but it was a start.)

My time was also supremely shitty. But, for the first time in my racing life, all I cared about was how fun it was.

You see, I've finally realized that it's ok not to really fit in anywhere. Because I'm really, truly, way too bored with being just one thing really well. I'd rather do a few things and enjoy the richness and variety they bring to my life. And that means balance. A little wine, a little coffee, a little triathlon, a little TV, a little time with the boyfriend, a little work, a little school.

I think you get the picture.

I'm back to eating a few lunches at home a week, packing my vitamins and saying "no" to things I can't handle. To you, this may seem ridiculously simplistic. Pedanticly obvious. But it's what will keep me afloat.