Well, that could have gone better. Today was the Carmichael Training Systems Sand Creek Series race at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Starting at 8am this morning, I raced two laps around the Falcon Trail – a 12-mile singletrack loop entirely within the grounds of the Academy. Twenty-four miles isn’t even a quarter of the distance of the Leadville 100, but with shorter distance comes greater intensity, and today’s race was hard.
I wish I could say I felt better on the bike today, but truth be told, I’m tired. My trip to the Tour de France was definitely no vacation, and while it was a productive and necessary trip, it’s going to take me a bit more than a week to get back to full-throttle performance on the bike.
When athletes have performances that are not up to their expectations, it’s important to look at the situation objectively. For instance, it would be easy for me to be frustrated, angry, or discouraged by today’s performance, but that’s not going to help me get ready for Leadville. I need to look at today’s performance for what it is – just a bad day. It’s not a sign of worse things to come, or that I’m unprepared for the challenges ahead of me in the next few weeks. Athletes who are not able to remain objective about their performances often over-react to sub-par performances. They lack the confidence to trust in their training, and as a result, a day like mine today would lead them to make big changes in their training program.
I’m not going to change much of anything I had planned for my training between now and the Leadville 100. I’m going to take a bit more rest in the coming days, but that’s all I’m going to change. I’m not adding more interval workouts in hopes of getting stronger in the next two weeks. When it comes to fitness, cramming doesn’t really get you too far. The best thing I can do is make sure I’m fully rested and well fueled for the remaining workouts I have left between now and the Leadville 100.
But being objective about today’s performance doesn’t mean denying the emotional response we all have to good and poor performances. Am I happy about how today’s race? Not really, but I’ll get over it. As I tell my athletes, it’s OK to be disappointed when you don’t achieve your goals, and it’s equally important to celebrate your achievements when you perform well, but in both cases you also have to use those feelings to help you make progress in your training and then move on. Dwelling on either past shortcomings or past victories will hinder your ongoing progress. So, today I’ll be disappointed and tomorrow I will put today’s race behind me and move on to use today’s experience to help maximize my performance at Leadville.
Chris Carmichael
Check out my new book: “The Time-Crunched Cyclist: Fit, Fast, and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week“
