“Highs” and “Lows” Pep Talk

Running in the cold

Yesterday night was a cold night at the track. We had a coached TNT workout at Foothill College. Our workout for the evening was running 800m-slow, 800m-fast, 800m-slow, 800m-fast, 800m-slow, 800m-fast…until we had run 45 minutes. It was soooo cold. I was bundled up in warm up, thermals and a beanie. Afterwards, assistant coach, Chris W. (his mom passed away from cancer last year) gave a humorous pep talk on the “highs” and “lows” of triathlon training and the tri race itself. He reminded us on the day of the race, we’ll prollly feel this adrenaline “high” at the start line, but throughout the race we’re also going to be feelings of “lows” and will most likely be muttering to ourselves:

“this sucks”
“it’s hot”
“ I’m tired”
“no one ever told me that this race would be this long”

Then, we’ll feel “highs”, where we’ll feel like:
” this is awesome”
“this bike is so light, I can ride forever”
“I feel great”

Coah Chris giving us a pep talk on the "highs" and "lows" of tri training.

He informed us that it’s a mental cycle and it’s something we need to prepare for and be aware of. And know that the frustration or pain will eventually pass. Thou we all know that we can come up with a list of reason to not train or go on such as “I’m tired today”, “it’s cold”, “I’m sleeping”, “I’m hungry” etc” During those ”low” times, he encouraged us to remember why we are going this race, to find a cure. And when we feel like we can’t climb those 25 miles, know that it’s nothing compared to fighting cancer or going thru chemo. I enjoyed his talk, he did a great job in communicating a serious topic in a direct, honest, fun, light hearted manner.

Listening to the pep talk. Bundled up and freezing post workout.

Tags: Chris W., foothill, pep talk, track practice