"Races Are Not Won On Race Day"

Do you ever wonder what triathletes and cyclists do in the winter?
  Well if you cannot go to Tucson Arizona, you ride your bike indoors on the trainer while watching tv. I have spent countless hours riding trainers, it was riding my trainer in my garage in Bozeman that pushed me up the ranks and first allowed me time trial well at the races. No other workout can build mental toughness and confidence to do well like a winter of riding a bike trainer can.
  ***I hide out in a secret undisclosed lair riding my road bike on my fluid trainer.

After a restful break from training I find myself ready to begin training for the 2010 season. Finally I will have some blog worthy items as the season's structured training begins. It was hard to start up again after the long layoff, I was really burnt out in September from training and racing, it honestly took me 3 months of unstructured fun exercise to get the motivation to start back up.

I feel the same way every year, the feeling of not wanting to begin structured training always has to be overcome, but once you get back into the training mindset it is nice to be back. I always fall back on something I heard Ironman Champ Pete Reid say, "races are not won on race day, the winners put in the work necessary to win during the winter." This, in my experience, would be those times when no one is around and no one is watching, times when it is cold outside, times when you have no tan, times when it is usually dark and times when you ride your bike in the basement, going no where, watching Floyd Landis annihilating the 2006 Tour de France, and dreaming of warm weather.

These are the toughest times for me because I have to shut my mind off to the potential boredom of the bike trainer or waking up in darkness to go swim. I know every triathlete has to do these if they want to be at their best later in the spring and summer or even have a chance at winning anything. You have to do it, so you do. I am not saying these things are bad, only that they are the least fun (but still fun) aspects of triathlon.
 ***It really isn't all that bad, riding the trainer in the winter is about a 6 on the fun scale, winning a race because you suffered through riding the trainer all winter is a 50 on a scale of 1-10.

***As the season begins this is where most triathletes, including me, will be. Pedaling their legs off but going nowhere! A year ago I had my running injury so this year is much improved over that, I am so happy to be able to run and ride the "boring" bike trainer.

I remember a long time ago I was talking to my history teacher, Mr. Normand (the cross country coach) and he told me about hard training and workouts. I will never forget what he told me one day in class in 2003. Mr Normand encompassed the principle of training perfectly, he said, "Pay now or pay later." I interpreted that to mean everybody eventually has to pay with suffering as currency. Pay now with the hard work, or pay later with poor races and regret of not putting in the work. Turn off your mind, put in the miles and begin paying now, because I have said a hundred times over, for me, it has always been worth it in the end. Smile, triathlon is fun!