Common Mistakes I Make When Training, #2 Being Afraid of the Deep End

Part 2 of Common Mistakes I Make When Training. Read part 1 here.

2) Being afraid of the deep end.

It's funny watching my kids learn to swim. When they want a challenge they'll dart under the divider from the shallow end to the deep end then quickly pop back up safely at the depth of 3.5 feet. They are pumped from their dare-devilish flirt with the deep end. It's humorous because you know they've kept one toe safely on the shallow side and never fully plunged into the depth of the pool.

The 'face of suffering' at Iceman finish line 2011

I can easily fall into a similar rut when it comes to cycling (really, this translates to any area of life). I'll begin an interval session with grandiose intentions of plunging into the depth of suffering before coming up for air. All to often, however, I'll feel the darkness close around me and the burning in my legs and think that I've hit deep. In reality I've just flirted with the deep end.

Last week I set out to do a workout with gradually increasing intervals of duration and resistance. Midway into the set my quads burned, I squirmed on the saddle under the weight of the effort. My body was yelling 'good enough! You can back off now!' And I wanted to listen. I really wanted to.

But there was something else lurking in my mind. I recognized that dark place of suffering. I'd been there before. And when you're in a race, once you've hit that level of discomfort you don't get to bob back under the divider to the safety of shallow waters. You live in the deep end for the duration.

Finishing Peak2Peak 2012 which
proved to be a true test of perseverance.

Our bodies are amazing things. We can do so much more than what we think we can. But it is incredibly difficult to push ourselves beyond the boundaries of discomfort. However, it is persevering through that discomfort that we can finally achieve new levels of success and greater fulfillment. It is only when we push ourselves out of our comfort zones that we can expand our 'boundaries' and explore   our true potential.

When I'm training I try to embrace that depth of discomfort because I know that when it gets to race day and I come to the dark place, when I'm gasping for air and my legs feel like blocks of lead, when I am cresting that brutal climb and my body tells me to 'back off, take a break,' I can tell it to 'shut up' and then dive into the deep end.