If you race long enough (or even just once for some) you will come upon a day where the race conditions force changes in your race plan. In light of the swim for IMFL being canceled this morning I felt it would be a good time to mention that... well, it happens. It isn't easy to deal with this sudden and unwanted changes. There you stand ready to enter the water on race morning, feet wet and cold in the sand, you heart pounding, your eyes darting watching race officials, your ears listening to chatter water side, your heart hoping it can't be true. But then as if you didn't think it could happen the swim is off, plans are made to space out athletes onto the bike course, and you slowly march back to the transition area feeling a loss of sorts and feeling out of sorts.
Again this happens. It happens in triathlon. It happens in cycling events. It happens in running events. It happens. Now that we have established that it happens what do you do about it? How do you move forward?
For me the coping and processing is different based on event and type of changes.
Running Races
Patrick and I have stood under the pavilion at the Beach waiting for a call to be made on a race due to lightening. The race was called but we ran out there anyway, trying to beat the strikes and just making it back before it all came down. We have huddled in a restaurant waiting to see if the skies would part so we could run 13 miles, then if we could run 6 miles, maybe a 3 mile run, then even hopes for a 1 mile fun run were lost. We ended up running a 13 mile course the following morning.
For running events that's our normal plan, we make up the miles for the run by running either the course or the distance within a few days of the race. We try our best to do it on the same course but sometimes it is not possible due to distance or weekday. As Patrick says, running the miles ensures we "earn the shirt". More than the shirt it is a positive affirmation that we will push forward despite set backs. This forward motion has always been a part of who we have been as athletes. I can honestly say there is not a single running race that we have not completed in one fashion or another.
Cycling Races
Patrick and I have only participated in a few biking events. For one of them we had planned to ride across a few states. Well the morning of the event the weather turned against us. The waters were breaking over the sea wall due to a harsh south bound wind. The race was delayed by about four hours and moved about 20 miles down the road to get us away from the water. Due to the time change and the only slight move we ended up riding into a very congested area as it was getting dark. To add to the danger concerns it was a Friday, people were getting off work, going out to eat, heading to the bars for drinks. We got notifications about other teams dropping from the course. The night began to turn cold and dark. We made the decission to stop our travels by bike and finish our way home by car.
For some time we struggled with the factor that we had not finished this race. We toyed with the idea of going back over and starting again. We thought about perhaps riding the distance here at home, making loops and bigger loops till the miles are done. In the end we would not finish the race or finish those miles, as we had for other events. But we would push forward. We would look to future events with this race in mind knowing what it felt like to call a day and knowing what all went in to that decision, with safety being the primary concern. This was a learning day.
It was a day that we at times look back on and wonder "what if'. But it is a day that is done; the only thing left to do was to learn from it. We learned it was okay to let go. We learned it was okay to accept. We learned that together we accomplished a great feet. We learned to be proud for every effort we would make.
Triathlon Races
We have only once had a full triathlon canceled on us. It was a sprint tri at a nearby college. The weather kept us from racing that day. The rain downpours caused safety concerns when matched in combination with the steep hills on the course. As is usual safety becomes the primary decision maker. Again this event was easy to complete in later, less wet, days.
The safe factor came into play when the swim was canceled for a 70.3 tri we were doing the past spring. Having just the swim canceled was almost more difficult. This meant no warm up; no favorite part of the event; no clear transition plan.
This cancellation was difficult to "make up"-- do we "redo" the whole race or just swim the mile in the pool in following days?
For me the decision was to race the race as it was. It was still a good race. It was still a challenge. It was still a race.
Sometimes things change- We call it LIFE.
When they change on race day you have to change your plans in your head and in your body. You have to regroup quickly and change the plan in order to still be successful, no matter what your success looks like and remember the definition of that success is always changing.
The most important thing is to not focus on the difficulties or challenges. Instead to focus on how you work to overcome those challenges; this work can be figuring out how to push on in the race or change the race; or it can be figuring out how to learn to let go.
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